Search - Clint Black :: Nothin But the Taillights

Awesome Clint

Ken | Olathe, KS, U.S.A. | 02/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."