Country Countdown USA (Aug. 25th 2012)
Blake comments about Idol judges
Blake Shelton says the next judge on American Idol should be a country star. In fact he said either Brad Paisley or Keith Urban would be great. He talked about it with Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton: ” I hope they choose a country artist, because if you watch those shows, it’s the country artists who go on to have big careers, because the country fan base is the most loyal in the world. If they see someone on The Voice or Idol, they don’t care if they win or lose. They wait for the album to come out, and they demand music to come out from that artist.”
Blake talked specifically about Keith Urban, who took part in the Australian version of The Voice: “Keith catches on pretty quick, and I can’t imagine, even in the US, if he was on my panel, and I had a chance to work with Keith Urban, here’s a guy who produces, he writes, he plays, and sings, he’s the guy I’d want to have as a coach.”
Blake says that Brad Paisley would make a fine judge too: “I hope American Idol hires Brad Paisley. I think it would be good for them, and maybe I shouldn’t want anything good for that, but the bigger picture for me is what’s good for the country music industry and what’s gonna bring the most awareness to us.”
Blake is currently working on Season 3 of The Voice. Several country stars have performed on that show in the past, and quite a few country contestants have tried out. Blake says he isn’t directly responsible for the country bookings on the show: “I don’t know if it’s the network or what. I don’t have input, and I don’t have to. I don’t know if it’s my presence opening the eyes of the network to the popularity of country music, but they’ve had Miranda, Brad, Lady Antebellum, they’re very open and excited about country music at NBC now, and I think that’s new. They don’t carry any of the awards shows, and I think they’re realizing there’s a huge demand and audience out there, because they’re coming to me saying, ‘Do you think we could get Brad Paisley on the show?’ It’s always their idea, and that’s exciting to me.”