Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290081
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It seems everyone is going unplugged these days. Heck, even Kermit the Frog has a new unplugged disc, titled "Kermit Unpigged."
But for Clint Black, who will bring half an unplugged show to the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium tonight, his reasons to unplug run deeper than the latest musical trend.
For the country singer, playing acoustic music in a smaller venue is a chance to nurture an intimacy with his audiences that he lost when he moved into big arenas.
His current tour is billed as the "Up Close ... In Concert" tour.
"There's almost conversations that take place because I can hear people on the back row," he explained in a telephone interview last week from his home in Nashville.
"Also, I miss playing as many songs as I want."
With no opening act, Black said he doesn't have to worry about limiting his playlist to his usual arena quota of about 20 songs. He can add some of his more obscure songs that didn't make it to the radio. He also can preview about half the songs from his new album, "One Emotion," due for release in early October.
The show, he said, is set up in two parts. In the first act, he plays an electric set with his full band, playing many of his hits like he would in an arena setting. Then in the second act, the band lines up along the front of the stage and plays an acoustic set.
For an encore, everybody plugs back in.
The format also gives Black a chance to showcase his guitar playing. He said he is a much better acoustic guitarist than electric guitarist, and in the acoustic setting he gets to show that off more. He also gets to cut loose on harmonica more often.
His management people and promoters initially cautioned Black about the "Up Close" approach, saying he may end up losing money on the shows. He admitted that the tour doesn't compare to the arenas. "It's not a money-making tour," he said.
However, there are other intangibles that can't be measured in dollars and cents. Black said the smaller shows give him the opportunity to connect with his audience again after several years of playing arenas.
"You can re-establish yourself."
Of his new songs, he said two of them go over with audiences particularly well. One of them, "Summer's Coming," will be released as a single next spring. "It just sounds like a hit," he said.
The other is a song he co-wrote with one of his musical heroes, Merle Haggard. Titled "Untanglin' My Mind," it has been released as Black's first single off his new album.
The song, he said, was basically Merle Haggard's idea. "One day, he just showed up and brought his guitar. He said, `I have a song I wrote that you might want to record, I don't know.'"
Black said he was struck by Haggard's almost apologetic tone. The song really was only about half complete, and he asked Black to finish it. The result was "Untanglin' My Mind."
On the new album, Black also co-wrote songs with Michael McDonald, formerly of the Doobie Brothers; Shake Russell, a regional music hero in Texas; and with his longtime writing partner, Hayden Nicholas.
Russell helped Black pen his hits, "One More Payment" and "Put Yourself in My Shoes." He also helped Black first break into the music business around Houston by giving him the opening spot at his club gigs.
Nicholas joined Black soon afterwards. Nicholas gave Black a cheap deal on some studio time in his garage studio: 10 songs for $150, or $300 if he landed a record deal.
They hit it off, teaming to write songs together. The first song they penned was "Straight From The Factor," which would later become the first cut on Black's first album.
Nicholas also joined Black's band as his lead guitarist, a job he continues today.
Black said they each bring something different to the team. Nicholas has musical training. Black learned by ear and mimicking. Nicholas is more a student of music. Black was more eager to perform.
"I realized that if I could play G-C-D, I could play 100 songs," he said.
When they write, sometimes Black will come up with the words, sometimes Nicholas will. Or Black will have an idea and Nicholas will run with it. Or Nicholas will have part of a song and Black will finish it. "It's different every time," he said.
Sometimes it's fun, he added. Sometimes it's work.
"It depends on how it's going."
He said when it's not going well, they start coming up with purposely stupid ideas just to ridicule them. "If it's going well, then we're caught up in the moment and we can't believe what we're doing."
At first, they combined writing sessions and vacation, but not anymore. Now he said he prefers to travel with his wife, actress Lisa Hartman-Black. "We're doing wonderful," he reported about their high-profile celebrity marriage.
She is currently filming a TV movie in Canada, he said. She also will be starring in "Dazzle," a CBS mini-series in November. They soon will celebrate their third wedding anniversary.
Black's "Up Close" tour winds down with dates in Richmond Friday and in Bloomsburg, Pa., on Saturday. Next, he will concentrate on a Christmas album for next year.
But here again, Black will be bucking convention. When it seems every Nashville newcomer these days cranks out the cookie-cutter country Christmas covers album in their sleep, Black's yuletide offering promises to be different.
Instead of covers, all the songs will be originals. Some will be recorded with a jazz combo, some with the London Strings. Nothing Nashville. "I want to make it sound like an old Christmas record," he said.
Who knows? Maybe he will come up with a new Christmas classic.
"Well, you never know," he said.
Clint Black: Tonight at 8, Roanoke Civic Center. Tickets, $21.50, $25 reserved. 981-1201. Available through Ticketron, or charge by phone at 343-8100.
by CNB