Clint Black: Nothin' But the Taillights (RCA 67515)

WHEN CLINT Black neared the end of his 1995 tour, he realized he had been on the album-tour-album-tour tread mill for seven years without a break — and he had been playing the Houston-Galveston bar scene five-to-seven nights a week for two full years before that. Even Black had to realize that he was beginning to repeat himself and to lose the freshness that made him sound so special on his 1989 debut effort. To his credit, he was smart enough to shut it down for a while — he stayed home for two years and recharged his batteries.