It’s been a long time since Clint Black was at the top of the country charts, but he’s not a fallen star, though. His last album, Drinkin’ Songs and Other Logic, was critically well-received both critically and in the charts. But the real downside is that the album came out a decade ago. That’s a long time to wait, but with the unveiling of his independently-released On Purpose, Black is back—and that’s good news for country music.
Andy Langer’s profile of Black in the latest issue of Texas Monthly explains where Black’s been hiding and what his expectations are for the new record (spoiler: he’s not expecting to outsell Luke Bryan). And it sounds like he’s pretty happy about where he is as he attempts to reconnect with fans with new material:
Black, whom this magazine described as having a “distinctly methodical and sober streak when it comes to business” all the way back in 1989, says his expectations are modest. “I know where we are in the industry and where I am with Thirty Tigers,” he says. “They’re not Sony, for all that is and isn’t. If I reach my core fans, that’s success enough for me. But with the Internet, I have a ten-lane highway to reach them. When I started out, it was two lanes: major label or nothing. Now we have YouTube. In 1990 we had the Nashville Network and maybe you got on the Tonight Show. Now you just have to let your fans know where to find you. And we have a lot of ways to do that.”
Check out “Doing It All For Love,” a fine slice of traditional, harmonies-and-guitar-solos country music, with Black’s voice shining through as brightly as ever.
And listen to what Black has to say about the song from inside the studio below:
Meanwhile, moody “The Trouble” rides a slinky bassline and slide guitars to the sort of big-time chorus Black has been belting out his whole career.
Black gets into the details of that one in the clip from studio below, too, the song’s roots stemming from a never-produced Australian musical theater production Black worked on a few years back).
