blake II the tennessean
Blake did an interview in The Tennessean.
Blake Shelton on new album: 'Looking ahead is a helluva lot more fun'
It’s deer season in Tishomingo, Okla., and Blake Shelton is talking on the phone in the middle of New York City. Surrounded by skyscrapers and city noise, he couldn’t be farther from the tranquility of the woods near his home. But it’s five days before his new album will be released and he’s promoting “Texoma Shore” on a host of television shows.
The release, with his new single, “I’ll Name the Dogs,” marks a transition for Shelton. In stores Friday, “Texoma Shore” moves the singer further away from his last album, “If I’m Honest,” which he admits carried some dark memories from his well-documented 2015 divorce from fellow country singer Miranda Lambert. He's ready to put his focus on the future.
“Looking ahead is a helluva lot more fun for me right now than it’s ever been," he said.
“Texoma Shore” is also a career marker that shows the singer’s clear shift in priorities. At 41, Shelton said he’s less concerned with appeasing the country music industry than he is with being happy. And his new music — along with being home with girlfriend Gwen Stefani — makes him happy.
“I’m just feeling so at ease for the first time in maybe ever,” Shelton said. “It’s a peace of mind that I can’t explain and I feel like I owe it to her, and obviously that’s going to be reflected in my music."
His two loves converged, just as the album title suggests, on the Texoma shore.
Lake Texoma sits on the border of Texas and Oklahoma. In the 16 years since Shelton charted his first No. 1 song, “Austin,” the singer has lived in the Nashville area, his native Oklahoma and rented homes in California during filming of his hit television series, “The Voice.” But he had never — until recently — built a house. He chose a plot of land on the lake, and even though it’s just about an hour from Shelton’s farm, he wanted to make it feel like a vacation home. He planted palm trees, which he admits will probably die this winter.
Shelton built a studio in the home with views of the water, which was particularly important to him. Because of his busy schedule, Shelton was forced to record his last several albums from wherever he was when it was time to release new music.
Scott Hendricks, his Nashville-based producer, would fly to meet Shelton and they would scout locations to record vocals. Sometimes it was in the bedroom or closet of a rental house. Other times they worked out of a hotel suite. The habit — while successful — wore on Shelton and he wanted a permanent solution.
“I’ve gotten to the point where I want to do more from home than before,” he said, explaining the vocals for his new album were recorded from his new studio. “We’d sing for a while and then we’d go out on the boat for a while and eat and there was drinking. It felt different. It was way more fun to make this record than I’ve ever had making a record.”
Stefani was sometimes there and assumed the role of caretaker. Shelton remembers she brought down a tray of those “champagne drinks with the orange juice” about 10:30 a.m. just as he was about to start recording.
“It set the tone for the rest of the making of the album,” he said. “It was like, ‘We are at the lake. And this is country music. Let’s do this the way we’re supposed to do it.’ It went from mimosas to beers to a blur, actually.”
Shelton said the atmosphere added a relaxing effect that can be heard in his new songs — along with plenty of 1980s and 1990s country influence. Jimmy Olander, the guitar player in popular ‘90s country group Diamond Rio, is even featured in “I’ll Name the Dogs.”
Written by Matt Dragstrem, Ben Hayslip and Josh Thompson, the song’s lyrics include: "I'll hang the pictures, you hang the stars/ You pick the paint, I'll pick a guitar/ Sing you a song out there with the crickets and the frogs/You name the babies and I'll name the dogs."
“For me, selfishly, it sounded old school,” Shelton said of “I’ll Name the Dogs,” which after just eight weeks has sped to its current No. 11 spot on the country radio airplay charts. “Not old, old school,” he added. “But a little while ago school. It’s lighthearted, fun and has a good positive message, and it’s all the things people say they need at radio.”
Other album standouts include “Turnin’ Me On," the song Shelton penned with Jessie Alexander and Josh Osborne. The love song is reminiscent of ‘80s Alabama songs; Shelton said he started it on his guitar on his bus before a show in Louisiana and then sent it to Alexander to finish it. It's the only song on “Texoma Shore” on which Shelton has a writing credit.
“Blake is one of the few artists that although he is an award-winning songwriter ... he’s open to recording outside songs more so than most other people,” Hendricks said. “We literally get more than 2,000 songs submitted for this. ... The challenging part of making a Blake record is that we hear so many hit songs that we let go.”
Hendricks points to the progressive Craig Wiseman, James Bailey and Ryan Ogren co-penned “Money” and the country-as-cornbread “I Lived It” written by Ashley Gorley, Ben Hayslip, Rhett Akins and Ross Copperman as diverse examples of songs that made the final cut.
Gorley said “I Lived It” is so country he was initially surprised it got recorded. But with lyrics about Daddy’s flatbed Ford, screen doors, Mama’s Crisco can and a Sears box fan, the carefully crafted scenes were familiar ones to Gorley and Shelton.
“You’re lucky if you do this for 20 years and you get your hands on one song like that,” Shelton said. “God almighty, every morning I wake up and I look at my phone and it’s a new scandal or crisis. That song takes me back to before this time right now when everything feels on edge so much and people are pitted against each other. When I sing that song, I’m a kid again.”
Song for song, Shelton’s longtime manager Narvel Blackstock believes “Texoma Shore” is the best album of the singer’s career.
“This record reflects his state of mind, and he’s having a great time,” Blackstock said. “This is the kind of country music that the format was built on regardless of any era. Blake is influenced by all of it.”
Shelton’s love for country music is reciprocated. Charlie Cook, vice president of country formats for Cumulus, credits Shelton for the acceleration of the country format.
“America saw that he was so likable,” Cook said. “He was self-effacing and at that time the country core loved the Blake-Miranda relationship. Today the general audience is invested in the relationship with Gwen. The format is lucky to have a number of artists who have lasted years. Not only Blake but Kenny, Tim, Reba, Toby and George. Interestingly, when you can use one name they have staying power.”
When he’s not in the recording studio or on television, Shelton can often be found working on his side projects, including his chain of elaborate bars named after his hit song “Ole Red.” The Nashville location is in the works, and the facility in Tishomingo is already open. Shelton also lent his name to the American-made Smithworks vodka. In addition, Macy’s recently unveiled a Blake Shelton clothing line. The singer joked that he dresses like Gilligan from the popular 1960s television show “Gilligan’s Island” in that he wears the same thing every day.
With his new house on the lake and a happy relationship, the singer said protecting his home life is now his first priority.
“I want to kind of do this on my terms from now on, no matter what it reaps,” he explained. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I’ve got this thing that I’ve built over the last 20 years and now I’m going to do it exactly how I want to do it and I’m not going to stress about it if something doesn’t work.”