Blake Shelton

July 11, 2019 at PDT

God's Country (Acoustic) - Single

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May 19, 2016 at PDT

If I'm Honest

After a period of personal and public upheaval, Blake speaks from the heart. If I’m Honest is an unflinching look at love lost and love found, with the country royal tearing through an expertly produced set of devastating ballads (“Bet You Still Think About Me”), plucky pop (“Friends,” which also features on the Angry Birds Movie soundtrack), brave reflection (“She’s Got a Way With Words”), and, of course, brutal honesty (the soaring Gwen Stefani duet “Go Ahead and Break My Heart.”)

15 Tracks

March 25, 2013 at PDT

Based On a True Story... (Deluxe Version)

The crossover sound of Based on a True Story… has much to do with this being Blake Shelton's first album after he gained stardom as a judge on The Voice. This one was built like a new pickup truck with bolt-on accessories; at its foundation is a looped beat and acoustic guitar riff, over which Shelton raps and sings about good-‘ol boy pride. Behind him, Pistol Annies provide some of the coolest backing vocals to ever grace any of his recordings. “Sure Be Cool If You Did” similarly builds on a country-pop ballad foundation with prerequisite pedal-steel notes and soaring three-part vocal harmonies that accompany Shelton’s amorous serenading.

15 Tracks

November 2, 2017 at PDT

Texoma Shore

Eighteen months after If I’m Honest detailed a tough, tabloid-drenched year, Texoma Shore paints a delightfully upbeat portrait of Shelton’s newly peaceful state of mind. The album is billed as a nostalgic tribute to small-town Oklahoma (“I Lived It,” “At the House”), but it’s equally heavy on pinch-me moments inspired, purportedly, by a certain red-lipped lady (“Turnin’ Me On,” “Why Me”). He sounds ready to recreate the bucolic bliss from his childhood on Lake Texoma. “You and me with the same street name/Same last name, same everything,” he sings on the splendidly sappy “I’ll Name the Dogs.” “Laying next to you every night/Sounds like a damn good life.”

11 Tracks

December 12, 2019 at PST

Fully Loaded: God's Country

Nearly two decades beyond his first chart-topper, 2001’s “Austin,” Blake Shelton seems entirely unfazed by how much the musical landscape has changed around him. While other major country hitmakers are still investing energy in standard albums, he happily switched his focus to stand-alone songs, official singles and low-key digital releases alike, and saw the approach pay off with this year’s haunting, hard-rocking, award-nominated ode to rural pride “God’s Country.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt his popularity that his TV gig and avid tweeting keep his affability in the spotlight.

The 12-track collection Fully Loaded: God's Country reflects Shelton’s awareness of where he is in his career: Half a dozen of the tunes on it hit the top 10 between 2016 and 2018, including the playful vision of down-home domesticity “I’ll Name the Dogs.” The rest, including the title track, haven’t appeared on any of his previous albums, but suggest the ease with which he juggles multiple highly visible roles. “Nobody But You,” a vigorous power ballad vowing devotion, is the second song on which he’s featured Gwen Stefani during their time as a genre-bridging Hollywood power couple. Likewise, “Hell Right,” a swaggeringly goofy sung-spoken ode to country-style partying with guest vocals from Trace Adkins, echoes the collaborative hit the two veteran stars had a decade earlier, “Hillbilly Bone,” but the new track leans into glossy, contemporary production effects. “Tequila Sheila” is a droll and rowdy cover of a 1980 Bobby Bare cut that Shelton—an avid fan of many erstwhile country hitmakers—had long admired and released when he announced a tour with some of his heroes.

12 Tracks

September 29, 2014 at PDT

BRINGING BACK THE SUNSHINE

Blake Shelton channels country legends like George Jones and Randy Travis. Some of the best songs on Shelton's eighth album are the ballads, such as "Lonely Tonight" and the standout "I Need My Girl." But there are plenty of strong-booze-and-tough-women rollers here, notably the driving title track, as well as "Gonna," and "Good Country Song," which lives up to its title.

12 Tracks

November 8, 2010 at PST

Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton

15 Tracks

July 11, 2011 at PDT

Red River Blue (Bonus Tracks Edition)

For country singer Blake Shelton, everything seemed to come together at just the right time for 2011’s Red River Blue. Despite the (relatively) lagging commercial performance of 2008’s Startin’ Fires, Shelton had plenty to celebrate in the time running up to Red River Blue: He’d been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, won Male Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Awards, and released his first greatest-hits record in late 2010. He then joined the cast of The Voice as a judge and married country star Miranda Lambert in early 2011. Everything was coming up Shelton; the stage was set for the singer’s sixth studio album to become a major success.

It’s probably no big surprise that it did, then. It helped, too, that Shelton’s musical chops had been honed to an even finer point by then. The success of breezy lead single “Honey Bee” inspired a quick finish to the record—only two weeks to lock down an entire unfinished half—but, thanks in large part to Shelton’s professionalism and the golden touch of primary producer Scott Hendricks, Red River Blue sounds cohesive and on-the-money. The big, romantic feelings are rendered in rousing pop, as on the soulful “God Gave Me You” and the soaring “I’m Sorry,” and Shelton lays into symphonic grandeur on “Over.” But there’s a lot here for the country fans, too, as “Ready To Roll” finds the singer kicking back, and on “Good Ole Boys,” he bemoans the death of chivalry and wonders where all the cowboys went.
There’s a confidence to Shelton’s work on Red River Blue that is indicative of the successes that surrounded its release. Aptly, he offers up one of his most vulnerable performances with the title track—a ballad invoking his home state’s side of the Red River—where his vocals intertwine gently with Lambert’s and show a particularly soft side of the singer.

13 Tracks

August 18, 2022 at PDT

No Body - Single

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October 22, 2015 at PDT

Reloaded: 20 #1 Hits

This tour through Shelton's most strapping successes shows a sure-voiced natural growing into the kind of star who can make any pick-up line seem smooth and all manner of heartbreak feel dignified. Tearjerkers "The Baby" and "Austin" nail the three-minute, three-act storytelling of early-'00s twang pop, but they're met by the likes of the cheerful, breezy "Honey Bee," a country-rock compendium of new ways to say "I love you." Each cut nails the sound of its moment—"Boys 'Round Here" even toys with hick-hop—while Shelton himself continues to transcend the trends.

21 Tracks

February 8, 2024 at PST

Purple Irises - Single

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May 20, 2021 at PDT

Body Language (Deluxe)

In the nearly four years between 2017’s Texoma Shore and 2021’s Body Language, Blake Shelton was not exactly kicking back. He’d put out a compilation album, made numerous appearances on the Billboard charts—notably with the RIAA double Platinum-certified “Nobody But You,” a duet with wife Gwen Stefani—and was still cranking out winners on The Voice. But his approach to recording had changed. “Just to be completely honest with you,” Shelton told Apple Music, “I didn’t even know if I was ever gonna put out another actual album or not.” After realizing he’d amassed an album’s worth of recordings from Oklahoma City, Nashville, and L.A. that he was particularly proud of, though, he decided there was no other way the songs should come out.

The singer’s laidback approach to the record helped make Body Language a mostly breezy affair, with Shelton in full and confident command of his gift for delivering well-crafted country. There are pop undertones, but the record doesn’t approach the type of hybrid sounds that early-2020s country radio often trades in (except, maybe, the title track or arena-rocker “Fire Up The Night”). Shelton is chill enough to conjure up Jimmy Buffett vibes during the beachy “Makin’ It Up As You Go,” and he gets playful on “Corn.” On another duet with Stefani, “Happy Anywhere,” he revels in the joy of finding a love that keeps him from rambling. Even the lovelorn tunes, like “Now I Don’t” and “Monday Mornin’ Missin’ You,” are free from melodrama. “The album is very lighthearted and just fun to listen to,” Shelton said. “There are not a lot of deep thinking songs … except at the very end, there’s a song called ‘Bible Verses’.”

“Bible Verses” is as compelling and profound a song as Shelton’s cut in his career, a somber and thoughtful exploration of what it means to struggle to live up to one’s moral standards. It’s a fitting end to a mostly cheerful album. As Dolly once said: “If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.”

17 Tracks

May 20, 2021 at PDT

Body Language

“The truth is I love country music, and I love a great country lyric and a great country melody, and I just want to record a bunch of those songs,” Blake Shelton tells Apple Music. “That's as honest as I can be with you about it.” Shelton makes good on that love for narrative-driven, melodic country music with Body Language, his 12th studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s Texoma Shore. The album opens with “Minimum Wage,” a piano-driven anthem about the kind of love that transcends money. “Corn” is a foot-stomping ode to Shelton’s favorite grain, with an appropriately twang-heavy arrangement. And closer “Bible Verses” shows off Shelton’s serious side with a meditation on spirituality and grace. Shelton tapped longtime producer Scott Hendricks to helm the LP, as well as his fiancée, Gwen Stefani, who joins him on “Happy Anywhere.” Below, Shelton shares insight into several of Body Language’s tracks.

“Minimum Wage”
“The number one reason I recorded that song is because I thought how fun it would be to do it live. And one step beyond that is I thought it would be a great show opener, because it's got that super long intro that builds. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I can see some fog on the stage, and I come up on one of those stupid elevators, or whatever.’ You have all these little images in your mind of how you're going to do it.”

“Body Language”
“For eight years now, since I met The Swon Brothers, we've had this relationship, and they finally sent a song over that was like, ‘Well, I don't think you should put that on your EP, because I actually want that one.’ They had sent it just trying to get feedback, and I was like, ‘Hey, well, tell them the feedback is that I want that thing.’ I really just tried to do the best I could at making my version of that song sound just like what they had created, because they really nailed the track. But they're actually on the record singing all the background, and I wanted it to not just be a cut for them. I wanted to feature them on the record, too. And hopefully they get even more mileage out of that, also.”

“Corn”
“I'm in a situation with Craig Wiseman where the record label knows, ‘I don't care what you guys think of it, if Craig Wiseman writes a song and sends it, just send it to me.’ Mostly because I just love to hear his voice on demos. I mean, you know when it's a Craig Wiseman song. I don't know what's going on with him vocally, but it's weird and I love it. But he sent me that song directly because he knows that literally corn is my life. I mean, I eat it, I plant it, I feed it to deer, everything around me is corn. I'm a corny person, I guess.”

“Bible Verses”
“That song is so honest and so intense, and so personal in ways when you sing it, because you're going, ‘Oh my god, I'm telling everybody that I'm really not always everything I want to be.’ But I think, if we're being honest as recording artists, as human beings, you got to go there. Sometimes I just feel like I'm never going to measure up to what God expects me to be. And I think we all probably have that moment every now and then.”

13 Tracks

December 5, 2013 at PST

The Blake Shelton Collection

92 Tracks

October 14, 2019 at PDT

Jesus Got a Tight Grip - Single

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July 30, 2001 at PDT

Blake Shelton

Long before becoming a TV personality, Blake Shelton achieved country stardom straight out of the gate with his debut album. The crucial elements of his sound were already firmly in place: hard-twanging, rock-inflected stompers (“Every Time I Look at You”), openhearted ballads (Shelton’s first No. 1 hit, “Austin”), and compelling story-songs (“Ol’ Red”). Add the youthful energy of a newbie getting to strut his stuff for the first time and you’ve got an unbeatable recipe for success.

10 Tracks

March 19, 2020 at PDT

Nobody But You (Duet with Gwen Stefani) [Acoustic] - Single

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October 1, 2012 at PDT

Cheers, It's Christmas. (Deluxe Version)

17 Tracks

November 8, 2022 at PST

Heaven By Then (feat. Vince Gill) - Single

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February 20, 2020 at PST

Get Ready (feat. Blake Shelton) - Single

2 Tracks

May 5, 2008 at PDT

Pure BS (Deluxe Edition)

With his fourth album, 2007’s Pure BS, Blake Shelton found himself at a crossroads. After the RIAA Platinum-certified success of 2004’s Blake Shelton’s Barn and Grill, the Oklahoma native was on enough of a tear to take some risks and get more ambitious and expansive with his sound. But his life was in turmoil—he was putting together Pure BS while divorcing his first wife. These transformational experiences made Shelton reckless and reflective, and he outfitted the record with both roadhouse rockers and thoughtful ballads.

The production on Pure BS is notably glossier than on previous Shelton offerings. It’s the first record he released not produced solely by country veteran Bobby Braddock; both Paul Worley and Brent Rowan also produced, and there’s a shift from Shelton’s previously unadorned vocals into poppier sonic territory. Generally, that translates to arena-ready tracks—on both the boisterous and quiet sides—like the riffy “This Can’t Be Good” and breakup song “Don’t Make Me,” on which Shelton lets his voice soar. He’ll always have a hard time staying out of the honky-tonk, but while “The More I Drink” might sound like a drinking song, it subverts those tropes to get to truths about addiction. But, largely, pop rules, as on the heartbreaking piano ballad “Back There Again” or the grooving “She Can’t Get That.”

Despite getting on board with the change, Shelton laments Nashville radio’s shifting sonic landscape on “The Last Country Song,” enlisting the timeless voices of John Anderson and George Jones (whose iconic “He Stopped Loving Her Today” was co-written by Shelton’s producer Braddock) for the elegiac barnburner. But the best-performing single from Pure BS might be evidence that the shift was bound to continue as country music evolved through the late 2000s; Shelton’s cover of pop crooner Michael Bublé’s yearning “Home” went to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. And it may have pointed toward a future development for Shelton himself, too, as country superstar—and Shelton’s second wife—Miranda Lambert sang along with him on the track.

14 Tracks

June 1, 2015 at PDT

Forever Young - Single

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June 25, 2020 at PDT

Nobody But You (Duet with Gwen Stefani) [Live] - Single

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August 9, 2010 at PDT

All About Tonight - EP

Whether it’s his successful prior EP of six songs, or simply the belief that all good things come in six-packs, Black Shelton is on to something good here. All About Tonight picks right up where Hillbilly Bone left off—raising hell and wooing women. “All About Tonight” kick-starts like a nitty-gritty roadhouse rocker with Shelton musing on his hangover and how he has to shake it off so he can get back to honky-tonkin’ after the sun goes down. “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” downshifts into ballad territory, as he tries to get inside the mind of the woman who has his heart. But things get really hot when Shelton’s fiancé Miranda Lambert chimes in on “Draggin’ The River,” a country-rocking duet loaded with rootsy instrumentation that plays cutely nicely on their relationship.

6 Tracks