Genau wie im Film die Figur Forrest Gump, scheint Delbert McClinton überall gewesen zu sein and alles mögliche gemacht zu haben: Ja, er brachte John Lennon das Mundharmonikaspielen bei (zumindest glaubt er, dass es Lennon war... Delbert sagte einmal: "Es war, ehe sie wichtig genug waren, um wissen zu müssen, wer wer war"). Ja, er sang in einer Spielhölle in Forth Worth, die Jack Ruby gehörte. Ja, Blueser Jimmy Reed kotzte einmal über Delberts brandneues Shure Mikrofon.

Glücklich und wohlauf nach 40 Jahren im Musikbusiness, sind seine kreative Kraft, seine musikalischen Keimzellen, ungebrochen, und sowohl Kritiker und Fans lieben ihn immer noch, und wahrlich, wie der Titel seines letzten Albums One Of the Fortune Few, findet sich McClinton mit seinem neuen Album Nothing Personal in der 1. Liga wieder.

Nothing Personal, sein erstes Album seit drei Jahren, vereint Delbert und Co-Produzent und Songschreiber-Partner Gary Nicholson, zusammen mit ehemaligen Schülern aus Bonnie Raitts und Tom Pettys Bands, Delberts eigener Tourband und den Stimmen von Iris DeMent und Bekka Bramlett. Alle Songs des Albums wurden von Delbert selbst oder mit komponiert.

"Ich beschloss, ein Album für mich selbst zu machen," sagte er. "Ich wollte es nicht in ein bestimmtes radiotaugliches Format bringen oder viele Songs von anderen nehmen. Ich mag es nicht, einfach ein Album auf den Markt zu werfen. Ich brauche das Gefühl, dass es etwas besonderes ist, das wächst und nicht irgendwie zusammengeschustert ist."

Wenn Delbert singt, "gehen viele Wege hinein aber nur einer heraus, und ich bin mir verdammt sicher, wovon ich spreche", dann ist das kein Machogehabe, sondern vielmehr eine eindeutige Tatsache. Wenn er es singt, kannst du es glauben.

"Delberts rauhe, grimmige Stimme enthält die Geschichte der amerikanischen populären Musik," schrieb der Journalist Michael McCall in Nashville. "Da ist der urwüchsige Rhythmus und Groove des gospel-basierenden R&B, das aggressive Knurren des Blues, das klagende Grübeln des Honky Tonk, den unbeschwerten Geist des Swing und den Sex des frühen Rock'n'Roll."

Alle diese Einflüsse und mehr finden sich auf Nothing Personal. Der unbeschwerte Geist des Swing ist manifestiert im klassischen Forth Worth R&B-Groove von "Nothing Lasts Forever", das Delbert dem großen Jimmy Reed gewidmet hat. Und urwüchsiger Rhythmus mit dem treibenden Groove wird präzise rübergebracht im Album-Opener "Livin' It Down". Und fügt man die Südtexas-Border-Romanze "When Rita Leaves" oder das alkoholschwangere Klagelied "Birmingham Tonight" hinzu, dann hat man ein Album, wie es kompletter und runder nicht sein könnte.

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Like the fictional Forrest Gump, Delbert McClinton seems sometimes to have gone everywhere and done everything: Yes, he did teach the Beatles' John Lennon how to play harmonica. (At least he thinks it was Lennon… As Delbert once said, "It was back before they were important enough to know which one was which.") Yes, he did play in a joint owned by Jack Ruby back in the bad old bucket-of-blood days in Fort Worth. Yes, bluesman Jimmy Reed did once throw up all over Delbert's brand-new Shure microphone.

Happy and healthy after 40 years as a performer, his creative powers seemingly undiminished, universally championed by critics, fans and peers - and truly, per the title of his last album, "one of the fortune few," McClinton's new album, Nothing Personal, finds him at the top of his game.

Nothing Personal, his first album in three years, reunites Delbert and co-producer, songwriting partner and Gary Nicholson, along with alumni from Bonnie Raitt's and Tom Petty's bands, Delbert's own crack road ensemble, and vocalists Iris DeMent and Bekka Bramlett. All of the album's songs were either written or co-written by Delbert himself.

"I decided I wanted to make a record for me," he said, "I didn't want to direct it at any particular radio format or use a lot of other people's songs. I don't like to just throw a record out there. I want to feel like it's something that grows and matures and not something just thrown together."

Chalk it up to the times he's seen, the places he's been, but on Nothing Personal, as on every other note he's ever sung, Delbert's delivery is steeped in conviction and unimpeachable authority.

When Delbert sings, "There's lotsa ways in but just one way out/And I damn sure know what I'm talkin' about," it doesn't come across as macho bravado, but rather a clear-eyed statement of fact. If he sings it, you can believe it.

"Delbert's raspy, ferocious voice carries in it the history of American popular music," wrote Nashville scribe Michael McCall. "There's the down-home rhythm and testifying punch of gospel-based R&B, the aggressive snarl of the blues, the mournful rumination of honky-tonk, the jaunty spirit of swing, and the up-front sexuality of early rock n' roll."

All of those inflections, and more, are present and accounted for on Nothing Personal. The jaunty spirit of swing is manifest in the classic Fort Worth R&B groove of "Nothing Lasts Forever," which Delbert dedicates to the spirit of the late, great Jimmy Reed. And down-home rhythm and testifying punch precisely characterize the ruefully funny, low-down album opener, "Livin' It Down."

Add to that the rough-hewn tenderness of "Don't Leave Home Without It," the South Texas border romance "When Rita Leaves," the beerjoint lament "Birmingham Tonight," the raw and plaintive soul-baring plea that is "Read Me My Rights," and the well-earned laugh of the hard-knocks survivor that infuses the closing tune, "Watching the Rain," and you have an album as complete and well-rounded as any Delbert has ever released.

Unlike his last album, the critically acclaimed One of the Fortunate Few, which featured appearances by Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, John Prine, Patty Loveless, Mavis Staples, and others, Nothing Personal gets back to the basics: Delbert, his band, his harp, and a fistful of evocative, multi-hued songs dissecting the whys and wherefores of love and life itself.

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