Furthermore, and as hinted in its title track, it is reflective of meaningful and unprecedented changes in the life and career of singer, songwriter, producer and performer Clint Black.

The album is, at least to his fans, a belated addition to the lineage that stretches from his debut album to his most recent studio offering, 1999's "D'lectrified." Between those bookends, Black achieved, quite literally, every conceivable measure of success to which a recording artist can aspire-sales, airplay, awards and critical acclaim.

Beyond the quantifiable, Black's artistry and craftsmanship were affirmed to an extent that hyperbole would only diminish. The youngest of four brothers and a self-described country boy, Black was raised on the outskirts of Houston. The family was also drawn to country music and Clint picked up both the harmonica and guitar as a teenager. He displayed an affinity for music, and joined his brother Kevin's band as a bass player.

Before long he was performing solo on the club circuit, working his way into the music industry's attention. His 1989 RCA debut "Killin' Time" opened a decade of furious creativity and success, both for Black and the genre. At the time, Black's arrival was the most rapid ascension to stardom country had ever seen. A decade later, with "D'lectrified," he moved from co-producing to become sole producer of his albums. Black had evolved, in many ways, into a fully formed music maker.

And yet that ten-year evolution quickly gave way to a succession of life-changing events. The 2001 release of his second greatest hits collection effectively marked the end of his relationship with the only label he'd ever known. He and wife Lisa Hartman Black brought their first child into the world, daughter Lily Pearl. They moved across country, selling their California home and settling in the Nashville area where, not so incidentally, he built a home recording studio from the ground up. And he became a founding partner in a record company with no less ambitious a goal than to redefine the entire structure of the music industry.

Discussions of starting a record company came to fruition when veteran label executive Mike Kraski left Sony. Equity Music Group was formed, with Black engaged not only as the flagship artist, but part of the ownership group. The label's convention-breaking model has artists owning their own masters, sharing in profits, but also contributing to the label from other revenue streams like touring and merchandise. And so the 2003 launch of Equity started the end game for an album project he'd worked on intermittently for more than four years. By contrast, his "D'lectrified" CD was completed in only ten weeks.

There are other concerns peculiar to someone with a hit-laden repertoire that includes "Summer's Comin'," "We Tell Ourselves," and "Something That We Do." Instead, like his previous albums, "Spend My Time" bears a spirit all its own. The title track's melodic mantra gives way to flavors like the vivid fantasy in "My Imagination" and the dot.com blues of "Haywire." Each track represents the carefully shaped and occasionally carefree workmanship of an expert, punctuated with the moody heartbreak of the album closing "A Lover's Clown."