The Boot (April 24th 2013)

Blake Shelton: ‘Based On A True Story’ could’ve been ‘crazier’ 

Blake Shelton has returned to the top of the Billboard country album charts this week with Based on a True Story .... The disc debuted at the top spot three weeks ago and held the No. 2 spot for the past couple of weeks. Even though much of the material on the album does reflect the singer's own experiences, which is why he chose the title it ended up with, the collection could have just as easily been named for several of the songs featured on it.

"There's songs like 'Doin' What She Likes' and 'Ten Times Crazier'; and those are kind of where I'm at right now," Blake told The Boot and other reporters at a recent media event. "There's a song on there called 'Granddaddy's Gun.' I actually have my granddad's gun and it's so cool to me. So, when the marketing department started calling and were like, 'We actually have to print these albums, what do you want to call it?' I didn't want to call it 'Boys Round Here' or 'Sure Be Cool If You Did' [the titles of the first two singles from the album]."

Noting that naming an album for a song on it "always feels like a cop-out," Blake explains, "I always end up looking back, going, 'You wimped out there.' So I listened to it and I finally just thought this kind of is my life from start to finish. I just thought that's what we'll call it, it's Based on a True Story.... Normally, my ideas like that don't stick but somehow that one got through."

Owing to the fact that Blake happens to be in the middle of one of the most interesting -- and certainly most public -- parts of his true story, the the ellipsis at the end of the album title are an indication his story is nowhere near finished. With another single now released, a high-profile marriage to Miranda Lambert, an award-winning career, his entertaining, sometimes controversial, Twitter habit and his role as a mentor on the hit NBC singing competition, "The Voice," Blake's career seems to be picking up steam. But maybe he's saving those last three words for his next album title?