Grammys 2020: Delbert McClinton & Self-Made Men+Dana for Tall, Dark & Handsome win Best Traditional Blues Album
Blues are celebrated with multiple categories at the Grammys. The Best Traditional Blues Album and the Best Contemporary Blues Album categories were merged in 2012 to help streamline the categories awarded at the Grammys, but in 2016 the Grammy organisation decided to split the categories back again to better honour the various styles that exist within the genre.
Buddy Guy won the Best Traditional Blues Album in 2019 for ‘The Blues is Alive and Well’. The 2020 nominees included Christone “Kingfish” Ingram for ‘Kingfish’, Bobby Rush for ‘Sitting on Top of the Blues’, Jimmie Vaughan for ‘Baby, Please Come Home’, and Jontavious Willis for ‘Spectacular Class’.
While Gary Clark Jr. took home the award for Best Contemporary Blues album, Delbert McClinton & Self-Made Men + Dana took home the award for Best Traditional Blues Album for ‘Tall, Dark & Handsome’. At 78, Delbert McClinton is a legend among Texas roots music listeners. He's been around since the mid-sixties creating music that blends various elements such as country, blues, soul, and rock & roll together in perfect harmony. It took a while for him to find his footing as a solo artist, but that didn't stop McClinton from creating music that roots fans resonated with.
'Tall, Dark & Handsome' is a throwback to the blues of old, and while different in some ways to McClinton's more recent work still carries his unique sound. And despite the use of recognizable riffs might make many of the songs on this album sound repetitive to long-time blues listeners, critics and fans both credit McClinton and all who participated on this album for making it an enjoyable experience that entertains even if it feels a little too familiar.
With 'Tall, Dark & Handsome', McClinton gives us all the reason we need to get up and groove.
As fans of McClinton often say - 'Delbert only gets better with age.'