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Clint Black

Clint Black, country music superstar, talks about the music, the natural beauty and all the things that make Tennessee so unique.

With his 1989 single, “A Better Man,” Clint Black launched a string of six Number One hits, a CMA Horizon Award, a Male Vocalist of the Year award, and an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry—all in only three years, with a marriage to actress Lisa Hartman to boot. With a Grammy and eight top awards from the Academy of Country Music and the CMA, the veteran singer/songwriter has seen more than 30 of his songs on the Billboard country charts, including 27 Top Fives and 13 Number Ones. He made history directing his own music videos, the first to use large-format, 65mm film. He founded the artist-friendly label Equity Records in 2004 and continues to produce, tour and make music while supporting a number of charities. He was named 2001 Celebrity of the Year by St. Jude Children’s Hospital for his ongoing support. Well known for his humanitarian work, especially on behalf of children, Black has provided support to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Child Haven and has entertained American troops in Somalia and elsewhere. His Clint Black Foundation includes a fund to help families of fallen soldiers.

Transcription

You've lived several places. Where do you consider home?
Nashville is my home now. I’ll always have roots in Texas, my family is back there. Lisa has family all over the place, but Nashville is home. We sold our house in California, we’re trying to deepen our roots here, and this is the place I look forward to coming back to.

What do you miss most about Tennessee when you’re way?
The thing I miss most besides my family and getting home to them is just the simplicity. To me it feels like, after spending so much time in Houston and Los Angeles, that Tennessee is just getting away from it all, and a simple way of life.

What do you think makes Tennessee so popular?
Well, I may be biased but I think that country music makes Tennessee a great place to visit, and probably the blues as well in Memphis, and more than that. If you get away from the music side of it, it’s just the beauty, the beauty of the state. I was driving to rehearsals yesterday and just thinking how beautiful and scenic the drive was just going to work.

What are the must-see things in Tennessee?
Well, if you go to Tennessee you have to go to Music City, Nashville, to the Grand Ole Opry and the Hall of Fame; go to Bristol and see where country music was born; go to Memphis and visit Beale Street and Graceland; and you gotta get up into eastern Tennessee near Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains. And if you can do it in the fall, it’s like looking at a box of Fruit Loops, set in the mountains.

What do you love most about Tennessee?
You know, I have always been one of those people that’s happy wherever I am. But the thing I love most about Tennessee is just coming home to something simple, and beautiful. And if you get stuck in traffic, it’s not going to take more than 15 minutes. It feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere, but you have everything you need.

What do you do for fun when you’re not working?
I love to go mountain biking in Tennessee, and I don’t get to fish as much as I used to. I have a six-year-old daughter, so my life’s taking a different direction. We go to the kids’ science museum and to the pumpkin patch. It’s mostly about her, and she’s a girly girl. Besides that, I just make music, get together with great song writers, get in the studio. I’ve done a little hunting but not nearly enough.

Where do you like to go out and eat?
In Tennessee, my favorite restaurants? The first thing that comes to mind--and my wife wouldn’t be happy to hear this--but it’s Rotiers, and it’s been there since the ’40s. I don’t know the name of the street, but I just follow my nose. They have the best greasy hamburgers…no health food comes to mind. I’d say Rendezvous barbeque in Memphis; we always try and make a stop there.

How much time have you spent in other Tennessee cities?
That’s a tough one. I visit a lot of places, but I mostly just see them from the bus. I got a great shave in Clarksville once; they still had a barber shop you could go in, sit down and get the best shave of your life. And I love going to east Tennessee. I think that’s just an unparalleled beauty up there.

Where do you like to go fishing in Tennessee?
Actually, I did do quite a bit of fishing up on Old Hickory. I did a lot of fishing, not as much catching as I would have liked, but I did try. The best thing about fishing for me is being there on the water in the quiet, no tough questions, just me and my pole and the water, and nothing really has to happen.

What other places in Tennessee do you like to take your family?
Chattanooga, with our daughter Lily, the aquarium, the IMAX theatre. Lily was too young to enjoy the huge bugs up close. The restaurants on the river--I don’t know how to describe it; it’s almost like going to Europe. It just feels like you’re on a great vacation. We were driving me to the airport last week, and we passed the turn for the aquarium and it came up, “We need to just go, and buy clothes when we get there.” I ended up having to catch the plane, but we love Chattanooga.

Where do you like to go to listen to live music?
You know I am partial to the Ryman Auditorium. I think it’s the best place to see or play a show. But if you like the blues you’ve got to go to Beale Street. It’s like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It feels like you’ve gone back in time in the South, and you could hop on a paddle wheeler and gamble or something. It’s just endless blues, which I love. And from there, I’m just stuck on Nashville and the Ryman. It’s like going back in time, if you have Jimmy Dickens or Porter Waggoner up there, you might as well be back in the ’40s or ’50s, waiting for Patsy Cline to come out.

What’s your favorite Tennessee memory?
It’s really being on the water up in Old Hickory, looking back at all the time I spent up there. And now, I’m building new memories with my wife and daughter, doing things like going out to Radnor Lake and watching the turtles jump off the logs, which is exciting for my daughter, so it’s exciting for me.

What music would you choose for a road trip?
You know there’s just one CD that comes to mind for a Tennessee road trip, and I think it comes to mind because, when I’m driving through Tennessee it just feels like I wanna hear some indigenous music. And I would say that it would be Mark O’Connor and the New Nashville Cats, and that’s as good as bluegrass gets. They get off into jazz too, but the bluegrass they’re doing, it’s some of the best bluegrass players in the world on one CD. That’s what I would listen to. In fact, I was driving on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and I just had to turn it up and laugh just thinking about being a Beverly hillbilly, just driving by all those expensive stores blasting bluegrass.