0:35

well hello friends and welcome to ask

0:37

Zack today we're going to talk about one

0:40

of my favorite artists and one and what

0:44

I think is probably their greatest album

0:47

of all time and a really influential

0:50

record to me one that kind of was a

0:53

gateway drug to all sorts of uh R&B and

0:57

blues and of course Texas Roadhouse

0:59

music music and that is Delbert

1:02

mcclinton's live from

1:06

Austin this is a an amazing record and

1:09

uh I'm going to talk about it and uh

1:13

talk about the players on it talk about

1:16

the guitarists on there David Milsap and

1:19

uh the late and great uh Steven brutin

1:23

who is one of my favorite players so

1:26

this also gives me a chance to kind of

1:28

talk about Steven brutin

1:30

career and his

1:33

influence and uh yeah and I hope I hope

1:38

you will take away an appreciation if

1:40

you don't already have one for Delbert

1:42

mclinton and you'll go out and listen to

1:44

this album maybe some other great uh

1:46

Delbert records uh I wish he was still

1:49

performing he's kind of retired at this

1:50

point I think he still does some cruises

1:52

every once in a while but uh yeah all

1:56

right so before we dive in I just want

1:58

to thank my patreon on supporters cuz

2:01

they keep this show going and I'm

2:03

grateful so thank you to them if you

2:05

would like to join them or find out more

2:08

well there's a link in the

2:09

description all right so a little bit of

2:12

background info uh just about how I was

2:15

clued into this album so I was uh raised

2:21

pretty strict um I was as a teenager I

2:26

was playing guitar in an assembly of go

2:28

Assembly of God church so I played uh

2:33

youth group on Friday nights and I

2:35

played Sunday morning and Sunday night

2:37

and Wednesday night services so I played

2:40

Four Services a week and starting when I

2:43

was about 13 years

2:45

old when uh when I got a little bit

2:49

older uh I started really trying to

2:52

learn from the drummer that was in our

2:56

church because he started showing me

2:59

some cool vintage guitars that he had

3:01

even though he wasn't a guitar player uh

3:03

the drummer uh his name was Ry Mosby and

3:06

he was from the Tulsa area he had some

3:08

really cool vintage guitars he had some

3:10

old strats and he also had a 61 Les Paul

3:13

SG he had an early 80s Les Paul Custom

3:16

that had a Kor locking tremolo system on

3:19

it talk about a bunch of wood taken out

3:23

uh he had a 57 Tweed

3:26

vibralux and he had a uh

3:30

uh a like a late 60s uh silverface

3:34

bandmaster Reverb head in cabinet and he

3:37

would let me borrow these these things

3:41

and he would bring them to church and

3:42

he'd let me use them in the services and

3:45

such and so it was a lot of

3:47

fun well I started kind of hearing some

3:50

of the music he was listening to cuz of

3:52

course you know my parents really didn't

3:54

let me listen to any kind of non- gospel

3:58

CCM you know Christian music but he was

4:01

listening to stuff like uh Ry cter and

4:04

JJ kale and Delbert mclinton and all

4:07

these different things that I didn't

4:09

really know who they were and it sounded

4:11

really foreign to me because there was

4:13

nothing uh in the gospel music or

4:16

whatever I was listening to that sounded

4:18

anything like that well when I got to be

4:21

16 uh you know of course I had driver's

4:23

license and I'd start driving over to

4:25

see him and he would start playing me

4:28

you know records and so that that's

4:29

where I got exposed to Eric Clapton and

4:34

Chuck Barry and all sorts of different

4:37

you know music and one day when we were

4:41

uh you know visiting and of course I was

4:43

playing through his Tweed vibralux and

4:46

just loving you know the sound and the

4:49

feel of these vintage guitars and amps

4:51

and such one day when I was leaving he

4:55

gave me a a cassette and it was a you

4:57

know a dubbed cassette so there of

4:58

course there was no writing or anything

5:01

and he said you need to listen to

5:03

this I said okay and so when I got in

5:06

the car and put in the cassette well it

5:09

was Delbert mclinton live from

5:13

Austin

5:15

and I wore that cassette out I played it

5:19

nonstop it was really a gateway drug to

5:25

kind of R&B

5:27

music and just

5:30

great a great you know kind of Texas

5:33

Roadhouse or just kind of R&B band the

5:36

fact that you had a big Rhythm Section

5:38

you know with a a B3 SL piano player you

5:41

had the you know drums and bass you had

5:44

two guitar players and then you had a

5:45

horn section uh sounds similar to The

5:49

Blues Brothers Band well that's because

5:52

uh The Blues Brothers were very

5:54

influenced by D mclinton

5:57

well I uh

6:00

you know just really wore that out uh

6:03

and then the thing that was really

6:05

interesting was that all of a sudden

6:07

that performance was on television

6:10

because unbeknownst to me the album was

6:14

the audio was taken from a performance

6:17

on Austin City Limits so then all of a

6:19

sudden I was able to see you know what

6:22

was going on also and I was able to see

6:24

the guitar players and see who was

6:26

playing what and that was a a really

6:29

wonderful uh

6:31

Revelation and I became a big fan of

6:35

Steven brutin and David

6:38

milap and one thing that was really

6:40

interesting was I had listened to the

6:42

album so much that when I saw the uh the

6:48

Austin City Limits you know episode on

6:51

television I could tell the difference

6:53

between the two because they they

6:54

weren't the same and of course they had

6:56

been mixed slightly different

6:58

differently and also the uh they were

7:02

edited differently so you know it's a

7:05

different order of songs and also some

7:06

of the songs were shortened so at times

7:09

you know the Austin City Limits version

7:12

of the song is longer because it's the

7:14

full performance while on the album here

7:17

at times they would pull out a horn solo

7:20

or a guitar solo to shorten the song to

7:23

make it where it was more like 4 minutes

7:24

long instead of 5 minutes

7:26

long

7:28

so uh you know really enjoyed that and

7:31

also you of course watching it on on

7:34

Austin City Limits you could see what

7:35

kind of guitars they were playing and

7:37

everything and so step Bruin's guitar

7:40

playing was very interesting to me and

7:45

part of what it was is that he played a

7:48

Telecaster with a B Bender but he used

7:51

it in a very

7:52

noncount way you know he wasn't doing

7:55

any type of Clarence white or Albert Lee

7:58

or Ricky Skaggs type you know B Bender

8:00

licks he was you know using it in a very

8:03

kind of

8:04

R&B you know kind of rock you know kind

8:08

of rock kind of way and he was using of

8:11

course a little bit you know dirtier of

8:13

a tone

8:15

so and I really that's one thing that I

8:18

I really uh think guys should check out

8:21

is uh you know I think brutin was

8:23

probably one of the guys that used a b

8:26

Bender in the most nontrad traditional

8:30

way and that didn't mean he couldn't do

8:32

that but he was able to use it just as a

8:34

tool and not oh all of a sudden I have a

8:37

b Bender I'm going to start playing

8:38

Clarence white licks so I really loved

8:41

that yeah the gear they were using was

8:43

cool so brutin had this black all black

8:47

Telecaster that had EMG pickups and had

8:50

a Parson's white you know string bender

8:52

on it on the B

8:54

string and he also had a red it was a

8:57

fiesta red uh 80s you know Fender

9:00

reissue 62

9:02

Strat and those were his two guitars and

9:05

he had a uh blackface vibralux Reverb

9:09

and he had a uh it was ianz made this

9:13

uee series and it was it was a rack

9:16

mount double space rack but it was

9:18

analog effects with knobs no you know

9:21

digital programming stuff and it had a

9:22

little foot controller thing that had a

9:24

uh you know heavyduty cable that uh

9:27

connected it and so that was his rig and

9:31

then the other guitarist uh who was

9:33

David Milsap he had a real black guard

9:37

and he was using a uh a blackface super

9:40

Reverb and he had a couple of Boss

9:42

pedals sitting on top of his amp it

9:44

looked like it was probably a boss

9:46

overdrive like the

9:49

sd1 and then I think an octaver and uh

9:54

and then a delay so but uh and the thing

9:57

one of the things was really interesting

9:59

about this whole album and uh and the

10:02

two guys the two guitarists interplay

10:05

was the backstory that I got from James

10:07

pennebaker now Delbert mclinton has had

10:11

an amazing list of great guitar players

10:14

playing his band and probably one of the

10:17

first was James pennebaker and if you're

10:19

not familiar with James you ought to

10:21

look him up he's a really great great

10:23

guitarist and uh he uh he played with

10:28

Delbert for quite a while while

10:29

throughout the uh the 70s and 80s and I

10:32

think was on some of his first hits like

10:34

giving it up for your love but uh James

10:37

told me the backstory on this album in

10:39

that David Milsap was the guitarist in

10:42

the band and that brutin was just

10:45

sitting in so brutin was probably

10:48

playing with Chris kristopherson at that

10:50

point uh who of course a long-term you

10:53

know gig that he had had and uh and

10:56

Bruin's just sitting in and

10:59

the album is amazing because of the

11:03

interplay between the two guitarist

11:07

so you know on all a lot of the songs

11:10

David Milsap is playing the main riff

11:13

and that's because it's his gig and you

11:16

know and he's the one that's that's been

11:19

been doing that and so brutin ends up

11:22

playing all these you know complimentary

11:26

parts and

11:30

probably my favorite example of them

11:32

complimenting complimenting each other

11:34

in their playing is they play the old

11:37

Otis reading tune uh Dreams to

11:40

Remember and they it's in of course it's

11:44

in 68 and it's got that you know that uh

11:46

of course the part that Cropper you know

11:48

that Steve Cropper played you know you

11:50

have

11:51

[Music]

11:57

that well milsaps playing that part and

12:01

then Steven brutin takes it up a third

12:04

and

12:08

[Music]

12:11

plays and when you hear the album and

12:13

when you hear those two parts together

12:15

it just sounds amazing cuz they're just

12:17

locked in together and uh it's a it's a

12:20

wonderful uh just example of two guitar

12:24

players really working together to uh to

12:29

make for a really great musical

12:31

performance and it's one of the reasons

12:33

why the album's just one of my favorites

12:36

of all time is it's like two guitar

12:38

players that are really sympatico

12:40

they're really uh they you can tell they

12:43

they they like each other they respect

12:44

each other and they're uh they're

12:46

trading off you know they're they're

12:48

each you know both of them are taking

12:49

solos and and doing their thing and you

12:52

know they're sounds work together and uh

12:55

it's just a great album just to give a

12:58

little bit of info on on Steven brutin

13:01

um brutin was was born in Delaware and

13:06

uh but his parents moved to uh the Fort

13:09

Worth area when he was

13:11

two uh his parents had a uh a record

13:15

shop there and that's what he grew up

13:17

there and uh he you know got hooked up

13:20

with Del mclinton and got hooked up with

13:23

Chris Kristofferson early on I think he

13:25

started playing with kristoferson in

13:28

like 70 or

13:30

71 appeared in movies you know as

13:33

Christopherson did movies uh Steven

13:37

brutin was uh you know had bit Parts in

13:40

those films and sometimes he plays a you

13:44

know you can see him sometimes as a

13:45

general or a bartender all sorts of

13:48

different roles that uh he played

13:50

through the years uh there's many

13:53

performances of kristoferson with brutin

13:57

playing guitar with him usually that

13:59

same black Telly with the string bender

14:02

and and a lot of times in the 80s he's

14:04

playing that red that Fiesta red 62

14:08

reissue

14:09

Strat uh you know and he would he would

14:12

play with Delbert off and on you know

14:14

kind of sitting in because they were old

14:16

friends and then in the uh late 80s

14:19

early 90s uh brutin started playing with

14:23

Bonnie rate when her career kind of

14:25

exploded and I think I think the album

14:27

after Nica time you like something to

14:29

talk about that era I think he started

14:31

playing with her in fact he's in that

14:33

video and yeah there's a lot of

14:36

performances of uh brutin playing with

14:40

Bonnie rate because of course she was

14:41

very hot and she was on a lot of

14:43

television shows at that point

14:46

um brutin uh seemed to to really like

14:51

gear and to be a a a gearhound just like

14:54

the rest of us and uh in the 9s he

14:58

started using dumble overdrive special

15:00

amps and uh and he had some PRS guitars

15:04

that kind of look similar to

15:07

dgts uh he played Custom Shop fenders he

15:11

liked he really liked dot neck 335s and

15:13

so you'd see him playing a number of

15:15

different uh you know Sunburst neck 335s

15:19

and and he started a solo career he's a

15:22

great songwriter a lot of people uh

15:25

covered his tunes and of course he did a

15:27

bunch of great solo records

15:30

uh he uh unfortunately he got throat

15:33

cancer and probably the last thing he

15:35

did was the he worked with T-Bone

15:38

Bernett another old kind of Dallas Fort

15:41

Worth friend on the soundtrack for a

15:44

Crazy Heart of course he was also

15:46

involved in just the making of the movie

15:47

in general and I think the movie if I

15:50

remember correctly the movie is

15:51

dedicated to to brutin but uh he was an

15:55

incredibly influential guitarist and uh

15:59

songwriter and everyone that knew him

16:02

kind of felt like they were his best

16:03

friend and he uh he seemed to be really

16:07

a really great guy I uh you know only

16:10

got to see him on uh on TV and such but

16:14

uh uh my friend JD Simo got to open a

16:17

show for him and he said it really

16:19

changed his life and really changed what

16:22

he wanted to do CU at the time JD was

16:24

really kind of doing a Steve Ray vongh

16:27

Jimmy Hendrick kind of routine and uh

16:31

brutin made him really think about

16:33

songwriting and uh and playing parts and

16:38

and doing your own thing not just aping

16:41

uh Stevie Ray and Jimmy Hendricks

16:45

so this album really really important to

16:49

me and uh you really need to uh check it

16:52

out I I need to mention just all the

16:55

guitar players you know just a short

16:57

list of the players that have been

16:59

through Delbert mcclinton's band of

17:01

course you know some of the early albums

17:04

had Reggie young playing on them uh

17:06

James pennebaker toured with him and

17:09

also recorded with him for years you had

17:12

uh you of course David Milsap you had

17:15

Steven

17:16

brutin you had uh Todd Sharp uh played

17:21

with him for uh for a while as did Rob

17:24

McNelly there's a lot of footage of Rob

17:26

McNelly playing with uh

17:29

with debert mclinton uh you also have

17:31

Bob Britt you know who's now playing

17:34

with uh you with Bob Dylan he he played

17:37

with

17:38

uh with old uh Delbert for a long time

17:41

so uh yeah it's and and some of the

17:44

records uh in the 90s that he did have

17:48

Stuart Smith playing guitar on them so

17:50

there's if you ever pick up a Del MC

17:52

Clinton record it's going to have great

17:54

guitar playing on it and and also great

17:57

songs and greater Arrangements and and

17:59

it's uh yeah and it's just that that fun

18:02

mix of R&B with a dash of country and

18:06

soul and rock and all sorts of things

18:08

combined together and of course you know

18:10

I have to mention Delbert of course

18:12

native Texan and uh you know probably

18:16

he's you know famous for playing on the

18:19

uh Bruce Chanel you know hey baby that's

18:22

him you know playing the harmonica part

18:24

which of course they ended up running

18:26

into the Beatles and it's always been

18:28

you know talked about how Delbert uh you

18:31

know evidently showed John lennen some

18:34

uh some harmonica things which of course

18:37

led to some of the Like Love Me Do and

18:40

other things that the Beatles

18:41

did all right let's uh let's look at

18:46

that uh intro guitar part uh you know

18:50

standing on Shaky Ground you know it's

18:52

it's it's not hard it's just

18:59

[Music]

19:07

so uh you you just have you know it's in

19:09

the key e and uh you're

19:12

[Music]

19:17

hitting you have the little uh scratchy

19:20

scratchy

19:25

[Music]

19:27

part so you have this um you know low E

19:31

then the octave

19:34

e then you're hitting this uh you know C

19:40

sharp then the

19:42

[Music]

19:45

D then you do the

19:48

[Music]

19:52

scratchy and then you have the walkup

19:54

part

20:01

so uh easy but uh but fun little guitar

20:07

[Music]

20:11

part all right guys well I hope you've

20:14

enjoyed today's episode again thank you

20:16

to my patreon supporters go listen to

20:19

some Delbert McClinton also check out

20:21

some Steven brutin thanks guys I'll see

20:24

you next time bye-bye