The nation has been waiting awhile for a new song along the lines of “New York City”. Unlike the sappy or faux-patriotic odes to Manhattan that have surfaced frequently on radio lately, this song reminds us what a fun place New York City really is, what a great time we need to keep on having despite everything that has happened.
McClinton claims it is not a “September 11 song,” but it still conjures up feelings of pride for the city. “I wrote that before the attacks,” he says. “It had been two years since we’d been up there, and one day I was just sitting here and was thinking about New York City and told my wife, ‘I need me some of that.'” That line eventually evolved into the song, which he wrote with Tom Faulkner.
McClinton is backed by strings on the album’s only two slow songs, “Everything I Know About The Blues” and “Don’t Want To Love You”. Both are so beautifully done, you don’t even mind that the party has calmed down for a few minutes.
That’s what this album is — one to put on for a party or when you feel like dancing around the house. New West is promoting Room To Breathe as “the night of your life in God’s own roadhouse”; it’s for having a good time, and McClinton wouldn’t have it any other way.
He settles back into the plush couch again, puts his hands atop his knees, and nods his head. He says the fun comes through because they just let the tape run. “Yeah, we got lucky on this record. We left the tape running and we caught it. We just got a good time on tape.”
All of the songs were either written solo or in collaboration with McClinton. He is joined most often by his trusted writing partner and producer Gary Nicholson, who co-wrote half the tracks. Other co-writers include Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, former NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson, and Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson.
“I did this record for me and my fans,” McClinton says. “I wasn’t beholden to anyone else. The only reason I’ve stuck around as long as I have is because of the fans. My fans are all that matter to me when I think about a record. I sure don’t think about the radio. Radio doesn’t mean anything to me. I owe everything to all those people who came out to see me when I was playing all over the country. I feel so lucky to have that fan base. I’ve got 40 years of being on the road. That’s a sweet place to be. They’ve stuck by me, you know? That’s a good feeling.”
McClinton used to stay out for six weeks at a time, but he won’t be doing that anymore. He’s older now, plus he likes being home. “I try to work it out to where I’m home at least three days a week,” he says. “I just like being home. I’m a homebody. We don’t never even go to any of the clubs in Nashville. Maybe once in a while I’ll go out if it’s to see a friend. And we’ve got a child,” he says, referring to his nine-year old, whose Harry Potter books and games are crowded into the huge bookcase towering over us. (McClinton also has two grown children: Monty, 41, and Clay, a 28 year-old aspiring musician.) He does, however, plan to tour extensively the first three months after the album’s release.
McClinton loves a good time. One of his biggest pet peeves is to play a gig and find people remaining in their chairs. He doesn’t like playing theater venues because people never dance there. “I’m having more fun than ever,” he says, “and I want everybody else to have a good time, too.”
Listening to Room To Breathe, it’s easy to imagine people dancing. Picture it. A churning crowd assembled before a rickety stage in a smoky juke joint like the one McClinton sings about in “Jungle Room”. Or a huge, old building sitting in the middle of a dirt lot. The people twirl and snap their fingers. They throw back their heads, arch their shoulders to the beat. They stomp their feet and move their hips and close their eyes, lost in the music. There is that honky-tonk aroma of beer and sweat and a hundred different perfumes combined into one overpowering good-time scent. Kind of like the Cotton Club fifty-some years ago, when McClinton’s own parents just wanted to have fun.
Silas House grew up in a dry county where the only place to go dancing was an illegal, BYOB honky-tonk. He first snuck into this juke joint when he was 15 years old, and that first night he danced to the music of Delbert McClinton. House is the author of two novels.
