Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Country Crooner

Clint Black composed his first song at 14, was playing guitar a year later and was only 27 when his first album, Killin’ Time, debuted in 1989. Since then, he has worn many hats — one of them his signature cowboy hat — including executive for Equity Music Group, the artist-centric record label he formed. Despite 13 number-one singles and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Black remains drawn to the simple country songs of his idols, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. “To me, a song is more than just something to sing,” he says. “It’s something to learn from.”