Track Listing

1. One Of The Fortunate Few
2. Right To Be Wrong
3. The Part I Like Best
4. I'll Change My Style
5. Hammerhead Stew
6. Your Memory, Me And The Blues
7. Dead Wrong
8. Down Into Mexico
9. Kiss Her Once For Me
10. I Had A Real Good Time
11. Midnight Communion
12. Two Step Too
13. Alright By Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6685 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Like a rootsier Jimmy Buffett, Delbert McClinton is an established, hard-touring veteran whose audience doesn't expect from him too much out of the norm. Regardless, the Texan's quintessential mix of country, R&B, Tex-Mex, blues, honky-tonk, New Orleans bump, lounge jazz, and good-time rock and roll is durable enough to sustain a career, especially since nobody does it nearly as well as he does. In the spirit of "don't fix what isn't broken," this album of 13 McClinton originals preserves the established formula. But to his credit, the leathery-voiced singer, now in his mid-60s, never seems to be going through the motions. He delivers this good-natured Americana with gutsy enthusiasm and enough raw energy to power the ocean liner on one of his famous blues cruises. Just as comfortable tearing into the Stonesy rock of "Dead Wrong" as the soft, Spanish guitar-driven folk of "Down into Mexico"--a tale of a robbery/relationship gone bad that flawlessly mixes his tender and tough sides--McClinton revels in his element. Fiddles, sax, and pedal steel augment the arrangements, highlighting the country and blues at the heart of Cost of Living. All that's missing is the sweat, booze, and boisterous crowd that remain an integral aspect of McClinton's legendary shows. --Hal Horowitz

Customer Reviews

Turn it UP!
Especially for the first track, "One Of The Fortunate Few"! (Did you do like me and buy the CD "One Of The Fortunate Few", thinking the song of the same name would be on it???). I also like very much the track "Two Step Too", which purty much sums up my own taste in musica. "I like to listen to the rock 'n roll, but I like to two step too"!

His best album in years
I've been a Delbert fan for more than 20 years, and this is his best release in a long time. There is no voice like Delbert's; man, can he sing. From the raucous "Hammerhead Stew" to some welcome country songs like "Midnight Communion" and "Two Step Too" this CD rocks. As for those reviewers who dislike the country element here, they aren't true Delbert fans, since real aficiandos know that some of Delbert's early works were
good ole country (listen to "Victim Of Life's Circumstances"). The two best cuts here are "Down Into Mexico" (what a story!) and about the saddest song I've ever heard, "Kiss Her Once For Me." When you first listen to the latter, it's easy to assume it's about a lost girlfriend. It's not--it's about a dad who's kind of lost his daughter to the girl's mother, and as a divorced dad, this song breaks my heart. Go, Delbert!

cost of living
I can find nothing bad about this cd. It's like Springsteen lyrics, guitar strains of Marty Robbins and maybe a little touch of John Fogerty. I can recall sitting in a bar thirty years ago with some of my military buds and listening to this kind of music, wishing we were someplace else. What memories this cd evolked! All in all I can say that Delbert McClinton is becoming part of my blues collection and will continue to add more.