On the Cover – Blake Shelton

3/8/2005 – March 2005

Label: Warner Bros.
Booking: Mark Roeder, William Morris Agency
Management: John Dorris, Hallmark Direction Company
Producers: Bobby Braddock
Current Single: “Goodbye Time”
Current Album: Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill
Current Video: “Goodbye Time”

Birth Date: June 18
Interests: Hunting, working on the farm, jokester
Interesting Facts: Keeps a wide variety of farm animals as pets
Awards: Music Row Critics Breakthrough, R&R Breakthrough New Artist; Special TV/Film Appearances: NBC’s American Dreams, Showtime’s Chris Isaak Show, various awards shows
Hits: “Some Beach,” “The Baby”
RIAA Certifications: Blake Shelton, Gold Musical Influences: Earl Thomas Conley

The latest effort from Warner Bros. Nashville artist Blake Shelton is an album designed to create a place of comfort and relaxation for listeners, such as the familiarity found in a favorite bar or old cafe. Aptly titled Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill, the album’s concept was born over dinner with friend and collaborator Bobby Braddock where the two discovered a common thread amongst Shelton’s favorite songs. He recalls, “They were songs that you hear in a bar. Some were country standards and some weren’t, but they had the same feel.” This inspired him to “make a record that from start to finish could be played on a jukebox somewhere and not seem out of place.” The result is an album that plays out like a series of conversations between regular customers about the experiences of their simple, everyday lives. “Some Beach,” the album’s first single, was a multi-week No. 1 hit.

Shelton was just seventeen when he made the move to Nashville and since then has had several hits including his first No. 1, Austin, released in 2001. Now 28, Shelton is more focused on defining himself as a country artist and less concered with the charts. Shelton sums up his feelings like this—“Somebody can always find something about me to really like or hate, but let’s keep all that stuff aside and make it about country music, because that’s all it’s about for me.”