The Tennessean (Nov. 3rd 2017)

For Shelton, a 'helluva' change

His new 'Texoma Shore' finds him in a good place

It's deer season in Tishomingo, Okla., and Blake Shelton is talking on the phone in the middle of New York City. Surrounded by skyscrapers and city noise, he couldn't be farther from the tranquility of the woods near his home. But it's five days before his new album will be released, and he's promoting Texoma Shore on a host of TV shows.

The release, with his new single, I'll Name the Dogs, marks a transition for Shelton. In stores Friday, Texoma Shore moves the singer further away from his last album, If I'm Honest, which he admits carried some dark memories from his well-documented 2015 divorce from fellow country singer Miranda Lambert. He's ready to put his focus on the future.

"Looking ahead is a helluva lot more fun for me right now than it's ever been," he said.

Texoma Shore is also a career marker that shows the singer's clear shift in priorities. At 41, Shelton said he's less concerned with appeasing the country music industry than he is with being happy. And his new music -- along with being home with girlfriend Gwen Stefani -- makes him happy.

"I'm just feeling so at ease for the first time in maybe ever," Shelton said. "It's a peace of mind that I can't explain, and I feel like I owe it to her, and obviously that's going to be reflected in my music."

His two loves converged, just as the album title suggests, on the Texoma shore.

Lake Texoma sits on the border of Texas and Oklahoma. In the 16 years since Shelton charted his first No. 1 song, Austin, the singer has lived in the Nashville area, his native Oklahoma and rented homes in California during filming of his hit television series, The Voice. But he had never -- until recently -- built a house. He chose a plot of land on the lake, and even though it's just about an hour from Shelton's farm, he wanted to make it feel like a vacation home. He planted palm trees, which he concedes will probably die this winter.

Shelton built a studio in the home with views of the water, which was particularly important to him. Because of his busy schedule, Shelton was forced to record his past several albums from wherever he was when it was time to release new music.

Scott Hendricks, his Nashville-based producer, would fly to meet Shelton, and they would scout locations to record vocals. Sometimes it was in the bedroom or closet of a rental house. Other times they worked out of a hotel suite. That wore on Shelton, and he wanted a permanent solution.

"I've gotten to the point where I want to do more from home than before," he said, explaining the vocals for his new album were recorded from his new studio. "We'd sing for a while and then we'd go out on the boat for a while and eat and there was drinking. It felt different. It was way more fun to make this record than I've ever had making a record."

Stefani was sometimes there and assumed the role of caretaker. Shelton remembers she brought down a tray of those "champagne drinks with the orange juice" about 10:30 a.m. just as he was about to start recording.

"It set the tone for the rest of the making of the album," he said. "It was like: 'We are at the lake. And this is country music. Let's do this the way we're supposed to do it.'

"It went from mimosas to beers to a blur, actually."

Shelton said the atmosphere added a relaxing effect that can be heard in his new songs -- along with plenty of 1980s and 1990s country influence. Jimmy Olander, the guitar player in popular '90s country group Diamond Rio, is even featured in I'll Name the Dogs.

"For me, selfishly, it sounded old-school," Shelton said of Dogs, which after just eight weeks has sped to its current No. 11 spot on the country radio airplay charts. "Not old, old school," he added. "But a little-while-ago-school. It's lighthearted, fun and has a good positive message, and it's all the things people say they need at radio."

Song for song, Shelton's longtime manager Narvel Blackstock believes Texoma Shore is the best album of the singer's career.

"This record reflects his state of mind, and he's having a great time," Blackstock said. "This is the kind of country music that the format was built on regardless of any era. Blake is influenced by all of it."

Though it may not seem like it, Shelton maintains he is dedicated to reclaiming his personal life at any cost. With his new house on the lake and a happy relationship, the singer said, protecting his home life is now his first priority.

"I want to kind of do this on my terms from now on, no matter what it reaps. It's like, 'Wow, I've got this thing that I've built over the last 20 years, and now I'm going to do it exactly how I want to do it, and I'm not going to stress about it if something doesn't work."