Clint Black and Lisa Hartman met on New Year's Eve in 1990, when the actress attended one of Black's concerts in Houston, the city where they were both raised. It was the country artist's first headline show back home following a record year that had made him a household name. At the time, Black was sick, fighting a cold. He found the crowds of people who had gathered backstage to greet him exciting but overwhelming. He was not looking for love.
"I'm in my hometown and there are 100 people waiting to meet me," says Black. "It was a swirling cacophony of chaos. I had been dealing with that out on the road but it wasn't natural for me. It's not natural for anybody."
"How am I going to stand here and be a pleasant guy when on the inside I'm freaking out?" Black recalls thinking.
Then his manager introduced Lisa Hartman, and the chaos temporarily subsided. She was strikingly beautiful, and Black couldn't help but lock eyes with her. The attraction wasn't just physical, though. "Anyone would be taken by her looks but she was a really, really pleasant person and I didn't know her from Eve. I'd never seen her movies. All I knew was that she was a TV actress," he says.
"We are best friends, and friends always hope that their work brings their paths together again."
Though their meeting was brief, mutual connections worked behind the scenes to make sure the two young stars met again. They had their first dinner date when Black visited Los Angeles for a Tonight Show appearance, and continued to make time for each other afterward.
Hartman was in awe of Black. "Once I met him and got to know him and then started learning about his music and all of that, and his poetry, I had to kind of forget about it when I was around him," she has said. "I'd find myself looking at him going, 'You write all that stuff? Where does it come from?'"
It wasn't long before Black and Hartman realized they were attracted to each other in every way. "I knew intuitively that she could be trusted with my heart and my life," Black says. Ten months and 20 days after they first met, the couple tied the knot on the country artist's180-acre Texas farm. That was Oct. 20, 1991.
Now, with their 25th wedding anniversary fast approaching, Black reveals that Hartman helped him navigate parts of his life that he never anticipated.
The country icon always wanted to make records, entertain audiences, and have his songs played on the radio, but being famous wasn't necessarily part of the equation. The ubiquitous recognition that comes with selling more than 20 million albums worldwide is something he's struggled to accept.
"Lisa is a big reason I've learned to live in my skin," Black tells CountryLiving.com. "She didn't let fame slow her down. I would've become more reclusive, but she was having none of that."
Last September, Black released On Purpose, his first studio album in a decade. Recorded and self-produced in Black's Nashville studio, the album includes a duet with Hartman Black. The autobiographical "You Still Get to Me" is the couple's third-ever song together—their last, "Easy for Me to Say," appeared on Black's Greatest Hits II compilation in 2001.
Black, who co-wrote the song with country artist Victoria Shaw, says his wife is always front-and-center in his mind when he's penning romantic lyrics like the song's chorus: Love still feeling new / I still look at you that way / It's getting stronger everyday / I keep reaching for you / I couldn't want you more / It's something anything can say / You still get to me.
"When we got married, my capacity to feel deepened," he says. "Our marriage, who we are together, guides me. The big question [was], what would the two of us being saying in front of the rest of the world? It had to ring true for who we are."
In an exclusive video interview shared here, Hartman Black talks about her immediate reaction to the song. "It was really different from anything that I'd heard come out of him in a while," she said. "The lyrics seemed spot on for us."
The actress hasn't always been keen on featuring prominently in her husband's work. The duo released their first musical collaboration in 1999 with "When I Said I Do," which Black told Rolling Stone Country he guilted Hartman Black into four days before the deadline. She didn't want to perform in front of a live audience or with Black on the Tonight Show, either, but he talked her into it.
Then, when record label execs heard the song and guessed that it was Trisha Yearwood or Martina McBride harmonizing with the country legend, Hartman Black's confidence was bolstered, paving the way for future collaborations.
Black, too, sets high expectations for himself when working with his wife. He doesn't present anything to her until he's proud of it. "I feel pressure to be there for her in the ways she needs me to be and to support her in getting a good performance," he says. "When I'm producing a record for us in the studio, it's like a director guiding an actor."
"But when you're working with your best friend, even under stress it's still better than anything else," he adds.
"When we got married, my capacity to feel deepened. Our marriage, who we are together, is what guides me."
The couple have also starred in two movies together: Some of their favorite memories include filming on location in British Columbia, for Flicka: Country Pride, and in Dallas, for Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack. "We are best friends, and friends always hope that their work brings their paths together again," says Black.
The pair knows that not all couples are so fortunate, and they're grateful for the ability to set their own schedules. Once their daughter, Lily, was born Hartman Black chose to stay home with her, and became more selective about the film roles she accepted. Black's work takes him away for longer stretches of time, so when a project offers them the chance to work together, they almost always jump at the chance. "Get us together and we're enjoying life," says Black.
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Your Chance to Meet Clint and Lisa
Love their love story? Enter for a chance to win a meet and greet with Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black plus dinner for two backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. The Grand Prize also includes round trip domestic air travel, a two night stay for you and your guest at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, as well as tickets to the Opry and a daytime tour. Also included is a Music City Backstage Attractions Pass, with admission and discounts for you and your guest to over 30 area attractions.
