Jimmy Thackery has a new album coming out, but he won't play any of it at his concert Sept. 26 at the Hot Rod Cafe, Sharon.

"I won't have the right band," Thackery said of his band, the Drivers.

"Whiskey Store," which will be released Tuesday, features the guitarist and singer with a stable full of ringers -- guitarist Tab Benoit, and the rhythm section of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble, bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton.

For good measure, Thackery invited harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite to sit in on a few tunes.

While some tour dates with the "Whiskey Store" participants are in the offing, Thackery is concentrating on the Drivers, and their latest album, "We Got It."

Released in May, "We Got It" is Thackery's tribute to rhythm 'n' blues master Eddie Hinton, who is known for his work with the Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett.

"We Got It" is Thackery's first album with Telarc, a label better known for its classical recordings.

Thackery, a Pittsburgh native, said he went with Telarc because it offered him the best deal when his contract with Blind Pig ran out, but the two sides have been dancing around a bit as they get to know each other.

Telarc is still finding its way into the blues field, he said.

"Some of it was good and some of it was not so good," Thackery, reached in Louisville, Ky., said of Telarc's other blues signings. "I think they were learning who to look for."

When it came time to do an album, Thackery hedged his bets. Not wanting to turn in a disc with a slew of originals that Telarc might fail to promote, he came up with the tribute to Hinton.

Thackery, who said he learned a lot about singing and songwriting from Hinton, mixed some Hinton classics with his own Hinton-inspired compositions.

It took a while to convince Telarc that the idea was worth pursuing, and some live tapes of the band doing songs that ended up on "We Got It" did the trick, Thackery said.

"Telarc turned out to be a pretty decent label," he said. "They've let me have a lot of creative control."

Creative control is likely to become harder to find as the blues scene has shrunk. Thackery said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have made people more wary of going out.

"I've seen so many clubs close in the last year or year and a half," said the former members of the Nighthawks and the Assassins.

The changing scene also has forced Thackery to change his plans for touring. He has wanted to do fewer shows in a year by dropping some of the "connect-the-dot" gigs in towns between big cities, and focus on his best markets.

"Some of them are just dumps," he said.

But, with fewer clubs, Thackery needs to book any gig he can, and is back up to playing more than 200 shows a year.

"You gotta pay the bills somehow," said Thackery, who is hoping to take some time in October to write material for a Drivers album.

At age 50, it takes a lot out of him to keep that schedule -- the grind is hard for a 30-year-old, he said -- but Thackery is not complaining.

"I've been lucky enough to have the same job since I was 14," he said. "I get to do what I love and I get paid for it. Not much, but I get paid for it.'

Thackery, who lives in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, has become a fairly regular visitor to the Hot Rod, drawn by the crowds who come to see him there.

"It seems to be growing," he said. "A lot of places, you get the same 150 people. This is gaining momentum."

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at jpinchot@sharonherald.com