Billboard (May 19th 2007)
Building The 'BS'
Intermittent Chart-Topper Blake Shelton Rolls With The Punches
Blake Shelton's persistence is about to pay off. After changes in labels, producers and managers--he's now with Narvel Blackstock, who is married to and manages Reba McEntire--he finally has the vehicle that just might break him out of the midlevel artist pack.
Originally signed to now-defunct Giant Records, Shelton moved to Warner Bros. Nashville in 2001, just as his first single, "Austin," was being released. A couple of years later, Warner was sold to Edgar Bronfman Jr. and a number of upper-level management changes were made. "Every time somebody takes over it makes me work that much harder," Shelton says. "I don't want them to look at me as somebody who's lazy, that feels like I've arrived. Maybe that's why I've been able to survive.
"I've never made it to that upper level of artist," he adds, "but at the same time, I've also been one of the few guys that's hung around."
As Shelton has "hung around," he has scored three multi-week No. 1 country airplay singles and has had each of his first three albums certified gold by the RIAA. But his success can best be described as "inconsistent." For every No. 1 there were a couple more that stopped well short of the pinnacle.
His album sales, while solid--he has averaged 636,000 units sold on his first three records--haven't broken through the platinum-plus level.
Warner Bros. Nashville executive VP Bill Bennett believes Shelton's "Pure BS," which debuts at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart this issue with first-week sales of 48,000 copies, may be the one to break him. "His talent and abilities far exceed his sales to date," Bennett says. "It's our hope and intention to make this one be his breakthrough album."
The label encouraged Shelton to take a different approach in the studio. He recorded with longtime producer Bobby Braddock, as well as with Brent Rowan and Warner Bros. Nashville chief creative officer Paul Worley. "The only way I knew Paul was as the 'evil record company guy,' " Shelton says. "It was really good for our relationship. He's funny, and I never knew that about him."
The album's title, "Pure BS," is more than a clever play on Shelton's initials. "It probably shows more who I am as a person than anything I've done before," Shelton says. "Lyrically, I think it's probably the countriest album that I've done, but production-wise, it's a little more edgy than anything I've done."
The first single, "Don't Make Me," currently No. 14 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, finds Shelton begging his lover to return his attentions, while "What I Wouldn't Give" is an introspective look at the singer's own relational shortcomings. "I've always kind of had that 'fuck me' attitude, and that's how I approached these breaking-up songs," Shelton says.
By contrast, "This Can't Be Good" is a rousing tale of what happens when you get caught with the sheriff's daughter, and "The More I Drink" is a honky-tonk, piano-laden ball of fun. The album's closer, "The Last Country Song," features appearances by George Jones and John Anderson.
WFMS Indianapolis PD Bob Richards says Shelton is already a star in his market "because our listeners have embraced him--and not just his music, but his personality," he says. "He is such a funny and likable and charismatic person."
Warner Bros. hopes that a series of virally marketed YouTube videos and other initiatives will expose that personality. In one video, perhaps channeling "Jackass," Shelton rolls a band member down a truck ramp in a barrel. He also added comic relief as a judge on USA Network's "Nashville Star" talent competition.
Richards is a believer. "He has all the makings of being one of those who in the next couple of years really launches to that superstar level," he says.
After touring with Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith during the last couple of years, Shelton wants to go it alone, at least for the time being. And his goals have changed in other ways, too. "When I first moved to Nashville I wanted to be Garth Brooks, and now I've kind of shifted to reality," he says. "I want to have a legitimate greatest hits album that is 10 or 12 big, solid hits. If I get that, I'll feel like I've made my mark, I've done something."