About Blackhawk
Blackhawk is an American country music band founded in 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of founding members Henry Paul and Dave Robbins . They are accompanied by a backing band consisting of Randy Threet , Jeff Aulich , Jimmy Dormire , and Mike Bailey . Paul, a then-former member of Southern rock band Outlaws, founded Blackhawk with Robbins and former solo singer Van Stephenson , both of whom had success as songwriters for other acts such as Restless Heart. Stephenson left shortly before his death from melanoma in 2001 and was replaced by Threet, then Anthony Crawford and Michael Randall; however, Threet has remained in the touring band. Robbins left in 2008 and was replaced with Jon Coleman before rejoining in 2010. After Paul re-established Outlaws in 2005, he, along with Robbins, Threet, and members of the backing band, have toured as both Outlaws and Blackhawk simultaneously.
Blackhawk was signed to Arista Nashville in 1993 and released their self-titled debut album in 1994. They also released Strong Enough , Love & Gravity , and The Sky's the Limit , as well as a Greatest Hits package before leaving Arista in 2001. Their last major-label album was 2002's Spirit Dancer on Columbia Records, and all subsequent releases have been independent. Their albums accounted for several singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the top-ten hits "Every Once in a While", "I Sure Can Smell the Rain", "Down in Flames", "That's Just About Right", "I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No", "Like There Ain't No Yesterday", and "There You Have It" between 1994 and 1999. Blackhawk's music combines influences of Southern rock with country, and is noted for vocal harmony and prominent use of mandolin.
Lead vocalist Henry Paul, prior to the foundation of Blackhawk, founded the rock band Outlaws and also recorded several albums as the Henry Paul Band. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1987 to pursue songwriting. Soon afterward, he left Outlaws as he wanted to pursue a career in country music instead. Through his connections as a songwriter, he met Van Stephenson and Dave Robbins. Stephenson had previously been a rock singer who had a hit in 1984 with "Modern Day Delilah", and both he and Robbins had found success in the mid-late 1980s as country music songwriters. Among these were several songs for Restless Heart such as "The Bluest Eyes in Texas". Paul had initially wanted to record as a solo artist but came in contact with Tim DuBois, a record executive, songwriter, and producer who assembled Restless Heart in 1984 and had collaborated with Stephenson and Robbins as a songwriter. DuBois suggested Paul become lead singer of a new band also featuring Stephenson and Robbins, as they had also wanted to form one after being inspired by the success of Restless Heart. In 1992, the three musicians began writing songs together and recording demos. They initially found the process unsuccessful, but later found a shared interest in vocal harmony and use of acoustic instruments, which would help form their sound. Paul assumed the role of lead vocalist, guitarist, and mandolinist, with Robbins on baritone harmony and Stephenson on tenor harmony; respectively, the latter two also contributed on keyboard and guitar as well. The musicians chose the name "Blackhawk" from the Stutz Blackhawk, a model of car. DuBois was at the time president of Arista Nashville , and signed Blackhawk to a record deal in 1993.
Arista Nashville released Blackhawk's self-titled debut album in February 1994. DuBois and Mark Bright served as its producers. The album was preceded by its lead single "Goodbye Says It All", which peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Next was "Every Once in a While", a song co-written by all three members of the band. In early 1994, it peaked at number two on Hot Country Songs, and number one on the country music charts of Radio & Records. After this, three more top-ten country hits were released from the album: "I Sure Can Smell the Rain", "Down in Flames", and a cover of Jeff Black's "That's Just About Right". Another cut included on the album was a cover of Kennedy Rose's "Love Like This". By 1996, Blackhawk was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America , honoring shipments of two million copes in the United States. Soon after the album's release, Blackhawk was booked as an opening act for Tim McGraw. They also established a touring band initially composed of Dale Oliver , Tere Bertke , and Bobby Huff . Additionally, the Academy of Country Music nominated Blackhawk for Top New Vocal Group or Duet. They also received nominations for Vocal Group of the Year in 1995 and 1996 from both the ACM and the Country Music Association .
Blackhawk was met with mixed critical reception. An uncredited review in Billboard was favorable toward Paul's lead vocals and the band's Southern rock influences, but thought tracks such as "Goodbye Says It All" were "down the middle". An uncredited review in The Modesto Bee said, "pleasantly layered harmonies and easy listening arrangements abound, but there's little originality." Michael Hight of New Country magazine rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, comparing the band's harmonies to Bread and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and noting the use of mandolin in the arrangements. Hight was more mixed toward the lyrics and thought the album had a "radio-oriented" sound. Greg Burliuk of The Kingston Whig-Standard was more favorable, highlighting the band's vocal harmony and saying that they "attack each song vigorously".
Blackhawk's second studio album was 1996's Strong Enough. In the process of selecting songs, Bright chose 30 songs out of over 900 which had been submitted to him, and presented them to Blackhawk while they were touring. Among the contributing writers were Mutt Lange, Henry Gross, and Dennis Linde. It debuted at number four on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart upon release, making it the highest-debuting album by a group or band on the country music charts since Alabama's The Closer You Get... in 1983. Arista Nashville promoted the album through commercials on CMT. The album's lead single, Lange's "I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No", also peaked at number two on Hot Country Songs upon release. Next was "Like There Ain't No Yesterday", which went to number three on the same chart. Both songs also peaked at number one on the Canadian country music charts, then published by RPM. The album's next two singles were "Almost a Memory Now" and "Big Guitar", both top 20 hits on Hot Country Songs. Stephenson and Robbins co-wrote "Almost a Memory Now", while Paul collaborated with Gross on "Big Guitar". However, the final single, "King of the World" , failed to reach top 40. Strong Enough was certified gold by the RIAA, honoring U.S. shipments of 500,000 copies. Of this album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in AllMusic that it "finds the group consolidating their strengths as songwriters and performers. Throughout the album, the group turns in first-rate songs and tight performances, distinguished by their strong harmonies." An uncredited Billboard review praised the energy of Paul's vocal delivery, as well as the variety of songwriters.
In 1997, Arista released Blackhawk's third album, Love & Gravity. The band chose to focus more on songs written by themselves than on previous albums, and wrote several tracks while on the road. One of these, "If That Was a Lie", was the first song in their career to feature Stephenson singing lead vocals instead of Paul. Songs that they wrote which did not make it onto the album were given to other artists, with one such song being recorded by the Buffalo Club. Also included were covers of Heart's "Will You Be There " and Andrew Gold's "Lonely Boy". Nashville-based producer Mike Clute assisted Bright in production, doing so on digital audio workstations made by Fairlight, and making Love & Gravity one of the first country albums to be recorded entirely on digital equipment. Mike Dungan, senior vice president of Arista Nashville at the time, created a website for the band and arranged for a multi-artist pool party at a Nashville apartment complex to help promote the album. The band also performed a concert for 5,000 shoppers at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and signed more than 1,000 copies of the album at the mall's Sam Goody store. Despite the promotions, the album accounted for only two unsuccessful singles, "Hole in My Heart" and "Postmarked Birmingham" , which both peaked in the 30s on Hot Country Songs. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Thom Owens wrote that "several of the songs are simply unmemorable its best moments demonstrate that Blackhawk is more talented and diverse than their previous two albums would suggest." Brian Wahlert of Country Standard Time thought the Heart and Andrew Gold covers, as well as the string section on "Postmarked Birmingham", suggested a more pop influence than the band's first two albums. Billboard writer Deborah Evans Price later attributed the failure of Love & Gravity to the band "stretching out" with songs that proved unpopular with radio.
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