San Antonio Express-News (Feb. 1st 2002)

Blake Shelton's making his mark on country music

Blake Shelton, who hit the national country music scene running, is looking forward to opening George Jones' matinee and evening performances at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on Saturday.

"It's as high on my list as anything," Shelton said. "I'm so new, the opportunity to work with somebody like that is pretty unbelievable."

Things have been happening fast for the 25-year-old native of Ada, Okla.

First was the timing. His song "Austin" hit No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart July 30, the day before his self-titled debut Warner Brothers album was released.

The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart, and the song was No. 1 for five weeks.

So far, the album has sold more than 250,000 copies, making him the No. 2 debut artist of 2001, just behind Trick Pony.

Headed for the Top 10 is his second single, "All Over Me," another ballad, which he wrote with Earl Thomas Conley, one of his heroes.

Shelton went on to perform on the Country Music Awards show and was picked up for a Ford Motor Co. ad campaign. A Dallas dealer even gave him a new truck. And People magazine called the album a "10-gallon hit."

"I wear a hat, boots and Wranglers, but as long as I'm still having success, they can call me whatever they want," said Shelton, who hasn't changed his everyday style since leaving Ada for Nashville when he was 17. "I'm about as country and redneck as they get, and I might as well own up to it."

The song "Austin" struck a nerve because of its universal appeal, Shelton said. It's about a guy pining for a lost love who plays phone tag.

"A lot of people have found themselves in the same situation, as far as getting back together with someone from their past," Shelton said. "It's a song about devotion, never giving up."

When Shelton set his goal of making it in music, he never gave up, either. When he first went to Nashville, he called up Hoyt Axton's motherlooking for work. Shelton ended up painting her house and meeting the famed singing songwriter (Steppenwolf's "The Pusher," Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" and songs for Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley). Later, on his tour bus, Axton sang "Old Red," a song about a prison warden's dog that he didn't write but had recorded, for Shelton.

"I'd never heard a song like that. I held on to that song since then, hoping I'd get a chance to record it some day," Shelton said.

It's Shelton's favorite song on his new album, which was produced by another famous songwriter, Bobby Braddock, who wrote George Jones' hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

"I can't imagine having any other producer and having such success right off the bat," he said. "He's one of the guys who made country music be about real life."

Braddock also co-wrote three songs on the album.

For his rodeo performance, Shelton plans to sing songs off his record along with a mix of covers from Hank Williams Jr., Conley, John Anderson and more.

"I'll do stuff from the album, but also songs they can sing along with because everybody's there to have a good time," he said. "And I'll do my best to see that that happens."