Clint Black’s Advice for a Successful Marriage Requires a Good Sense of Humor
Clint Black may be best known as a musical legend who inspired many budding artists to learn their first country songs, but the "Killin' Time" superstar moonlighted as a love guru during a recent songwriters' event. While performing alongside country stars Jake Owen and Michael Ray, Black paused to respond to an audience member who asked how his wife was doing.
"Yes, Lisa's wonderful. Twenty-seven years of marriage!" he replied, going on to wax philosophical about lessons he learned over the course of his relationship.
"I've been asked a lot over the years, 'What's the key to a successful marriage?'" Black added. "I finally came up with the right answer."
Ray and Owen's ears perked up at that statement, as both men are currently in the market for some solid relationship advice. Ray recently announced his engagement to fellow country star Carly Pearce, and Owen is expecting a baby with his girlfriend, Erica Hartlein.
"I need to know that!" Owen interjected. Added Ray, "Yeah, me too."
"Well, a friend once told me -- came and stood beside me and said -- 'I finally found Ms. Right -- Ms. Always Right,'" Black joked. "But anyway, what [Lisa and I] do is, we identify along the way all the little things that irritate, annoy, frustrate, confuse, embarrass ...
"And then I just stop doing 'em. It's really simple," he added with a smile.
While both Ray and Owen count Black as a strong musical influence, Black has plenty of country heroes of his own, including Roy Rogers, the singer known as the "King of the Cowboys." Before his death in 1998, Rogers struck up an acquaintanceship with Black.
"I did get to know [him] a little bit," Black recalls. "First thing Roy said to me when I met him was, 'I thought I killed off all you black-hatted fellas back in the '40s.'"
Black also met Rogers' wife, Dale, who inspired him with a bit of odd marriage advice -- or at least, a black-humored marriage anecdote -- of her own.
"Dale had a dark side that nobody really knew," Black goes on to say. "She told me, as they were advancing in age, that she was secretly hoping Roy would go first, because she was afraid that if she went first, Roy might have her stuffed."
There was no need for Dale to worry, as it turned out: She outlived Rogers by over two years, dying in 2001. Both lived well into their 80s, proving, perhaps, that the best advice for a long marriage is to keep a sense of humor, no matter how wacky.
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