By Galen Holley
That sweaty, bloated, round face is definitely a Bramlett, that tribe, one and the same, them that scuffled in cotton and barefoot climbed like goats through kudzu and cuckleburs and were raised on cornbread and milk and onion. He was just Delaine among the besmirched youg’uns in Pontotoc County, including his first cousin, Katherine Steward Foshee. “That’s just what we called him,” she said, trailing off with, “And’uh, well…” As kids they played cowboys and indians, she said. “Delaine and his brother, John Wayne, would fuss over who got to be Gene Autry.”
Delaney and Bonnie and Friends they were called, in Hollywood where they played with the likes of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and the whos of the industry. His big hit was “Never Ending Song of Love,” but “Comin’ Home” has more of that raunchy, unshaven groove. Delaney picks the opening riff, then Harrison and the horns climb in and the whole, swarthy jam sways and rolls along like tea-colored water in a muddy creek.
His family couldn’t afford a guitar, so Bramlett tied a string on a stick and pretended. He was a good boy, though, so, as he said in a 1998 interview, “Sannie Claus brought me one.”
Childhood friend Carrell Maulton Houpt next bears witness. “He plain tore that thing up,” says Houpt, with an audible slap on his knee, and a throaty laugh. “He was just a natural.” Owen Martin was a school chum at Randolph, says that Delanie’s talent was fierce to behold, even as a boy. “The FFA band would play at chapel, in school, and at different events, and I was always amazed,” says Martin. “He was just one of the most talented people I ever saw.” Bramlett himself praised R.C. Weatherall, a black man who helped him pick cotton as a boy, as well as Foshee’s grandmother Maudie Whitworth Steward, “Mama Steward,” as the progenitors of his guitar playing. His mama, Ivy, loved music, too.
Bramlett came into the world July 1, 1939. The military didn’t suit him, so he went L.A.-wards, a bar and club picker, got no pay or credit as rhythm guitarist on a Willie Nelson album, wrote “Searching for Somewhere” for Clint Eastwood (a song Bramlett called “the worst song, ever,” and “Clint wasn’t much of a singer,” now a collector’s item). The Palomino Club in North Hollywood was where the execs found him, put him on a show called Shindig, called the band the Shindogs, with Mac Davis and Jackie DeShannon. Bramlett played with Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Janis, produced Clapton’s first album, wrote songs for The Carpenters, Luther, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Crystal Gale, Chrissie Hynd, became best friends with Duane Allman, taught Harrison the gospel sound and inspired “My Sweet Lord.” Said Clapton of Bramlett, “I was totally in awe of Delaney. He was the first to instill in me a sense of purpose. Delaney brought out something in me I didn’t know I had.”
Delaine died December 7, 2008 in L.A., and was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2011.
Galen Holley is an Ole Miss graduate and a freelance writer who lives in Pontotoc County. He writes about a variety of topics, including sports, theology, and culture. Contact him at galenholley@gmail.com.
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