Product Description:
Personnel includes: Blake Shelton (vocals); Tim Lauer (piano, harmonium, organ, keyboards, synthesizer); Bobby Braddock (arranger, string synthesizer); John Willis (acoustic guitar); Brent Rowan (electric guitar, sitar); Scott Sanders, Dan Dugmore (lap steel guitar); Alison Brown (banjo); David Davidson, David Angell (violin); Andrea Zonn, Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Kristin Wilkinson, Monisa Angell (viola); Anthony La Marchina (cello); Terry McMillian (harmonica); Mike Rojas (piano); Allison Prestwood (electric bass); Shannon Forrest (drums); Deborah Allen, Greg Barnhill, Alison Brown, Curtis Young, Dennis Wilson, Rachel Procter (background vocals).
Engineers include: Jim Dineen, Ed Seay, Clark Schleicher.
Oklahoman Blake Shelton is firmly entrenched in the Nashville tradition of ballads with strings, unabashed sentimentality, and old-time rock & roll. The country staple subjects of dogs, women, and cars all make appearances in his workmanlike debut that aims straight for sound of heartland America.
Shelton has all the attributes of the quintessential Nashville male singer, from cowboy hat to his lonesome, world-weary tenor voice, and he's not shy about tugging at the heartstrings in songs such as "Austin" and "I Thought There Was Time," before rocking out on the blue-collar anthem "Same Old Song." There's a nod to country roots in "That's What I Call Home," while "Problems At Home" is equally preoccupied with domesticity, though this time comparing it with the laundry list of the world's woes featured on the nightly news. Blake Shelton is proof positive that there's always room in America's heart for tried and tested country themes and country sounds.
Entertainment Reviews:
Entertainment Weekly - 8/17/01, p.73
"...Part homebody, part hell-raiser, part sexy strutter..." -
Rating: B-
