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ABOUT CLINT BLACK
By Robert K. Oermann
Nashville, Tennessee
Yes, the melodies are memorable. For if you love country music, they're virtually a
soundtrack of the '90s. And when delivered by the unmistakable voice of Clint Black,
they can, indeed change your "State of Mind."
In the bleakest part of the winter of 1989, there was something fresh on the radio
airwaves, a song called "A Better Man" that looked at a failed relationship through
optimistic eyes. That summer, "Killin' Time" was a darker vision, a lyric loaded with
metaphor and levels of meaning that took you to the scary edge of alcohol abuse. They
were the opening salvos of an extraordinary career and the introduction to a troubadour
so prolific he would fill six complete albums with original songs in as many years to
come.
The memories they bring back are impressively vivid, from Clint's bluesy harmonica
passages in "Put Yourself in My Shoes" to the soaring vocals traded with Wynonna on
the lushly melodic "A Bad Goodbye," from the machine-gun syllables and propulsive
percussion of "A Good Run of Bad Luck" to the trenchant, keenly crafted lyrics of the
waltz "Burn One Down.
"The visual images are just as memorable -- the squinty-eyed grin of a kid winning his
first Country Music Association Award, the brave smile of a volunteer going to entertain
in Somalia, the quick jump through the tumble of his concert-stage "earthquake" arch, the
bluejeans-and-tuxedo duds of a Texas country wedding, the happy glow on his face
standing next to American icon Roy Rogers, the tireless good manners displayed during
any of a thousand autograph sessions or the jaunty performances in Keebler TV ads.
These are the memories of Clint Black, melodies and images that take us to a place and
time that's really only the day before yesterday.
The baby of Ann and G.A. Black's four boys came to the music business with boundless
optimism and purity of intent. Clint's father is a passionate country fan who instilled the
same fervor in his boys Mark, Brian, Kevin and Clint. But it was the youngest who
shaped that passion into a truly individual vision. Clint stole one of Brian's harmonicas at
age 13 and taught himself to play it. Two years later the teenager learned the rudiments of
guitar. Almost overnight Clint was pursuing the muse of music with astonishing focus
and devotion.
In retrospect, only a fool or a truly dedicated musician would drop out of high school to
play bass in his brother Kevin's band. It's a measure of Clint's passion that he did that in
1978 and a mark of his strikingly mature professionalism that he had his own solo gigs
within three years. A 1981 booking in Houston's Barton Springs led to eight solid years
of playing on the local club circuit.
It was during this apprenticeship that Clint Black met guitarist Hayden Nicholas. The
team would later co-create such classic moments as the airy bounce of "Summer's
Comin'," the silvery sizzling crescendo of "We Tell Ourselves" and the rolling rumble of
"No Time to Kill." Hayden had an eight-track home studio. Together, the novices began
making tapes of the tunes that would bring them fame. Clint was 25 when a chain of
events suddenly brought him to Nashville to play a tape in Joe Galante's RCA Records
office.
At the time, Nashville was just beginning to flex its "young country" muscles. George
Strait and Randy Travis had demonstrated that there was a hunger for imaginitively
produced records based on country traditions. Alabama and Sawyer Brown had alerted
the industry to a potentially vast youth market. But most of the "new country" headliners
had yet to emerge. In 1988, Alan Jackson was still in the mail room at The Nashville
Network; songwriter Garth Brooks had been turned down by virtually every record label
in town; Ronnie Dunn was still in Oklahoma; Billy Ray Cyrus was still in Kentucky; in
Louisiana, young Tim McGraw had just bought his first guitar, and Lorrie Morgan, Vince
Gill and Pam Tillis were still seeking breakthrough hits on Music Row.
In this climate, Clint Black's arrival was splashy and spectacular. He raised eyebrows by
incorporating his band members into his recording sessions, stunned everyone with his
composing prowess and bowled Music Row over by scoring five No. 1 singles from his
debut album, a feat then unprecedented in any field of music.
"Clint Black. You'll be hearing his name a lot," opined USA Today. "There may never
have been a country performer who has created a bigger stir right out of the box. Or one
placed...in such a perfect position to become the next superstar."
In 1989-90 Clint became a lightning rod for the electricity in a new jolt of country talent.
He was in the vanguard of the "new-country" army that was then marching over the popmusic horizon. Roughly six months after Clint's emergence, Garth Brooks released the
first of a series of chart-toppers. The following January Alan Jackson issued Here in the
Real World to launch a multi-million selling career. In 1991, Brooks & Dunn began their
trip to the top as country touring champions.
There were many in the movement. But no one else had Clint Black's distinctive quality
as a tunesmith, the ability to twist a melody into a serpentine delight, the talent to invest
lyrics with multiple shadings and innuendo. Clint has the rare gift of being able to craft
songs that are both artful and commercial, hits that can be taken either as audio candy or
as insightful poetry.
The first album went Triple Platinum and each successive release also became a millionseller. By the end of 1990 Clint was headlining his own concert tour and collecting CMA,
ACM, ASCAP, TNN and AMA honors by the shelf-full. That December, he played a
triumphant hometown show in Houston at The Summit. Backstage, he met Houston-bred
actress Lisa Hartman.
Clint was developing quite a reputation. Observers couldn't help noting his unflagging
energy, professionalism, friendliness, magnetism and media cooperation. "I wanted to be
the perfect artist," he recalls. "I'd do three hours of media interviews a day, going to every
radio station I could squeeze in. I'd sign autographs after the show until everybody left."
That dedication would practically exhaust him in years to come, but in 1991 Clint was
still in the warm limelight of new stardom.
That was the year he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry and began collaborating with
country legends like Merle Haggard and Roy Rogers. In September he and Lisa
announced their engagement in Nashville at the glamorous, black-tie ASCAP awards
banquet. When they wed on his farm outside Houston in October, magazine photos were
circulated around the world.
But fame and success carry a high price. In early 1992, a flurry of lawsuits with his exmanager threatened to topple his career. RCA made a commitment to continue with him,
but the mess of legal action delayed the release of The Hard Way and stalled his progress.
This was particularly disheartening since the collection was the first he'd co-produced
himself. But Clint dug in his heels, issued "We Tell Ourselves" as his comeback single in
June and launched a touring extravaganza that put him in front of 1.5 million people
during the next six months. The show utilized 54 crew members, six buses and five
tractor-trailers and featured his famed "earthquake" arch effect.
In 1993 Playboy named his "Black and Wy" national tour with Wynonna its Concert of
the Year. Their summer duet "A Bad Goodbye" became an omnipresent radio hit and
paved the way for the back-to-back successes of "No Time to Kill" and "State of Mind."
Clint and Lisa became the first entertainers to visit U.S. troops stationed in war-andfamine ravaged Somalia. He rounded out the year by singing the theme song for TV's
"Harts of the West" and contributing "Desperado" to the Common Threads Eagles tribute,
named Album of the Year by the CMA.
Billboard magazine named Clint Black the Most-Played Country Radio Artist of 1994.
That was the year he staged his acting debut in TV's "Wings" and the movie Maverick.
"A Good Run of Bad Luck," performed for the Maverick soundtrack, became Clint's first
directing job on a music video. He made history with his next two by creating them as the
first clips shot on large-format, 65mm film. He sang for a TV audience of 50 million at
the National Memorial Day Celebration in Washington, then for a viewership of one
billion at Superbowl XXVIII. But instead of following the industry trend of bigger and
more spectacular concerts, he stripped things down to an "Up Close" series of
performances that put him in intimate theater settings for intensely personal two-hour
showcases.
If a man who has carved out such a special and individualistic body of hits isn't "the
perfect artist," he's pretty damn close to it.
Awards & Discography
2004
GRAMMY Award Nomination - Best County Collaboration With Vocals
(Hey Good Lookin' – Jimmy Buffett, Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby
Keith, George Strait)
CMA Award Nomination Musical Event of the Year
(Hey Good Lookin' – Jimmy Buffett, Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby
Keith, George Strait)
2002
AXA Liberty Bowl 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award (given for St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital charity contributions)
2001
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Celebrity of the Year Award
2000
ACM Award - Top Vocal Event of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
TNN Award Collaborative Event of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
GRAMMY Award Nomination Best Country Collaboration with Vocal
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
TNN Award Nomination - Song of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
TNN Award Nomination - Single of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
CMT Music Video of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
CMA Award Nomination - Vocal Event of the Year
(When I Said I Do with Lisa Hartman Black)
CRS (Country Radio Seminar)
Humanitarian of the Year
RIAA Gold Record (D'lectrified)
1999
GRAMMY - Award Best Country Collaboration with Vocal (Same Old Train – Clint
Black, Joe Diffie, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl
Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, Dwight
Yoakam)
GRAMMY Award Nomination Best Male Country Vocal Performance
(Nothin' But The Taillights)
CMA Award Nomination - Vocal Event of the Year
(Same Old Train – Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Alison
Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy
Travis, Travis Tritt, Dwight Yoakam)
#4 Top Country Artist of the Decade - Billboard Monitor
1998
NSAI - Achievement Award for Country Music
(Nothin' But The Taillights)
1996
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards - Favorite Male Country Artist Award
RIAA Platinum Record (Greatest Hits)
RIAA Triple Platinum Record (Put Yourself In My Shoes)
Received star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
RIAA Gold Record (Nothin' But The Taillights)
NSAI - Song of the Year (Something That We Do)
Music Row Magazine Song of the Year
(Something That We Do)
GRAMMY Award Nomination - Best Country Collaboration with Vocal
(Still Holdin' On with Martina McBride)
GRAMMY Award Nomination - Best Male Country Vocal Performance
(Something That We Do)
CMA Award Nomination Vocal Event of the Year
(Still Holdin' On with Martina McBride)
The Albums
Killin’ Time, 1989 (RCA)
Put Yourself in My Shoes, 1990 (RCA)
The Hard Way, 1992 (RCA)
No Time To Kill, 1993 (RCA)
One Emotion, 1994 (RCA)
Looking For Christmas, 1994 (RCA)
Greatest Hits, 1996 (RCA)
Nothin’ But The Tailights, 1997 (RCA)
D’lectrified, 1999 (RCA)
Greatest Hits II, 2001 (RCA)
Spend My Time, 2004 (Equity Music Group)
Christmas With You, 2004 (Equity Music Group)
Drinkin’ Songs and Other Logic, 2005 (Equity Music Group)
Triple Platinum
Triple Platinum
Platinum
Platinum
Platinum
Double Platinum
Platinum
Gold
The Singles
1989:
#1
#1
#1
“A Better Man”
“Killin’ Time”
“Nobody’s Home”
1990:
#1
#1
#4
“Walkin’ Away”
“Nothing’s News”
“Put Yourself In My Shoes”
1991:
#1
#5
#1
“Loving Blind”
“One More Payment”
“Where Are You Now”
1992:
#1
#1
“We Tell Ourselves”
“Burn One Down”
1993:
#1
#2
#1
#2
“When My Ship Comes In”
“A Bad Goodbye” (with Wynonna)
“No Time To Kill”
“State Of Mind”
1994:
#1
#2
#2
“A Good Run Of Bad Luck”
“Half The Man”
“Untanglin’ My Mind”
1995:
#1
#1
#3
“Wherever You Go”
“Summer’s Comin”
“Life Gets Away”
1996:
#1
#1
#6
“One Emotion”
“Like The Rain”
“Half Way Up”
1997:
#8
#1
“Still Holdin’ On” (with Martina McBride)
“Something That We Do”
1998:
#1
#1
#12
“Nothin’ But The Tailights”
“The Shoes You’re Wearing”
“Loosen Up My Strings”
1999:
#1
“When I Said I Do” (with Lisa Hartman Black)
2005:
#5
“Been There” (with Steve Wariner)
“Love She Can’t Live Without”
2001:
“Easy For Me To Say” (with Lisa Hartman Black)
2004:
“Money Or Love”
2005:
#11
“Spend My Time”