Country Countdown USA (Jan. 27th 2003)
Blake Shelton
Lon Helton's co-host this weekend is Blake Shelton. His new CD, "The Dreamer," will be released on February 4. It contains the Top 5 hit, The Baby. What happened when the members of Trick Pony went hunting on Blake's farm? What was the practical joke Brad Paisley played on Blake? And Blake says he has a new best friend who he may take as his date to the Academy of Country Music Awards. He explains who this friend is, and how his fiancé feels about it, this week on CMT's Country Countdown USA.
INSIDE STUFF: Blake says he actually heard The Baby about a year ago, and decided to record it, but not tell anyone at his record label about it. He thought if they heard it, they'd want to release it immediately, rather than put out Ol' Red. "We kept it hid for 6 months, and I'm glad we did, because Ol' Red helped my first album go Gold. And now here I am starting off a new year with a new record coming out. It all worked out perfectly." Blake is friends with Tracy Byrd, and recently recorded a song with him called "The Truth About Men." Look for it on Tracy's next album, due out later this year. Blake hinted that he'll be part of a major tour that begins in July, and will run through the end of the year. Although he wouldn't tell us who it's with, he said the headliner is male.
DID YOU KNOW: Blake is actually "the baby" of his own family. (He has an older sister) "There are a lot of things that parallel my life, but I can hear my mom say I was her baby. I remember there were times I was embarrassed she said it, and other times when I was proud she said it. I know a lot of people who are the babies in their family, and they're usually crazy and spoiled and they take their mothers for granted. I guess I'm one of them." Blake will be the focus on the new CMT show, MWL Star, airing February 3. Does Katie Cook get him to tell any secrets? "I've never held anything back. I don't have a lot of secrets, I try and keep a low profile, but I figure if I do an interview, the least I can do is be honest." Blake is also part of a Hank Williams Jr. tribute album, set for release on February 11th. He sings "Young Country," and is joined by Trick Pony and Darryl Worley. Blake says Hank Jr. is one of his influences, however the two have never met.
THE PITCH: Blake's new album will be released on February 4th. He says he has a couple of goals for it: "I want it to go platinum. And I want to let people see a side of me they haven't seen yet. There’s a rockin’ side of me that nobody’s seen yet, and this album has a lot more tempo than the first album, and that’s by design, we set out to find some uptempo songs with a neat story line, so there’s a side to me that shows on this album but didn’t shine as much, the difference is we’ll try to put out some of that music as singles this time." Two songs in particular he's proud of: Playboys of the Southwestern World and Asphalt Cowboy. Blake wrote the title song, The Dreamer, based on his own experiences with stardom.