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In a theme right out of The Blues Brothers movie, Delbert set about “putting the
band back together”, and went back on the bar band road, playing for door money.

Out of the blue he got a call from an old friend, Charles Stewart, who was now a
branch manager for ABC Records, who told him to come over to the studio, demo
some of his songs, and he would ensure they were heard by the right people at ABC.

He did, they liked it, and a contract was signed.

That contract produced three albums, “Victim of Life’s Circumstances” (1975),
“Genuine Cowhide” (1976), and “Love Rustler” (1977). All three contained the classic
McClinton mix of blues, R&B, country and some rock & roll, but the music fell

between all four stools, so they were not successful - and then ABC went bust!

Having spent some time in Nashville, Delbert, with his new partner (and soon-to-be
second wife) Donna Sue, moved to Austin, where the music scene was really

beginning to thrive as a melting pot of musicians from all the genres met and played
together. Delbert, and fellow Texan Doug Sahm
took all the influences, that also included Tex
Mex, and played the many clubs around the

Austin area, to ever increasing audiences.

In spite of his local success, Delbert and Donna
Sue moved back to Fort Worth in 1976 - she

wanted to go back home, and he wanted her
to be happy.

Two years later, and many road gigs down the
line, Delbert did an artist showcase in

Nashville, and was picked up by Capricorn
Records. As a live performer he was a huge
attraction wherever he played, but that had

never produced success on vinyl. His first
Capricorn album (“Second Wind” - 1978) also featured the Muscle Shoals Horns.

By this time Delbert had some pretty heavyweight fans of his music, including Dan

Ackroyd and John Belushi, who credited his band as an inspiration for the Blues
Brothers, and recorded his song “B Movie Box Car Blues” on their first album.

In February 1979 the band landed the musical guest spot on “Saturday Night Live”,
in which they featured a track from their second, and final, Capricorn album, “Keeper

of The Flame”. Once again, the label went bust almost as the record was released.

So Delbert went back to playing the bars, clubs and festivals, this time with the
support of a well known artist manager, Don Light, who arranged a deal with Muscle

Shoals/Capitol Records. Thinking that he had no original compositions of the right
quality, Delbert cut an entire album of covers, entitled “The Jealous Kind” (1980).
These included Al Green’s ‘Take Me To The River’, Van Morrison’s ‘Bright Side Of The