2009 marks the 20th anniversary of Clint Black’s first album, “Killin’ Time.” In that span, he has had 13 songs hit #1 on the Billboard Country charts, with a further 20 singles climbing into the Country Top 20. Lately Clint has appeared on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality show.
With so much success, one might think Black would coast on his past triumphs. However, that was certainly not the case as he took the Wild Adventures concert stage on Saturday, June 13th, performing for 1 hour & 45 minutes and featuring a wide variety of his greatest hits along with choice album cuts. One gentleman drove 3.5 hours from Statesboro to hear Clint, bringing his family along, demonstrating the wide appeal of Clint’s music.
Clint's Definitive Hit Songs
The audience was a hybrid of young and old, with parents bringing their children, thus introducing Black’s music to a new generation of fans. Although a hot and steamy South Georgia night, excitement was in the air from the beginning notes of “The Shoes You’re Wearing,” a #1 from the summer of ’98. His wife, actress Lisa Hartman-Black, who he’s been happily married to for nearly 18 years, wasn’t in attendance, “because she heard it was hot here.”
Often playing lead guitar, Black was the consummate performer, providing welcome banter & funny anecdotes after each song, including a charming story about his dad telling him he wasn’t old enough to write a country song when he was 22. That prompted Clint to pen the #3 hit song “Nothing’s News.”
“A Better Man,” Clint’s first single, “the one that started it all in 1949,” he joked, came soon after. Today it’s amazing to consider that his first single reached #1, a rare feat for any artist in any music genre. On several songs Clint demonstrated his prowess on the harmonica, including “Put Yourselves In My Shoes” and “One More Payment.”
Throughout the show, several songs seemed to fit the mood of the evening, such as “Summer’s Comin’ and “Like The Rain.” Clint joked after “Nothin’ But The Taillights” that it was so hot the band had to cut out its wardrobe changes and dance numbers. He then mentioned that singer Tanya Tucker asked him to write a song for her, but they weren’t going to play it, segueing into the un-related honky-tonk of “Tuckered Out,” taken from 1993’s “No Time To Kill” album.
Willie Nelson: Time of the Preacher
As the fiddle’s plaintive cries signaled the song’s conclusion (about midway through the show), the band exited the stage, leaving Clint solely by himself, except for a stool and acoustic guitar. “This is how it used to be before I had a record deal, just me, my guitar, and a bartender,” he admitted. The majority of the crowd sat silently as Clint played his heart out on songs that influenced him as a young musician, especially “Time of the Preacher” by Willie Nelson.
Acknowledging his 2007 appearance at Wild Adventures, Clint prefaced Nelson’s song by telling those concert-goers who saw him then to not give away the song’s title. He then went on a short monologue, relating to the crowd a story that happened back in the ‘90s when he presented an award at the Academy of Country Music in Los Angeles.
“On that evening, a big security guy from Willie’s staff told me that Willie would like him to stop by Willie’s bus before the award presentation. I obliged, and as I entered Willie’s bus, I couldn’t see him. I assumed Willie must have been ‘burnin’ toast.’ Willie slowly emerged from the haze and offered me some ‘toast.” I politely said no, but by the time I presented that award, I was ‘toast.’ I reckon second-hand ‘toast’ can do the trick, too.”
Clint Black's appearance at Wild Adventures on a humid South Georgia evening in June 2009 contained many other notable highlights which can be found here.
Setlist
- The Shoes You're Wearing (on 1997 "Nothin' But The Taillights" album)
- A Good Run of Bad Luck (on 1993 "No Time To Kill" album)
- State of Mind (on 1993 "No Time To Kill" album)
- Nothing's News (on 1989 "Killin' Time" album)
- Killin' Time (on same 1989 album)
- A Better Man (1st ever single; appears on 1989 "Killin' Time" album)
- Summer's Comin' (from 1994 "One Emotion" album)
- Like The Rain (single from 1996 "Greatest Hits" album)
- Put Yourselves In My Shoes (from same 1991 album)
- Nothin' But The Taillights (from same 1997 album)
- Tuckered Out (not a single; cut on 1993 "Tuckered Out" album)
- Live And Learn (not a single; cut on 1989 "Killin' Time;" 1st album)
- Time of the Preacher (Willie Nelson cover)
- Straight From The Factory (not a single; cut on 1989 "Killin' Time;" 1st album)
- Spend My Time (from same 2004 album)
- Band Intros
- One More Payment (from "Put Yourself In My Shoes" 1991 album)
- Something That We Do (from "Nothin' But The Taillights" 1997 album)
- Been There (from "D'lectrified" 1999 album)
- Encore
- We Tell Ourselves (from "The Hard Way" 1992 album)
- Josie (Steely Dan cover)
- Desperado (Eagles cover)
Band Members
- Hayden Nicholas: lead guitar / Clint's songwriting partner since 1989
- Bryan Austin: rhythm guitar / saxophone / backing vocals
- Jake Willemain: bass guitar
- Dick Gay: drums
- Dane Bryant: piano
- Dan Kelly: fiddle
Jeremy Roberts - A 2008 graduate of the University of Georgia with a Masters of Agricultural Leadership, Jeremy enjoys telling a story. Writing about ...
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