The Frederick News-Post (Sept. 25th 2009)

Blake Shelton: Expect ‘Pure BS’ when he plays the fair

If you know anything about Blake Shelton, you know he's an avid deer hunter and so is his girlfriend Miranda Lambert.

You know he has a sense of humor and if you follow his tweets on Twitter you know he was pretty dang mad about the Taylor Swift incident at the VMAs.

And you probably know Shelton is the headline artist at The Great Frederick Fair on Saturday night. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $40 reserved track seating; $35 reserved grandstand.

Shelton's management said he was not available for a phone interview. He plays Nebraska and Connecticut in the days before coming to Frederick . This won't be his first concert here; he played the Weinberg Center five years ago and the fair three years ago.

"Startin' Fires" is his fifth and latest album, on the heels of his 2008 chart-topping single "Home," which the artist says stretched him vocally and stylistically. The first single, "She Wouldn't Be Gone," is not the typical Shelton song, and he says it was vocally "one of the tougher songs I'll ever sing and I love that. You have to have the right song and the right timing to do that and 'Home' kind of opened the door for me."

Known for the way he wraps his rich baritone around both emotion-laden ballads like "Austin" and "The Baby," and light-hearted party anthems like "Some Beach" and "The More I Drink," he tackles songs about country life and attitudes, bringing his personality to life more than ever on "Startin' Fires."

"I think this album is probably more autobiographical than anything I've ever done," he says in a release. "While 'Pure BS' was kind of a reflection of what I was going through at the time, this album is a reflection of who I am and the things I love and always have -- driving back roads, drinking beer, being outdoors. H----, I finally found a song that has deer in it and that tickled me."

The album kicks off with the rollicking "Green," a snapshot of rural images. "That's what I do, I sit with my guitar, plant corn and watch the deer and hawks," Shelton says of the song written by Craig Wiseman and George Teren. "And it's funny, the lifestyle I've led for years and years has become the new green movement. It's my favorite song on the album."

The title track, "Good at Startin' Fires" may be seen as an ode to Lambert, but it's on the album closer, "Bare Skin Rug," that the artists' get their first full workout following Lambert's harmonies on "Home."

"Everyone expected us to come out with a big power ballad," Shelton says. "We did just the opposite." The song was recorded live in front a campfire, crickets chirping and all.

Shelton has said in interviews that fans will flip him the bird as a tribute to his hit song "Some Beach." His debut single in 2001, "Austin," shot him straight to the top of the charts and was his first number one video. And, yes, he sported a mullet back in the day.

"Ol' Red," a song about a couple of dogs and a rascally prison break, was not a huge hit on the radio, Shelton says, but it's his signature song.

In a recent interview with Country Weekly magazine, Shelton says he will continue to nurture his career and "everything from here on out is just gravy." He loves what he does but what really makes him happy is being home on his farm in Oklahoma.