The Daily Mirror (June 30th 2005)

Time for Success: Nashville Stars - Blake Shelton

Three albums into his career, Warner Bros. Nashville artist Blake Shelton has already topped the charts three times, twice with songs that tug at the heartstrings Austin and The Baby and a comical change of pace with Some Beach.

His bid for number four starts with Goodbye Time, a soulful gem from the catalogue of the late great Conway Twitty and written by James Dean Hicks and Roger Murrah.

The song broke into the Top 10 on the R&R Country Airplay Chart and is No.11 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart.

Shelton heard the song on a television show about Twitty's life. He knew immediately he'd stumbled on to a winner.

"While they were rolling the credits," recalled Shelton, "they were showing live footage of Conway singing it and I had never heard the song before.

"He was doing that deal where he had his knees bent and when he was hitting that high note, veins were popping out on his head.

"He was sweating and it was awesome. So we decided to make our own version of it. I certainly didn't want to try and copy Conway."

Twitty likely would have appreciated Shelton's nose for a hit and his determination to make that song his own.