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10 pressing questions: Good guys do wear black hats
Clint Black's life isn't like a country song. He's happily married, and he's an old softie at heart.
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 7, 2002
[AP photo 2001]
Country singer Clint Black is married to actor Lisa Hartman-Black. They have a 17-month-old daughter.
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Why is country singer Clint Black always smiling? Why, pray tell, does Black write so many songs about shoes? See: Put Yourself In My Shoes, The Shoes You're Wearing. And is it true that this Texas troubadour sporting the big black cowboy hat was born . . . in New Jersey?!
We got Black, 40, on the phone to solve the mysteries, answering 10 Pressing Questions from Nashville, where he and his wife of 11 years, actor Lisa Hartman-Black, and their daughter, Lily, 17 months, are moving into a big new house.
(1) What's up with your shoe obsession? Are you the Imelda Marcos of country music?
That's exactly right! (Laughs) No, shoes are a great metaphor. You can discuss time, relationships, all sorts of changes, just about anything, through shoes.
Tell me about your shoes.
Well, I prefer sneakers, but they don't go too well with the hat and the jacket.
You own a lot of cowboy boots, Mr. Black?
I have my share, but I'm not boot crazy. I'm not really a shoe collector. I'm practical.
(2) What do you collect?
I collect artifacts. I'm kind of a history buff. Mostly I'm interested in the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, because of what it meant to us as a country.
Ever do re-enactments?
No,I haven't ever done that. I have a friend who does all sorts of things like that. He gave me a Confederate artillery hat a long time ago (when Black was a teenager). I wore it for Halloween.
(3) You recorded some jazzier fare on your last album, D'lectrified. What's your record collection like?
You might be surprised. I have all the country stuff, of course. But I like the blues a lot. Traditional blues and a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny and Edgar Winter. I play harmonica, you know, so I'm a big fan of the J. Geils Band because they had Magic Dick, who is such a great harp player.
What's the weirdest music you own?
Probably Frank Zappa.
The first album you ever bought?
Uriah Heep's Look at Yourself when I was a kid. My dad would buy all the country music, so the rest of us kids bought the rock.
(4) What's this about you being born in New Jersey?
I was. It's true. My mom is from Alabama, and my dad is from Texas. But every time my mom was pregnant, she would go home to be with her mother during her last trimester. She did it with all of us except for one brother. (Black has three brothers, all older.) I was back in Texas before I was a year old, but you can see I still haven't lost the (Jersey) accent. (Laughs)
(5) You and Lisa are the only surviving couple from all those 1980s music star/TV star unions. Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear divorced. Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli broke up. Aren't you afraid of the curse?
No, no. (Laughs) I think some relationships are just doomed from the start. That's not a curse; that's what you call noncommittal.
What keeps you guys together?
Well, we fell in love with each other, and that, of course, is where you begin. Plus, we understand the commitment. We vowed to be one of those couples that grows closer and closer until you're old and gray and you know everything there is to know about each other.
We want to be those old people you see sitting on the porch who have been together forever.
We know you just have to talk about things and not let the baggage build up. Your problems are like little drops of mercury on a table. You have to wipe them up as they accumulate or you'll never be able to identify what's what because they'll just keep accumulating.
Is that your advice?
I had the chance to work with Roy Rogers long ago, and Will gave me a great bit of advice when he found out we were getting married: "Don't ever go to bed angry." We live by that.
And now we have this fantastic inspiration and entertainment (Lily) that makes it even more fun. And we created this together!
(6) Tell me about Lily.
Lily Pearl. (Sighs) She's so sweet.
You celebrate her on The Little Pearl and Lily's Lullaby.
She gets cooing credit on that one. I taped her babbling and making noise when she was just a few weeks old. I put it on that song.
(7) Lisa sang on your recent records. What do you think of your wife's singing chops?
I love her voice. I always try to get her to sing more around the house. Whenever I hear her singing, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling.
I actually keep a tape of her with me on the road. It's a recording of her singing when she was 5 years old, Christmas songs. Her parents made it. When I'm away from home for too long, I play that.
(8) You're smiling in every picture we see of you.
It's only because everyone is saying, "Come on, Clint, smile!" Because I have such a mean look. (Laughs)
(9) You laugh a lot. Is humor important to you?
Comedy is the love of my life. We were born to laugh in my family. I love Monty Python. I love that really absurd comedy, but I also love romantic comedies for movies.
(10) Do you have any favorites?
On Golden Pond is my favorite movie. I'm one of those people, I can watch a movie over and over again.
Doesn't Katharine Hepburn call Henry Fonda the "Big Poop" in that movie?
Something like that.
Maybe Lisa can call you that when you're old and sitting on the porch as you envision.
That would be fun. And, with Lily, that's a word we use around the house all the time now anyway. (Laughs)
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PREVIEW: Clint Black performs 8 p.m. Friday with Daniel Lee Martin at Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $45.50-$53.50. (727) 791-7400.
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