Yet by the end of 1990, Garth Brooks was about to leave Clint Black and the rest of Country Music in his dust. Brooks’ lead single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) had struggled up to # 8. Brooks was part of Capitol Records, the least formable label. Black was part of RCA, the most formable record label in Nashville in 1989. Brooks looked nervous, as if he was not quite believing what was happening to him. Brooks wrote only half of the songs on his self-titled debut. After that the only things they shared in common were love of Country Music and wearing cowboy hats.
Their debut albums would be released on the same week in 1989. Garth Brooks and Clint Black had been born within a week of each other back in February of 1962. But by the end of 1990 he was surprised to find he had company, unexpected company at that. Black toured with super-group Alabama, his stature growing with each passing week. The Academy of Country Music, in 1990, awarded Black its Male Vocalist, Single, Album, and New Male Vocalist of Year Awards. Black won the Country Music Association’s Horizon Award in 1989, and their Male Vocalist of the Year in 1990. The album would win unanimous critical praise for its traditional and yet updated feel. Black wrote or co-wrote with Hayden Nicholas every cut on the album. One year later it had sales past two million and produced four #1 singles and a top 5.īlack was more than a singer, he was a songwriter.
By the end of 1989, it was gold (sales of 500,000). The title track followed “Better Man” to #1 and the album climbed to #1 on the Country album charts. If the success of Black’s debut single caught people by surprise, his debut album “Killin’ Time,” put them in shock. Debut artists in Country Music usually took time to develop rarely did they achieve such early success. Black would pay him back many times over.īlack’s debut single “Better Man” shot up the charts and hit #1. The $50 proved a wise investment by Stroud. Discovered by RCA, Black was teamed with veteran producer James Stroud who had to among other things, loaned Black $50 to eat on while they recorded his debut album. Where he had played the “Steak & Ale” circuit while working as an iron worker.
On FebruRCA records debuted the first member of Class of 89. In fact one, Alan Jackson, would come from a label, Arista Nashville that did not even exist in Nashville in 1988. Every member of the Class of 89 would come from a different record label. What the labels found was more than a supplement, it turned out to be new foundation for Country Music. With many aging stars fading, Nashville record labels were looking for young talent to supplement the new traditionalist artists. Randy Travis’ success proved Country was ripe for a commercial boom, and every label in Nashville wanted to be part of it. Travis entered 1988 on top of the Country charts with his hugely successful “Always & Forever” album, which would go multi-platinum within a year of its release, a nearly unheard of feat in Country Music. The new traditionalist movement lead by Randy Travis had taken Country back to its roots and made commercial inroads with record buyers. Country Music was going through dramatic change. In January of 1988 it was a different story. Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, and Mary Chapin Carpenter are names recognizable to even the most peripheral country music fan. What they shared was a love of Country Music and a legacy of changing the Country Music landscape. Some of them exploded onto the scene, others would build up slowly, emerging with greater success in the years to follow. They were diverse in style, sound, and background. They were called the Class of 89, a group of young, dynamic, singer-songwriters who emerged together over the course of the year 1989. An era filled with platinum selling records, standing room only concerts, and new found respect for a music form perpetually looked down upon. Their arrival signaled a new era in Country Music. The Class of 89-Country Music's Renaissance by Jonathan Franke