Senior Moment

Age, they say, brings wisdom. It also brings Social Security checks, which Delbert McClinton will qualify for when he turns 65 next month. Hell, the Texas-born singer is so unapologetic about growing older that he's adorned the CD sleeve of his latest, The Cost of Living, with past driver's licenses...

By Cole Haddon

October 20, 2005

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Age, they say, brings wisdom. It also brings Social Security checks, which Delbert McClinton will qualify for when he turns 65 next month. Hell, the Texas-born singer is so unapologetic about growing older that he's adorned the CD sleeve of his latest, The Cost of Living, with past driver's licenses. If anything, it's pride in having survived a career that's spanned 50 years and some 30 albums. You can attribute this longevity to his ability to shift among country, blues, rock 'n' roll, and R&B with an ease that makes labeling him difficult. Usually, he doesn't even bother to shift — he blends in that way that only musicians who understand the shared origins of these genres can. Onstage, age hasn't slowed him either; with harmonica in hand, he's still the journeyman who used to back blues greats like Jimmy Reed and B.B. King. Except, of course, much older and maybe a little wiser.

Delbert McClinton plays at 8 p.m. Friday, October 28, at Carefree Theatre, 2000 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $38. Call 561-833-7305.

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