Clint Black

One Liner: A purely beautiful voice on one of the key 90's country stars

Wikipedia Genre: Country,
Home: Katy, Texas

Sunday at 7:30 (against Ludacris)

Thoughts:  I have this very clear memory of one Clink Black song.  And it is for sure my favorite song of his, off of my favorite album of his.  I remember being in high school, and a friend brought over the CD of 1993's No Time to Kill to my house.  I don't recall why we did this in the bed of my truck, but teenagers frequently don't make sense.  Several of us sat in the bed of my tiny little red Ford Ranger truck, with the little sliding window on the rear glass open, so that we could all listen to "State of Mind."  I loved it then and I love it now.  In part, because truer words in a song have never been written.  7.7 million streams.

First of all, let me apologize for that video because it cuts off the pointlessly rad harmonica solo that normally leads into that song.  "Ain't it funny how a melody, can bring back a memory.  Take you to another place and time, completely change your state of mind."  One billion percent.  My whole life is triggered by memories of certain melodies.  I wake up every morning to melodies.  I try to spend every waking day hearing more melodies.  That song is a jam.

And yet, in the Clint Black discography, it doesn't even make his top ten.  Wack.

Clint Patrick Black is an absolute country star.  22 number one hits.  10 Grammy nominations with one win.  CMA's Best Newcomer.  Member of the Grand Ole Opry.  

He was born in New Jersey (of all places), but they moved to Katy, Texas when Clint was only a year old.  He taught himself harmonica and guitar, and wrote his first song at 15.  For years, Black supported himself as a construction worker, bait cutter (ugh), and fishing guide while trying to get noticed singing at local bars.  By 1987, when he was about 25, he finally signed with RCA.  In 1989, he released Killin' Time, and blew up.  That album boasted four straight number one songs on the Billboard Hot Country charts and was almost immediately certified platinum.  Of those big singles, the one that apparently had the staying power is "Killin' Time," the top single by a long ways with 82.6 million streams.

Classic.  Also, I want to go to that bar immediately.  Here's the deal with this guy - his voice is freaking perfection.  He's got the deep dimples and the smiling eyes and the perfect hat, but his voice is just the smoothest damn thing ever.  Great song, and his only track with more than 40 million streams.  "Better Man" from that one is also great.  1990's Put Yourself in My Shoes didn't have the hot singles, but still sold bunches.

Around the time of his third album, he sued his manager for taking too much under their contract - some $4 million in royalties.  Those difficulties delayed the release of Black's third album, which didn't come out until mid-1992.  The Hard Way did well enough, but Wikipedia seems to intimate that the delay in its release hurt Black because the country music scene changed while he was litigating.  I wonder if that is why he never became one of the top megastars.  Like in my 1993 mind, he was as big as Garth and Alan Jackson, but I don't feel like he gets mentioned in the same breath as those guys now.

As I mentioned before, the next album, 1993's No Time to Kill is my favorite of these albums.  The title track is great, the duet with Wynonna ("A Bad Goodbye") is a good power ballad, "Tuckered Out" is a good dance number, and "A Good Run of Bad Luck" is a slinky classic.  Also a top streamer now with 20.6 million spins.  After that album though, I know some of the hits but not the other parts of those discs.  1994's One Emotion was followed by 1997's Nothin' But the Taillights, with its excellent title track that reminds me of some Nascar ad I saw 25 years ago.  19 million streams.

Great stinkin' song.  Rock and roll mingled with country and some fun and clever bits in the storytelling.  If you listen along you'll grin.  1999's terribly named D'Lectrified boasts what must be a wedding song, called "When I Said I Do," with 18.5 million streams.  2004's Spend My Time has terrible streaming numbers (like, not one song over a million), and the same with 2005's Drinkin' Songs & Other Logic, 2007's The Love Songs, and almost all of 2015's On Purpose.  "Summertime Song" from that disc tries to get back to the glory of "State of Mind" and does an okay job of it.  But it's the album opener with just over a million listens.  2020's Out of Sane (confusing title) is his most recent disc, and it likewise didn't get much play.  Just so you can hear a more recent track, his cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" is the top track from that one with 795k.

More easy listening rock than country there.  His voice still sounds fantastic though.

I'd absolutely go to this show.  I love it.