The News Herald (May 24th 2002)
Shelton brings hat full of hits to Stetsuns
With his first single, Austin, topping off the country music charts for three weeks, his second single, All Over Me, going Top 10 and his first CD, Blake Shelton, on Warner Brothers debuting at No. 3 behind two soundtrack albums, country newcomer Blake Shelton is flying high.
Not bad for an artist who saw his career almost end before it had a chance to begin.
Shelton was signed in 1998 by Giant Records and was buried in its artist protection program until last year. Then, just when it seemed all was right with his career, Shelton received some bad news. Giant Records announced it was going out of business just as Austin was released.
"I thought it was all over before it even started," Shelton said. "The company was closed down and I had no idea what was going to happen."
Shelton has finally hit the road hard, and will stop in Panama City for a concert at Stetsuns tonight. The doors open at 6 p.m. with the show beginning at approximately 8 p.m. Tickets are $16 for general admission and $20 for reserved seating.
In today's music business, singles can be released months before the CD comes out. Austin was in the Top 5 before the CD was released last July. Shelton said the single's success did not take anything away from the CD release.
"The CD release was a whole new plateau," he said. "The early single success was nice, but I have been told by the Warner Brothers people that doesn't necessarily reflect how the album will do. There is no way to compare sales of a single with CD sales and tell how a CD will do."
Shelton grew up in Ada, Okla., and made his stage debut in a talent show when he was eight years old. The night didn't go well.
"I was totally embarrassed and humiliated," he said. "I was in the talent portion with all these girls who were the same age as me, but they were girls, man. They were little girls. That's what killed me. When a boy is eight years old, you don't like girls. I know I didn't. I told Mom I didn't want to sing anymore because it's too embarrassing."
Five years later, and after a promise of no more talent shows, Shelton sang in front of an audience in his hometown. His uncle Dearl was responsible for the restart.
After taking up the guitar and beginning his writing career, Shelton finally caught a break in a chance encounter with the late beloved Nashville songwriter Mae Boren Axton.
"I performed on a tribute show to her in Ada," he said. "She liked my voice and what she saw evidently, and she told me I needed to move to Nashville if I wanted a music career. That was about all I needed to hear to convince me to make the move."
Just days after graduating high school, Shelton was off to Nashville and a job as a painter.
"I called Mae when I got to Nashville and I asked what I should do now that I was there," he said. "She told me I could come by and paint her house."
Two weeks of painting turned out to be the best thing to happen to Shelton. That was because Axton's famous songwriting son, Hoyt, was living in his tour bus in her driveway. During breaks, Shelton would go to the bus and talk to him.
"He would tell me stories and treated me like he had known me forever," he said. "He would sing and also talk to me about the business."
Shelton soon began playing writer's nights around Nashville while working at a Nashville music publishing company making tapes of songs. He spent so much time with the songwriters that he ultimately lost his job. So he set out in search of a recording contract.
Despite the collapse of Giant records, everything has worked out fine. His debut CD success has served to show Shelton that all the years of blood, sweat and toil have been worth it.
"I've just been hoping and praying and working my butt off all these years that I would have a hit record," he said. "Now I have one and it has been crazy. But this is what I've wanted all my life, so I guess I will just have to handle it."