Spend My Time (CD - 2004)

Personnel includes: Clint Black (vocals, electric guitar, harmonica); Biff Watson, Dean (acoustic guitar); Hayden Nicholas (electric guitar); Sonny Garish (steel guitar); Dean Parks (banjo); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin); Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Matt Rollins (grand piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B-3 organ); Glenn Wolf, Abraham Laboriel, Glen Worf (bass); Eddie Bayers, John Robinson (drums); Lenny Castro (percussion); Steve Real, Wes Hightower (background vocals).

Recorded at Oceanway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: Clint Black (vocals, electric guitar, harmonica, background vocals); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Hayden Nicholas (electric guitar, slide guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar); Paul Franklin, Jonathan Yudkin, Sonny Garrish (steel guitar); Steve Wariner (classical guitar); Dean Parks (resonator guitar, banjo); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Matt Rollings (grand piano, Wurlitzer organ); John "J.R." Robinson , Eddie Bayers (drums); Eric Darken, Lenny Castro (percussion); John Wesley Ryles, Lisa Cochran, Steve Real, Wes Hightower, Russell Terrell (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Julian King; Ricky Cobble.

Recording information: Black's Lab, Nashville, TN; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA; Conway Studios, Hollywood, CA; Loud Recording, Nashville, TN; Oceanway Studios, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Jack Guy.

Arranger: Steve Dorff.

Clint Black burst on the country scene in 1989 as a young buck with his own slant on country, but the rock and pop influence on country music throughout the '90s sees Black looking more than ever like a traditionalist with SPEND MY TIME. Black has never really hearkened back to the days of classic honky-tonk, but the lack of overblown pop production or rocked-up arrangements here makes this album all the more welcome in a sea of country crossovers. Not that there's no stylistic wandering here--"What Ever Happened" bears a distinctly Al Green-ish soul lilt, "We All Fall Down" reveals echoes of the Band, and the simmering, funky "Haywire" is a six-minute, wordy expression of down-home angst that could have come off a contemporaneous Rodney Crowell album. Nevertheless, contemporary country balladry delivered with a romantic-but-careful croon is still Black's stock in trade, and that's what makes up the bulk of this classy album. minimize