2012 Grammy Nominations:
- Best Country Solo Performance for "Honey Bee"
- Best Country Song for "God Gave Me You"
- Best Country Album
I'll just go ahead and put this out there: Blake Shelton is the husband of my country-singer girl crush, Miranda Lambert. This is a new version of Faith and Tim: a true country vocal power couple, both of which know how to rock and have a great time. While I'll admit I haven't bought any of Blake's CDs, I have loved every single he's put out there, and he is by far one of the funniest guys out there on Twitter. I've been holding out on listening to this whole CD until I was ready to review it, so I'm stoked to get into this - let's do it!
I could have skipped "Honey Bee" and just sang it in my head - I've heard it enough. Don't get me wrong though, I love this song. It's adorable enough to be country, with lyrics clever enough to be worthy of Blake. "You be my glass of wine, I'll be your shot of whiskey." The song's just a simple little love song with some great trade offs between a guy and gal. I can't get over how nice it must be to be in love like this. You can hear the couple giggling together just listening to this. How freaking ridiculously cute.
In one of the sweetest friction' songs to ever hit the airwaves, we've got "God Gave Me You" next up. I want to sing this for someone's wedding so badly. Or to someone. Really, it's just an insanely romantic, beautiful sentiment about love and fate and being humbled by it all. There's no better way I think I can talk about this one, so I'm just gonna go ahead and listen. And then watch this video… and try not to tear up. We should all be so lucky as B&M. =)
The next one pops up on Pandora for me quite a bit, but I've never stopped to listen close enough. "Drink On It" calls her back to him to have another drink. He's just there for her. I mean, hey, you sleep on things and figure them out that way, who says drinks can't be as effective? Or maybe they just belong at that bar together. Who knows? It's a song that's on the slower, sway-y side, almost feeling like falling in love.
In "Good Ole Boys," Blake is simply asking a question I've been wondering myself - where have they all gone? Okay, maybe he's also singing about our wonderful military and how they're basically keeping us all alive. But there's some questions in general - btw, sounds like they're all down south. And I heard a line about one possibly being right here in New York City. Guys - take a hint.
"I'm Sorry" is light at the start up. Blake's got a very nice country voice for all kinds of tempos, but hearing him sing slower still takes me back a little. "Austin" is one of those songs, and it gets me every time. Okay, time to concentrate on this one a little more. She's the one apologizing, which I didn't really expect given the title. This is an instance where the words aren't enough. Man, I've been on the receiving and giving side of this, and apologies are one of the hardest things to both get (because forgiveness is hard to give) and give (because forgiveness is hard to get). Man, talk about stirring up memories and current feelings all at once….
Okie doke, welp, kept the tears back. Next up is "Sunny In Seattle," a song which makes no sense right off the bat. Everything's upside-down until… aww, it's like a new "when pigs fly" sentiment - when everything's completely upside down, that's when the love'll stop. Clever Blake, very clever, and downright adorkable.
"Over" is, yet again, a clever play on a title. It's actually about winning a girl over and earning her trust and love, not about love ending. It's one of those great country songs that I'm a sucker for - it's slow in verses, and then hits you hard musically in the choruses, with a full on orchestral accompaniment that melts your heart while making it beat hard as hell all at once. People, this is why country is so great - it can really do so much.
"Red River Blue" is the final official song of the album, those Spotify gives me two more to hear. If that's not Miranda in the background, I'd be shocked. This is a sweet ending song, with a call to back home and heartache. It's an interesting take on a subject, as Blake seems to be hell bent on throughout the album, and a good country blues song. It's sad, lonesome, and heart-string-tugging.
*Bonus Tracks??*
Two tracks extra on Spotify - so it depends on the version you get. "Chill" is a pretty straight-forward sentiment - kick back with a beer and relax. Yup, that's about it. And he mentions 65. Hells yeah Nashville. Let's face it: sometimes something so simple is just so damn good.
"Addicted" is the final final track of the album. Slow piano leading in, so either it's sad or a love song. It's country for sure: here we've got a story of two folks who were in love. The first verse is about her crying herself to sleep when he leaves, basically waiting on him all the time. The second is about him detaching and leaving and never returning phone calls. Then the music picks up with trade off lyrics about each of them. Oh shit, this is not a good song for me to listen to. Do yourselves a favor and call someone you think maybe you owe one to. Trust me, someone out there somewhere is waiting for that phone to ring. Like Blake says "it hurts to feel like such a fool."
Added to My Playlist:
- "Honey Bee"
- "Ready to Roll"
- "God Gave Me You"
- "Drink On It"
- "I'm Sorry"
- "Over"
- "Chill"
- "Addicted"
I've liked Blake for a long time and I have to say his work just keeps getting better and better. I think the more we hear from him, the better balance he has been able to create, showing he has a hilarious side as well as a serious/loving side. The biggest change now from his earlier music if that you can find both sides in the same song from time to time. This is a guy I have some serious respect for, plus I just kind of want to be best friends with him and his wife.
I was going to include the video for "Footloose" as a bonus, but then I found these fun promo videos on his YouTube, and well… go there. Here's a taste from The Most Interesting Man In Country Music: