21-year-old Lily Pearl Black has been touring with her parents Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black on the Mostly Hits and The Mrs. Tour, which wrapped up last month. Now, the next generation of the Black family is plotting her next steps for her own career.
Music Mayhem chatted with Lily about pre-show rituals with her dad, how her parents inspire her, and what stepping out on her own looks like.
In November 2022, Lily released a 3-song EP titled Songs from The Mostly Hits & The Mrs. Tour, which includes live versions of “Every Time it Rains,” “Cry Pretty,” and an original song, “Never Knew Love.”
How Has Choosing Songs For Her Set List Evolved?
Choosing songs for her set list evolved from the first year of the family tour, when she compiled a mixture of some of her favorite songs.
“This year, it honestly got a little bit more meaningful and a little bit easier to make the decision. I did the same song, ‘Cry Pretty’ that I did in high school.” Lily performed the Carrie Underwood cover at her school’s rock band performance. “It was a song that I was so determined to master vocally because it is such a challenging song,” says Lily.
She also began to include original music within her set, including her first single called “Never Knew Love,” written by her father Clint Black and David Foster.
“It was special to get to do that so soon after the release, getting to release the song and immediately perform it was really special.
A day in the life of the Mostly Hits & The Mrs. Tour
Lily took us behind the scenes of touring with her family, describing what a typical day was like on the road.
“Usually we pull into the venue on the bus pretty early in the morning, so we don’t really get a whole lot of sleep. So my goal is to try and sleep as late as I can until probably noon or one. I try to go to the gym. Sometimes I don’t make it, but usually that’s in my schedule. I make myself go to the gym, wake myself up, just get moving. Then I’ll come back to the bus, make a smoothie, get ready for soundcheck. My mom and I’ll go, we’ll do soundcheck with my dad and the band, set up our dressing room, get all of our makeup laid out, just get fully ready as best as we can.”
“Then usually we kind of sit around and wait for catering, which is at five. And then we get to eat with the band. Usually my dad will stay on the bus to eat because he’s on major voice rest, which I should be on as well, but I’m not very good at it because I love to talk,” Lily laughs. “So my mom and I go to catering and we’ll hang out with the band and crew and just get some food in us. And then the show is 7:30, so once we’re done with catering, it’s usually kind of go-time. We go back to the dressing room, we do our vocal warm up and then we stop talking. We get our hair and makeup going and before we know it, it’s showtime.”
Clint, Lisa And Lily Pearl Black Often Visit Target On Their Off Days
Lily also shared how she and her mom will drag her dad to Target on days off when they’re on the road.
“My favorite thing to do on any day, whether I’m in Nashville or off on the road, is to go to Target. I think it’s so much fun and my mom also kind of agrees with that. So when we have a day off and we can see Target from the bus or you know, walking distance… I mean why would you not take advantage of that? is how I look at it. And obviously he’s not gonna let us go by ourselves because we don’t know the area. He wants us to be safe,” says Lily. “I’m gonna out him. I think sometimes he does have fun with it. I find him secretly shopping sometimes,” she laughs.
A father-daughter pre-show ritual
About five to minutes before showtime during the Mostly Hits & The Mrs. Tour, Lily would stop what she’s doing to run backstage and find her dad.
“He and I have a little moment backstage. He tells me good luck, great show. Gives me a hug, sends me off. And usually we’ll have a little dance party back there, the two of us,” she recalls fondly. “I think every single time he has gone out on stage, it never gets old. It always makes me emotional to watch him go out, start this show and hear the crowd go nuts. It’s such a proud daughter moment and I just love it.”
What makes Lily Pearl Black proud of her parents?
Lily says that seeing how hard both her parents work makes her proud.
“He started singing in bars and just working so hard to get where he is. And even now, I still see how hard he works to this day and it’s really, really admirable to see that,” Black says of her father. “I know I’m probably gonna sound biased as his daughter, but to see how humble he still is and how much he is still his funny and happy self. He hasn’t let anything get to his head. He hasn’t let anything, wear him down. And I’m sure he has his days when he’s tired, but he is so, so driven and so dedicated and that’s something that I hope that I can always have.”
The rising star says that her mom, Lisa Hartman Black, has those same qualities to look up to as well. “They don’t let anything knock them down. They don’t let anything get in their way. If they want something, they’re gonna get there and they’re gonna work so hard for it.”
Traits Lily Black has inherited from Clint and Lisa
Lily says she and her dad Clint Black both love making people laugh and share a similar sense of humor.
“He’s so quick. And so I try to pick up on that. As soon as he hears something, he’s on it. He’s making a joke, he’s making a comment. And so I always try to take after that. And my mom will always joke around about the two of us around the house. She always says it’s like two kids running around, and my dad will joke around that I’m the son he never had, because we have this same sense of humor.”
When it comes to her mom Lisa, Lily says she’s inherited her drive.
“She is so strong mentally. If something happens, she addresses it, she fixes it, she moves on. And that’s something that I’m not always the best at, but whenever something comes my way that’s hard, I just ask myself ‘what would my mom do?’ And she would definitely just take it head on and move on and then you’re done.”
Lily Pearl Black Details Her journey to becoming an artist
Although she didn’t realize it until she was older, Lily has been an entertainer for nearly her entire life.
“When I was five years old I was running around the house, singing, acting, putting on shows for my family,” she recalls. “When I was little and it was Thanksgiving, my cousins and I would always put on a show. We were the ladybugs and we just put on a show at Thanksgiving.”
From performing in talent shows in middle school to her high school’s rock band, she began to realize that she could be an entertainer for the rest of her life. “I got to do my first show with my dad when I was 16. It was the hurricane relief with Don Henley and Lyle Lovett and it was in Fort Worth.”
Lily revealed that she almost didn’t do the show because she was scared, but her dad helped her push through the fear. “My dad took me aside just the two of us and basically said to me, you know, if you love this, you’re gonna do it. The nerves are gonna go away. You’re gonna push through it. And you know, the big question that he asked me was, if you don’t do the show, are you gonna regret it? And that’s how I knew that I wanted to do it because I knew I would.” After that first show, the nerves began to evolve into excitement. “Ever since then and seeing him do his shows and all of that, I just knew this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life.”
Lessons She’s Learned From Touring
Although Lily studied music business at Belmont University in Nashville, she received an entirely different education by touring with her family.
“On the road, you learn so much firsthand experience and I think a lot of it you learn about who you are and how you handle things,” says Lily. “When you’re on stage, things don’t always go right. Mics stop working, the piano doesn’t work and you’re already nervous. And that happen and you have to be able to handle it and laugh at yourself. And if you try to act perfect to the audience, they’re not gonna love you as much. If you love them and love yourself, they’re gonna be right there with you. And if something goes wrong and you’re the first to laugh, they’re gonna love it and they’re gonna be laughing along with you and your biggest supporter.”
Self-Care Is Important
Touring also taught Lily about self-care to create a lasting career. “You learn about vocal discipline and how much you truly have to take care of yourself. Because I think sometimes it’s easy to look out and think that it’s just a party out on the road.”
Although she admits that’s true, she also shares that if you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have a long-lasting career. “Your vocal cords are so delicate and sensitive and that’s stuff that I’m still guilty of. I like to talk way too much on the road, but I just take away so much about who I am, how I have to handle things. And I also get to see my dad be the boss.” Watching Clint run his business has inspired Lily as she begins to launch her own career. “You are the boss of your band and the crew and you have to be able to manage things and take cars. And I get to see my dad do that… I think he does so well with it.”
What’s On The Horizon For Clint Black’s Daughter Lily Pearl Black?
Lily revealed that she has been working on new music, having recently finished a couple songs that she hopes will be part of a larger project.
“I hope sooner than later that I can put it out there and that everybody loves it as much as I do,” she says. “Whether you can relate to the story or not, I want it to be written in a way and sung in a way that it still resonates and it still sits with you and you feel something even though you can’t relate, you still feel it.”
Lily is ready for the next phase of her career when opportunities arise, but she plans to always keep space for touring with her parents as time allows.
“If this is something that we make a family tradition, no matter where I am in my career, I will do this as long as we are allowed to do it. As long as time allows us and work allows us, even if I am off touring on my own and we can make it work to do the family tour again, I’ll continue to do it just because I love it and I love being out there with them. And especially if I am on my own with my career, I’m gonna be busy and I’m not gonna be seeing them as much. So to have that time with them is also so special. But I do hope that my own touring days come sooner than later.”
