Brian Black couldn’t be happier to be back on stage and doing what he loves to kick off the new year.
Black, brother of musicians Clint Black and Kevin Black, will perform with his band at 9 p.m. January 8 at Pacific Yard House in Conroe. The show is presented by Gene and Betty Wolf’s Sharity Productions in association with Pacific Yard House.
Tickets are available at http://www.outhousetickets.com, https://pacificyardhouse.com/ or by calling 936-703-5447. Reserved seats are $12.
For Black, the show provides another opportunity to return to performing after a nearly 15-year hiatus while running two companies in Bandera, Texas.
The show will feature Black’s old friend Donnie Simmons who now lives in Marshall, Texas. Going back many years and Simmons will be performing some Elvis songs on January 8 – King’s Birthday. In the ’70s and ’80s, Simmons had an Elvis tribute show in Las Vegas.
Simmons met Kevin Black years ago when Simmons owned a nightclub in Katy and Kevin Black was playing there. Then he and Brian shot the two of them and became friends for over 30 years.
“Brian loves to share the spotlight with other artists. He’s that kind of guy, that kind of person,” Simmons said. “I’m really looking forward to that. It will be a lot of fun.”
Black said Simmons knew a great deal about Elvis and thought, “What a great night to get Donnie into town.”
His band members will also sing songs, and the girls of violinist and guitarist Kevin Harden will also be joining in on some of Donna Summers and Abba’s songs.
“The band members are exceptional and they are an amazing group of guys,” he said.
Brian Black is the second oldest of the Black brothers. From oldest to youngest there is Mark, Brian, Kevin and Clint.
Black said that his mother loved all kinds of music from Elvis to Frank Sinatra and that his father listened to country classics such as George Jones, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.
“When I was younger and singing country I tried to sing like Merle Haggard,” he said.
The family moved to Katie when Brian graduated from Stratford High School on Houston’s West Side.
He said the two black brothers grew up with a lot of music and a lot of laughter.
“We all think we’re comedians too. As I can remember—five or six years ago—we entertained our parents’ friends by singing and doing comedic chops,” Black said. “We thought everyone’s family was like that.”
And he had several jobs prior to his 20-year career in music tours.
He has been in construction as a union carpenter and in law enforcement in Harris County.
He was sitting in his brother’s bands but decided there wasn’t much money playing in local bands.
He finally decided to pursue his passion and launched his music career in 1988 saying that his band initially struggled just like many others.
“Then you get a truck, then an RV, and finally a tour bus,” he said.
Then after 20 years of touring, he wanted to spend more time with family and decided to continue his Texas tour.
In 2007, he and current wife Charlotte bought five acres in Bandera, Texas on River City. They also purchased The Longhorn Saloon in Bandera which was built in 1947.
They expanded the venue and put on a live music stage. At the time he intended to slow his tour down to three or four times a month.
“I found out that bar business wasn’t that way and I ended up touring about three or four times a year,” he said.
They also operated the Medina River Company that transported tubers to an entry point on the Medina River and they floated to the bar area.
Clint Black played at the grand opening in 2007 in the outdoor concert area.
They sold those companies in 2016, took a year off and then started remaking his band.
“We actually started touring again in 2019, and then the Covid-19 virus hit, which stopped everything again,” he said. But things are starting to get better now. We get dates on the calendar and we get more and more public performances.”
He has felt lucky during the pandemic because his squad members are very talented players and still manage to go out and make a living without touring.
Black spent his epidemic setting up his ranch near College Station to be close to his daughter, who attended Texas A&M University.
He’s also back on tours again and describes his style as a mix of Frank Sinatra and Merle Haggard. At one point, he had a century and blues segment on his show called “Frankie Blue” where he did a bunch of Sinatra tunes.
In 2022, he will score with country legend Johnny Rodriguez. Rodriguez compiles an aggregate log and asks Black to join him. While in the studio, Black plans to cut some songs as well.
In the meantime, he’s looking forward to returning to Conroe where he used to play at the Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival.
“I am really happy to be out to play again. I just love it,” he said.
Also on January 8, copies of the second volume “Raising A Hand” fundraising book will be available for purchase. The book is a project of Kevin’s brother Brian and local photographer Dave Clements.
Raising a Hand raises money for Rett Syndrome that killed Kevin’s daughter, Courtney, when she was just 16 years old.
The two books, volumes one and two, contain photographs by Clements and others of famous musical artists raising their hands. Merging a unique design and high-quality paper, the coffee table book depicts all the ways artists use their hands while performing. Visit https://raisingahand.com/ for more information about the project and to order a copy.
See https://www.brianblack.org/ for more information.
shernandez@hcnonline.com