Clint Black - Nothin' But the Taillights

When Clint Black neared the end of his 1995 tour, he realized he had been on the album-tour-album-tour treadmill for seven years without a break. Even Black had to realize that he risked repeating himself and losing the freshness that distinguished his 1989 debut. To his credit, he was smart enough to shut it down for a while--he stayed home for two years and recharged his batteries. Nothin' But the Taillights, released in 1997, is not, despite the wishes of many of us, a return to the hardcore honky-tonk sound of his first album, but it is a top-notch pop-country recording and represents Black's best work since 1992's The Hard Way.

The most obvious key to that achievement is Black's willingness to reach beyond his own insular camp to collaborate with other country-music talents. The singer and his longtime songwriting partner Hayden Nicholas teamed up on five of the new songs, but Black cowrote the seven other songs with new folks, who have injected some new juice into the Black formula. When he wanted to write a sequel to "Cadillac Jack Favor," his real-life saga of a rodeo champion serving time and trying to preserve a marriage while imprisoned on a homicide charge, Black knew he'd need both a woman's perspective and a outsider's viewpoint. Matraca Berg of "Strawberry Wine" fame provided the former, and Marty Stuart, a member in good standing of country-music's outlaw wing, supplied the latter. The resulting bittersweet ballad included both the male and female angles on the story, so it made sense to do it as a duet with labelmate Martina McBride. That song gets the full pop-country treatment, but the singer proves he can also thrive in a stripped-down bluegrass arrangement when he joins Alison Krauss & Union Station on "Our Kind of Love." While he was camped out at home, Black spent a lot of time wood-shedding on the guitar, and he shows off the results by playing a lot of electric guitar as well as acoustic on the new album. No one would mistake Black for Chet Atkins, Steve Wariner, Larry Carlton, Dann Huff, Hayden Nicholas, or Mark Knopfler, but he has improved sufficiently to hold his own with those six gentlemen as they all take guitar solos on "Ode to Chet," a tongue-in-cheek song about learning guitar to impress a young woman.

Nothin' But the Taillights isn't a perfect album, with two tracks lapsing into maudlin schlock that tempts Black into over-singing. Nonetheless, the singer seems reinvigorated by his layoff, his new partnerships, and his new guitar chops even as he's hung on to the best qualities of his early career. --Geoffrey Himes Amazon.com

Clint's Best Work

This is a great CD, not a weak track on it. Lots of great lyrics, guitar work, and a great variety of music. It seems that most Clint Black fans still think his 1st album was his best, but to me, Nuthin' But the Taillights is even better & more sophisticated than Clint's earlier work. I highly recommend this CD, one of my all time favorites, and I never get tired of it. December 29, 2007

Nothin' But Good Stuff

Clint Black is a high class singer and he proves it once again on this album with songs like 'You Don't Need Me Now' and 'You Know It All', both beautifully crafted songs with dramatic pauses and tinkling piano. Clint the blues singer also shines on tunes like 'Bitter Side Of Sweet' and 'What I Feel Inside'. 'Something That We Do' is a perfect example of how a country ballad should be: simple but very effective melody and lyrics coupled with a great country voice. Even if this album is different from his previous efforts, he succeeded in remaining country. Way to go, man. January 10, 2003

Great Music

Clint Black has always been a great singer. This CD just shows that he still has it. I really enjoy the song Nothing but the Tailights. It is humorous. November 24, 2002

Great Clint!!

This is probably my favorite Clint Black album. Some people don't like it. They would be in the wrong. It's a great album filled with great songs and wonderful lyrics. "You Know It All" and "You Don't Need Me Now" are two underrated ballads that are gorgeous with nice words. Amazon says there are two tracks in here that are "Maudlin Schlock". Sorry. Not on here. "Maudlin Shlock" doesn't mean anything anyways. This is a great album that belongs in your Clint collection. April 17, 2002

Awesome Clint

After Clint Black's third album, The Hard Way, the quality of his music went slightly downhill. Clint released a couple of very good but not great records(No Time To Kill and One Emotion) and a greatest-hits collection which, though solid, lacked some of his true "greatest hits". Well, in '97, Clint came out with Nothin' But The Taillights, his best record in quite some time. There are several reasons why I give it five stars.

For one thing, Clint plays most of the lead guitar on this album, and he also has several other noted guitarists performing here. On Clint's previous records, the lead guitar parts were played either by Clint's buddy and songwriting partner Hayden Nicholas or session player Dann Huff. While both those guys contribute a lot to this record, Clint took center stage here--and it works. On several songs--"Loosen Up My Strings", "The Shoes You're Wearing", "What I Feel Inside", the bluesy "Bitter Side Of Sweet", and the title track "Nothin' But The Taillights"--Clint plays some truly awesome lead guitar parts. Besides Hayden and Dann, Clint had these well-known guitarists join him on the Chet Atkins tribute song "Ode To Chet": his buddy Steve Wariner, veteran session player Larry Carlton, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, and even Chet himself.

Clint also got out of the songwriting rut that had plagued him since The Hard Way. Clint and Hayden co-wrote six of the songs on Nothin' But The Taillights, but Clint also had other noted writers collaborating with him. Steve Wariner is Clint's co-writer on "You Know It All" and the title song "Nothin' But The Taillights". Marty Stuart, Matraca Berg, and Clint co-wrote Clint's hit duet with Martina McBride, "Still Holding On". Clint collaborated with Skip Ewing on "Something That We Do". Clint wrote "Our Kind Of Love" and "You Don't Need Me Now"(the latter song is my favorite off this album) with another frequent songwriting partner, Shake Russell. Nashville songwriter Kostas contributed "That Something In My Life". By writing with a bunch of different people, Clint got varied songwriting viewpoints and made a fresh and satisfying album.

Third, Clint has an impressive roster of guest singers and musicians. The most prominent are Atkins, McBride, Wariner, piano player Matt Rollings, steel guitarist Paul Franklin, and Alison Krauss and her Union Station bandmates. Union Station is Clint's backup group on "Our Kind Of Love", and Alison's vocals and fiddle parts are especially strong on the song.

Nothin' But The Taillights, in my opinion, is Clint Black's best album since The Hard Way. Clint got back to the great songwriting he was originally noted for, and the musicianship is truly awesome. This one's definitely a five-star performance from Clint. February 26, 2002

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