Acquired Taste

Acquired Taste

Texas roots music practitioner Delbert McClinton doesn’t try to reinvent a thing with his thirteenth studio album and first in four years. He just digs deep into his blues and delivers what he does best. The harmonicas ache with a railcar’s cry. The vocals remain gruff and emotionally invested. The grooves evoke a small backroom where the band can get its kicks and the audience can spend a Friday night with entertaining company. Don Was twists the knobs, but his production duties mostly seem to entail staying out of the way. Whether it’s the shuffle of the piano blues “People Just Love to Talk,’ the deeper emotional blues of “Never Saw It Comin’,’” the slow burn and rusty vocals of “Until Then,” the end-of-the-night balladry of “Wouldn’t You Think (Should’ve Been Here By Now” or the heartland rock of “When She Cries at Night,” McClinton’s a weathered veteran who never loses his composure or this authority over the material.

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