{"id":28889,"date":"2025-03-03T05:30:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T10:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28889"},"modified":"2025-03-04T08:24:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T13:24:33","slug":"clint-black-knows-when-theres-a-song-in-there-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/clint-black-knows-when-theres-a-song-in-there-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Clint Black Knows When There\u2019s a Song In There (Part 1 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Clint Black is a country superstar. Though he spent nearly a decade toiling as a songwriter and performer before landing a record deal in 1987, his career took off like a shot from there. Black has since won a Grammy, an American Music Award, three TNN Music Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards and four CMA Awards. To date he has placed more than 30 singles on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s Country chart. He\u2019s made successful forays into film and television as well, but Black\u2019s primary focus remains songwriting and making music. Ahead of a tour that celebrates the 35th<\/sup> anniversary of his smash debut album, Black spoke with me about his early days and the enduring appeal of his music.<\/p>\n

Some artists are musicians, and once they get technical proficiency under their belt, they start writing songs. Other people start out as songwriters and learn an instrument so that they can communicate their songs. Which are you? <\/b><\/p>\n

I learned three chords and then as many songs as I could play with those. And soon after that, I started writing songs. And one of the first songs I wrote \u2013 I think I was 18 \u2013 was \u201cLoving Blind.\u201d But it stayed in the satchel until the second album [1990\u2019s Put Yourself in My Shoes<\/i>], when it was a number one hit for me. I wrote \u201cState of Mind\u201d [from 1993\u2019s No Time to Kill<\/i>] back when I was 18, too.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

You were playing music from a young age. Was there a moment when you realized, \u201cI want this to be my life; I want to do this for a living\u201d? <\/b><\/p>\n

Well, I was playing harmonica first. And I picked up the guitar a couple years later when I was 15 and started playing that around the neighborhood. My friends really thought I was good, and they encouraged me.<\/p>\n

But I really had grown up dreaming of being an astronaut. I decided I was either going to join the Air Force in an attempt to make my way into the space program, or I was going to pursue music. I think I was 17 or 18 when I made that call. Fortunately, [with my grades] the Air Force wouldn\u2019t have let me in either way.<\/p>\n

You certainly paid your dues in the early and mid \u201880s, but once you got signed, success with \u201cA Better Man\u201d and <\/b>Killin\u2019 Time<\/b><\/i> came quickly. At the time, were you surprised at how rapidly you shot to the top? <\/b><\/p>\n

It seemed like a long time. When I got my break, it was two years before \u201cA Better Man,\u201d the first single, was released. And that felt like an eternity, which was what led to the idea for Killin\u2019 Time<\/i>. Hayden [Nicholas, co-writer] and I were talking about how long it was taking and I said, \u201cI hope it gets started soon, because this killing time is killing me.\u201d And we looked at each other and knew: \u201cOh, there\u2019s a song in there, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

So once the first single came out, we were hitting it really hard. I was doing everything I could possibly do to promote it; I\u2019d go out and sing everywhere. I just kept my head down and kept going. I knew I had a lot of muscle behind me to get the word out and promote the song, but it took five and a half months before it reached number one.<\/p>\n

To me, that seemed like a long time, but I didn\u2019t know anything. And I also didn\u2019t know that just doesn\u2019t happen very often. So once I learned that, when I realized how unlikely that was, I never took it for granted. I never looked at it like, \u201cYes, this should happen.\u201d It was more like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe that happened!\u201d It became a marvel to me.<\/p>\n

During your major label years, did you come up against people in the business trying to tell you how to sound or what kind of songs to write? <\/b><\/p>\n

Well, my songwriting was a huge point of contention. I think by the time the second album came out, the first album was Double Platinum [2 million copies sold]. And the second album went Platinum, too. By the time the third album [1992\u2019s The Hard Way<\/i>] came out, it did well, but not as well as Killin\u2019 Time<\/i>. Then the label came at me and wanted me to record outside songs, but I had three albums\u2019 worth of songs written; all would go on to be on my subsequent albums. And I just felt like, \u201cWell, you know, I wrote these other<\/i> hits, and I should get to write the next<\/i> set of hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t push too hard, but they continued to come at me and insist that my hit songs were hits, but they weren\u2019t selling enough<\/i> records. And I thought, \u201cWell, I think Platinum\u2019s pretty good. If that\u2019s all I ever do again, you know, then I think that\u2019s okay. And I just want to do my work.\u201d It finally came to a head with the extra songs. I gave them new songs for the Greatest Hits<\/i> [released 1996]. I just had to once and for all establish that, \u201cI write my songs, and if I run out of them, I understand we have to go find some others.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t want me when my contract was up, and I didn\u2019t want them anymore. And every major label I talked to after I left RCA had seen all that, and rumors were leaked about our points of contention. The other labels didn\u2019t want the songwriter<\/i>, they wanted the singer<\/i>. And I wouldn\u2019t do it. So I never went back to the major label system after that. And I\u2019m still writing my own songs.<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019m just lucky to be able to make records and tour the way I want. I tour and play over 80 cities a year; I love my audience. I would have probably sold more records if I had let them go and find songs, but that\u2019s not why I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clint Black is a country superstar. Though he spent nearly a decade toiling as a songwriter and performer before landing a record deal in 1987, his career took off like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,41],"tags":[5608],"class_list":["post-28889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-country","category-interview","tag-clint-black","cat-20-id","cat-41-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28889"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29133,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28889\/revisions\/29133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}