Katie talks with country music legend Blake Shelton about new music, his country legacy, and more!
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00:00Well, let's talk about the duet that you guys have on the new album.
00:04I was just listening to Hanging On.
00:06Talk about this song a little bit.
00:07Well, you know, I'm to a point where I'm probably, as long as Gwen is willing,
00:14I don't ever want to make another album without having at least one collaboration with her on there
00:20because she's just so much fun to sing with.
00:24She loves music so much.
00:27And she loves the studio.
00:31She loves writing.
00:32I mean, I think Gwen considers herself a writer first and then an artist or singer after that, you know.
00:40So we just have so much fun with music together.
00:44It's not anymore.
00:45It's not about, oh, we got to find ourselves a duet because of this or that.
00:51It's just one of the first things I think of when I hear a song that's a love song or something
00:56is, hey, I wonder if there's a way to make this a duet.
01:02But Hanging On, it's a song that Charles Kelly actually sent over.
01:07And I was surprised because I thought, man, if I was Charles, I would save this one for Lady A.
01:14But, you know, screw that.
01:17I'm glad he sent it to us because I absolutely love the song.
01:21I love how much it pushes us as vocalists.
01:24It's not an easy song to sing by any stretch of the imagination.
01:28It's actually a pretty tough song vocally to get through, which is the thing I think that attracted Gwen and I to it is the challenge of it, you know.
01:37Definitely.
01:38And I'm sure that Charles Kelly is out of his mind right now to have written a song that Gwen Stefani is singing.
01:42I'm sure he is, too.
01:43I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet about it.
01:46So I don't think he knew when I took it who I was even going to record it with.
01:49I'm sure he assumed.
01:51But I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it yet.
01:54That's so funny.
01:55Well, let's talk about the current single, Texas, in the top 10 right now.
01:58This song has just been cruising.
02:00And when and if this hits number one, this would be number 30.
02:05Does that feel crazy to you to think about that?
02:07Yes, it feels absolutely insane.
02:09And I've been so excited and grateful to see the reception that it's gotten because, man, I hadn't even made an album in years.
02:20And I was kind of okay with that because I'd just kind of been in the grind with The Voice and just my career over the last, you know, now quarter century.
02:32And it wasn't until Post Malone called and asked if I would sing, pour me a drink with him for his record.
02:43And then it came out as a single.
02:44And then we made a video.
02:46And just being around him and his excitement for country music and how much he loves it, it truly did.
02:53I credit Post all the time for really, it was the wake-up call I needed to realize, what am I doing?
03:02I get to be a country singer and a handful of people in the world get to do what I do.
03:08And I need to get back in there and make another record.
03:13And so we recorded Texas along with some other things that I'd already had recorded.
03:19And Texas just felt like one of those once-in-a-lifetime songs that you get that it's just when you hear it, for me anyway, it was impossible to get it out of my mind.
03:31I'd wake up in the middle of the night just singing my own song.
03:35Like normally if I make a record and by the time I get a mixed version of it, I'm so sick of it.
03:41I never want to hear it again, you know, when you work on something like that.
03:44And I just still am sitting here right now.
03:47It's so much fun, that song.
03:50I love the George Strait references in there and all my exes.
03:54And it's just been a blast.
03:56It really has.
03:57It's so fun to see you so excited about it.
03:59And I feel like it really was the perfect storm of like posts coming along, you getting like some of your life back after the voice and having more time.
04:06Like very serendipitous that that happened that way.
04:09Well, you know, when the post thing happened and then, you know, anything that guy touches turns to gold, you know.
04:18And so when that song went number one, somebody on my team, because I wasn't really keeping track.
04:26I knew that I'd had, you know, in the high 20s of number one songs.
04:31I wouldn't have been able to tell you if it was 27 or 26.
04:36I didn't know.
04:36And someone said, that's your 29th number one song.
04:41And man, that was like, wait, what?
04:43That means if somehow, some way we were lucky enough to ever have another number one song, I would have 30, like 30.
04:51I was like, oh, my God, we got to.
04:53It's time to start turning over rocks and looking, looking, you know.
04:58We got to try to get this.
05:02And I know that it's getting harder and harder.
05:04There has been probably three new generations of country superstars come along since I've started.
05:11And they're taking over, which is awesome, by the way, to see.
05:15But I also know that it's getting harder and harder for a guy like me to squeeze one in there.
05:19And so it was like, man, we got to find the craziest, most different thing we can find for me to try to swing for this.
05:29And so Texas has just been a blessing in a lot of ways.
05:34And if we're able to get to 30, I may lose my mind.
05:39I may just say that's, you know, that might be the thing that sends me over the edge.
05:45And another one of the songs that you recently put out that I think is having a really big impact on people is Let Them In Anyway.
05:50Talk about when you first heard this song.
05:52What I was just talking about, I've been doing this a long time, and I can think of one other time that I heard a song for the first time that affected me the way Let Them In Anyway did.
06:05And that was a song I had years ago called The Baby, where it just absolutely was a punch to the gut.
06:12But, I mean, Let Them In Anyway is just, it's hard to find songs that haven't been written already, you know, at this point.
06:22And that song, to me, comes in a way that I've never heard anyone say it like that before.
06:29And I think it's a thought, it's a subject that we've probably all thought about when we've lost someone, or even about ourselves.
06:37Like, hey, am I going to be ready, you know what I mean?
06:42If this happens, and whatever your beliefs are, there's just no way that it doesn't cross your mind, you know?
06:51And the way this song is written in such an honest, conversational way, Hardy is just, I mean, the guy is just brilliant, I think.
06:59And he's been really good to me, and I think we've been an important part of each other's journey.
07:05He certainly doesn't need me anymore, and the fact that he sent this song over to me and let go of it means a lot to me, it really does.
07:16It's getting to the point where, like, you can almost hear a song and be like, oh, that's Scott Hardy written all over it before you do it.
07:21Yeah, you're right, you're right.
07:23He's very, very gifted.
07:25Talk about why you wanted to name the album for recreational use only.
07:29Well, I wish I had some big, good story for you about it.
07:33But, Katie, I hate naming albums.
07:37It's like the worst, like, wait a minute, like, I don't know what to call an album.
07:42Like, call it album number 10 or album 12, whatever it is, you know?
07:48And my manager was texting me going, man, listen, like, it's not funny anymore.
07:54They really need to know the name of the album.
07:57Like, it's time to, they got to, you know, these days they make vinyl albums, which I think must take months before the album actually comes out.
08:07And so you got to have this stuff ready.
08:09And I go, I don't know.
08:11I don't take myself that serious.
08:12I said, you know, call it for recreational use only.
08:16And he goes, perfect.
08:17I like it.
08:18We'll print it, you know?
08:19And it's like, I really didn't think about it that long.
08:21And so it is kind of a stupid name for an album.
08:25But at the same time, I know that if anybody knows me at all or follow me, they know I don't take myself seriously.
08:31And I don't want anybody to think that I take, you know, what I do so seriously that I can't have fun with it also, you know?
08:41So I thought it was a goofy name for the album and maybe one people would remember.
08:46I loved it.
08:46The second I saw it, it made me giggle.
08:48I was like, this feels so much like Blake.
08:49And it makes me love it more that you just like threw it out there and they're like, I don't care.
08:54Name it something.
08:56Name it whatever you want.
08:57I already had an album years ago called Blake Shelton.
09:00So I couldn't do that again.
09:01So damn it.
09:03I know.
09:03It's like you use the self-titled one and you're like, ah, never get to do that again.
09:07Out of material now.
09:09Yeah.
09:09You've been out on the Friends and Heroes tour with some of your best buddies.
09:13What have been the highlights of this so far?
09:14Well, you know, Craig Morgan and I have been great friends for years.
09:21Trace Atkins and I have been great friends for years.
09:25He's actually also a frenemy.
09:28You know, he's just the grumpiest, meanest jerk in the world.
09:32I love him.
09:33He's literally my brother.
09:34Dina Carter was the, I don't want to say shocker because we all know what Dina brings to the table.
09:48I mean, she, but I just haven't had a chance over the years to spend that much time around her.
09:53And she's just literally walking sunshine.
09:59I mean, she truly is the sweetest person in the world.
10:05You never see her without a smile on her face and just happy to be there.
10:09And I loved every night watching her.
10:13I didn't miss any of her performances.
10:15You know, I watched her sing Strawberry Wine every single night and I watched her just melt the room with that song.
10:23And it was just really cool to see.
10:25So, I don't worry about hurting Craig and Trace's feelings by saying, you know, she was definitely my favorite part of the tour.
10:34She was just, she blows me away.
10:37She really does.
10:39That's so amazing.
10:39And then you've also got this new project that you're working on, The Road.
10:43I got to sit down and I talked to Keith a little bit about it.
10:45And I just think that the concept of this is so cool.
10:49And he seemed so excited about that too.
10:51How did you guys kind of come up with this?
10:53So, I started a production company a few years ago.
10:57We have a show called Barmageddon.
11:00It's just a crazy, stupid show that we did for USA Network.
11:05And when I quit The Voice, I quit it because I just felt like I needed a break.
11:13And then once I had a break, then you start coming up with ideas, which is what you do with time on your hands, I guess.
11:20But my partner, Lee Metzger, with my production company, he actually had the idea for the show.
11:27He goes, why don't we do a show, a singing competition show where it's like people playing bars?
11:33And I thought, well, that'll never be able to be shot.
11:38There's no way to do that.
11:39You know, yeah, open for somebody.
11:41And so, the more we talked and the more I was able to bring ideas in from years and years of working on the voice of things that maybe if I was the boss, I would have done different, you know.
11:54And so, by the time we kind of had the idea mapped out and then Taylor Sheridan got involved and he had his ideas of how to make it cinematic and look like nothing else you've ever seen in the singing competition world, it was like, well, we need a headliner.
12:12We need these artists to be opening for somebody.
12:14And, of course, you know, Keith, I mean, name another, we only have one Keith Urban in our industry and we're so lucky to have him.
12:25I mean, he's, from a television standpoint, you know, he did The Voice in Australia for a long time.
12:31He did American Idol, so he knows the television world.
12:35And then on the other side of it, I mean, he's Keith Urban.
12:39He's Keith Urban, you know.
12:40Keith Urban.
12:41And so, yeah, that's all I'm going to say.
12:44And so when we threw him the idea, he jumped on it.
12:48And I was afraid that I was going to have to spend a lot of time trying to sell him on the idea because it's scary to be an artist and jump into a reality competition thing, you know what I mean?
13:03Because you don't have to do that and you're really putting yourself in a spot that if this thing doesn't work, you know,
13:11you're attached to it, you know.
13:13But he loved the idea because he, just like I did, he came up playing in bars and clubs and barbecues and coffee shops, wherever somebody would let him plug in and sing.
13:26I mean, that's the same thing I did.
13:27And as much as we both respect, and by the way, nothing may be harder than making it on a soundstage in Hollywood with millions of people watching you every night live with cameras and the pressure of that.
13:43I couldn't have made it that way.
13:45But at the same time, there's something to be said for making it the old-fashioned way, too.
13:50And so we wanted to figure out a way to capture that and put it on TV.
13:56And so CBS bought into it.
13:58And we've already shot the entire season now.
14:00We shot the finale and it's going to air in September.
14:04Couldn't be more excited about it.
14:07Yeah, I can't wait to see it.
14:08I think it's going to be great, such an accurate representation of what it's like to cut your teeth as a musician.
14:12It'll be so great.
14:13You know, I got such a good laugh.
14:15And I don't know if you saw this.
14:16I'm assuming you did.
14:16But a few weeks ago, Luke Bryan posted that video about how he was at a gas station.
14:21Somebody thought he was you.
14:23And I died.
14:25Can you believe that?
14:26I mean, that's such an insult to me.
14:30Like, what a horrifying mistake to make.
14:34Like, if there's one person in the world I don't want to be mistaken for, it's Luke Bryan.
14:40I mean, what an idiot, moron, like, dumbass, you know?
14:47And to be mistaken for Luke, I mean, that's a nightmare for me.
14:52He actually FaceTimed me and was texting me about it when it happened.
14:56He was like, man, you, I can't believe this just happened.
14:59I mean, that's not Luke telling, making up something for social media.
15:03It really happened.
15:04And I was like, man, surely he, I think the guy must have mixed up our names.
15:10I don't really think he thought I was Luke.
15:12I just think he got Luke Bryan's name mixed up with my name is what I think.
15:18Who knows?
15:19He just seemed tickled to death, though, that it had happened.
15:22He's so stupid.
15:23I love him.
15:24I know.
15:25He's so funny.
15:26And the two of you, this bit that you've had for years, they're like, will never get old to me.
15:29But my last question for you, as we wrap up, I saw that both Kingston and Zuma have been
15:34getting some stage time in Oklahoma, which looks like that has to be so fun for you to
15:39do that with them.
15:40It is.
15:41And, you know, it's gotten to the point, especially with Zuma, because Zuma is full on 150% into
15:49country music.
15:50And so, you know, we can't come to Oklahoma now without him saying, hey, you think maybe
15:56I could go do a set down at O-Red?
15:58And it's like, yeah, man, I bet we could work it out for you, you know?
16:02I mean, and the thing that I love about it is Zuma wants to walk in there with him and
16:10his guitar and nothing else.
16:12And for a 16-year-old kid to sit up there and play for an hour, and he would go two hours,
16:20trust me, if, you know, the next person wasn't waiting to sing, that's hard.
16:26I couldn't have done that when I was 16.
16:28I probably knew my five or six songs I could play good on the guitar at that point and felt
16:33good about.
16:34But, you know, this guy is next level, and it's fun.
16:39I really think he's going to take this somewhere because there's, you know, he's a 16-year-old
16:45and he's got a lot of interest, but he's so into country music that it's, I don't see
16:52any way around the fact that he's probably going to try to pursue it, you know?
16:55That's so exciting and so fun.
16:57I'm like, what a cool thing for you guys to be able to share.
16:59Blake, thank you so much for the time.
17:00The album sounds amazing.
17:01So happy for you all to go to Texas and appreciate the time.
17:04Thank you so much.
17:05Good to see you, buddy.
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