{"id":1355,"date":"2017-11-13T14:43:22","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T13:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/?p=1355"},"modified":"2022-03-29T17:12:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T16:12:59","slug":"delbert-mcclintons-when-rita-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/?p=1355","title":{"rendered":"Delbert McClinton’s “When Rita Leaves”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delbert McClinton’s website says that there are two kinds of people in the world \u2013 those who love Delbert McClinton and those who haven’t heard him yet. Very true. Unfortunately, there are far too many in that second category.<\/p>\n

In a career that spans more than five decades and nineteen studio albums, McClinton, a singer, songwriter and multi – instrumentalist from Lubbock, Texas, has managed to win Grammys in both the Rock and Blues categories. He’s also had great success on the Country charts for his collaborations with Tanya Tucker and Emmylou Harris and is also no stranger to R& B and Tex-Mex. Many artists have flocked to participate in his recording sessions over the years, including Bonny Raitt, Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, John Prine, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. McClinton is easily one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard and his songs have been recorded by Etta James, Emmylou Harris, Joe Cocker, Rita Coolidge and even the late, great Ray Charles. Lyle Lovett famously said \u201c If we could all sing like we wanted to, we’d all sing like Delbert.\u201d
\n

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Alrick<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Delbert McClinton made a name for himself as a young harmonica player in the Texas roadhouses and was soon backing the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reed \u2013 something unheard of for a young white boy. Touring England with Bruce Channel in 1962, Delbert met the young John Lennon and taught him the finer points of playing the harmonica.<\/p>\n

In all his compositions, it’s mostly Delberts lyrics that ring true for me \u2013 simple, honest, with the occasional wry humour. The first time I heard \u201cYour Memory, Me, and the Blues\u201d and his
\nimpeccable lyrics \u201cA creature of habit in all that I do \/ When I make coffee, I still make coffee for

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Richard and Roch<\/p><\/div>
\ntwo\u201d, I knew that Delbert McClinton was in a class by himself. Roch, Alrick and I have chosen to play his Tex-Mex classic \u201cWhen Rita Leaves.\u201d I’m sure that every songwriter alive wishes they had written this song. If I were hosting a songwriting class, this is where I`d start.<\/p>\n

Richard S\u00e9guin – voice, acoustic guitar, classical guitar, mandolin
\nAlrick Huebener – upright bass
\nRoch Tass\u00e9 – drums and percussion<\/p>\n

When Rita Leaves<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo of Alrick by Kate Morgan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delbert McClinton’s website says that there are two kinds of people in the world \u2013 those who love Delbert McClinton and those who haven’t heard him yet. Very true. Unfortunately, there are far too many in that second category. In a career that spans more than five decades and nineteen studio albums, McClinton, a singer, songwriter and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1371,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eng.richardaseguin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}