"Is anybody sweatin' yet?," Delbert McClinton asked, about halfway through his raucous, satisfying set Friday night at Jannus Landing. The Texas troubadour, playing his third St. Petersburg show in as many years, barely got through a half-dozen songs before the intensity of the pre-summer humidity had him drying off with a hand towel and partaking of liquid refreshment from a plastic cup. "It feels good, don't it?"

Never mind the heat. It was McClinton's rugged roadhouse-style blues, twang and R&B that forced perspiration on the crowd of about 700 listeners. His fans, largely in the thirtysomething-and-older category, seldom stood still as the veteran singer-songwriter led six talented, musically simpatico instrumentalists through material dating back nearly three decades.

Recent converts to McClinton's influential sound weren't left behind, as he turned in a handful of the tunes heard on 1997's "One of the Fortunate Few," his most recent studio album (a new disc is due later this year).

"Lie No Better," built on a funky riff churned up by versatile guitarist Todd Sharp, came complete with a sassy rap in the middle and a sarcastic chorus: "If you can't lie no better than that, you might as well tell the truth." The singer and his band demonstrated the art of dramatic tension on slow ballad "You Were Never Mine," and McClinton placed tongue firmly in cheek for the loose-limbed "Monkey Around." Sharp's atmospheric slide-guitar work added much to the urgency of "Somebody to Love You."

Longtime fans got much of what they wanted, beginning with the shuffling opener, "You Gonna Miss Me," first heard on 1973's "Subject to Change" album. McClinton also delivered the goods on "I'm With You," punched up with the popping horn lines of trumpeter Terry Townson and saxophonist Don Wise; the boogie-intensive "I Wanna Thank You Baby"; John Hiatt's tender "Have a Little Faith in Me"; "Standing on Shaking Ground"; and the party-hearty "Going Back to Louisiana."

The singer, five months shy of 60, took a short breather late in the show, turning over the stage to his back-up musicians for segments featuring Sharp and the hard-pounding boogie of pianist Kevin McKendree. And then McClinton was back, for the honky-tonk swagger of "Everytime I Roll the Dice," and 1981 Top 10 hit "Giving It Up For Your Love," pumped up with the vocal harmonies of guest singer Wendy Rich, of Pinellas County band Wendy and the Soul Shakers. Our only complaint: The man who taught John Lennon how to blow that harmonica on "Love Me Do" didn't pick up his blues harp nearly as often as we would have liked.

The three-hour concert began with the Backtrack Blues Band's brief, exuberant set of Muddy Waters and Little Walter covers and originals. The pairing represented something of a reunion. Both acts played the 1998 Tampa Bay Blues Festival, and Backtrack's front man, Sonny Charles, is better known as Chuck Ross, the attorney responsible for organizing the annual blues bash.

This review originally appeared in the St. Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.com)