Blake Shelton

It is all about February 25^th. That is the night Blake Shelton will heat up the stage in Brookings for a stop on his “2011 All About Tonight Tour”.

Blake and opening acts Easton Corbin and The Band Perry are sure to make the night one to remember.

Photo Credit: gotcountryonline.com

Shelton, the fiancé of fellow country star Miranda Lambert, started his career out strong. His debut single “Austin” held the number one spot on the Billboard Country chart for six long weeks in 2001.

He went on to score two more number ones with “The Baby” and “Some Beach”, but superstar status was just out of reach until recently.  

2010 was by far his best year yet.

"This has been an amazing year for me," Shelton said in his website biography. "If you would have told me when I started out that I would have two major awards, a CD in the upper reaches of the charts, a sold-out show at the Ryman Auditorium and a career that's generally on fire, I would have thought you were pulling my leg."

Blake sings about the things he knows best. He is guaranteed to have the crowd on their feet for party anthems such as “The More I Drink” and “Hillbilly Bone”, but he can also show a serious side. His raucus recollections of the night before are balanced by songs that reveal regrets about relationship mistakes and reminisce about home.

His opening acts also have a lot to offer.

Photo Credit: thebandperry.com

The Band Perry is a sibling trio that plays a unique mix of country and rock. Lead singer Kimberly Perry’s hauntingly sweet voice makes their standout hit “If I Die Young” something to look forward to hearing.

Photo Credit: lyricsbird.com

Florida native Easton Corbin is also sure to make a splash. He is a George Strait sound-alike that will prove he is “A Little More Country Than That” with a lineup of traditional yet fresh songs.

As for Blake, it is a miracle what getting rid of a mullet can do for a career. The 2010 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year said goodbye to his signature hair style a few years ago, and hello to a new approach to country music.

He has become an innovator in how he approaches releasing new music and uses social media to connect with fans.

Blake has chosen to release new music in extended play albums he calls “Six Paks”, because they each contain six songs.

"I can record a lot more and release a lot more,” Shelton said in a USA Today article.

He promotes his music on Twitter, but the networking site has also become his go-to outlet for speaking his mind on topics such as PETA and gun control.

Whether people find his tweets funny or offensive, he has drawn a following of over 174,000.

On December 8^th, 2010 at 1:54 AM, he tweeted, “I’m so drunk right now I just defrosted my cat…In the microwave….”

You can follow Blake on Twitter at @BlakeShelton and still get tickets to the concert through the Swiftel Center or Ticketmaster.com.

Mouthwatering Music

Photo Credit: candlesofmahafundraising.com

Hot Apple Pie is more than a mouthwatering desert. It is a group of hard-hitting country musicians who despite having much to serve up, cooled off before many fans were able to enjoy their well-spiced music.

Sara Lee or even your great grandmother have nothing on the recipe for success these boys possessed.

You won’t find their album front-and-center in stores and their videos aren’t in regular rotation on CMT or GAC, but their music is out there and should not go unnoticed.



Photo Credit: virginamountaineer.com

The band came to be in 2002 when Brady Seals, former member of the country band Little Texas, made a run at a solo career and didn’t make much headway. Trying to break free from the shadow of his time with Little Texas, Seals found himself back in a band, but this time he took the lead. He went from pounding keys and putting pen to paper, to putting together a quirky quad of musicians that was as crisp as its namesake.

 “I had the name and the whole vision from the beginning,” he told GAC about the band he formed with fellow musicians Mark “Sparky” Matejka, Keith Horne and Trey Landry. “I wanted something that’s fresh and new, a little edgy and yet mainstream. Hot Apple Pie is that something.”

They sure were. Never before had country music seen a long-haired and lanky boy from Ohio sing about hay and hillbillies while strutting around in a suit.

Seals’ image clashed with the words coming out of his mouth. A slick pop-rocker who could fire off down-home references and twangy vocals was nearly unheard of at the time.

I think this was part of the band’s appeal, but also part of its downfall.

On his website, Seals tells of creative differences and wanting to pursue his own musical goals as the reason HAP never released a sophomore album, but I wonder if there was more to it than that.

HAP came out before country became the catch-all genre.

It is now perfectly normal to hear pop-infused inflections on country airwaves and watch actresses belt out half-inspired ballads on award shows, but at that time different was not necessarily better.

HAP came out slightly before not fitting the mold was the cool thing to do.

I believe that because they didn’t fit in, they didn’t last. HAP’s stint ended in 2006, after releasing only one album that produced three low-charting singles, of which the most popular was the tongue-in-cheek stomper “Hillbillies”.

The end of HAP was not the end of Seals, who comes from a long line of country cousins including Jim Seals, Dan Seals and Johnny Duncan.  

Seals continues to make edgy music that pushes the limits of what’s acceptable on radio.

Of his music an continually re-inventing himself, Seals says on his website, “ I’ve always wanted to make music that affects people.  Love it, hate it.  But you can’t ignore it.”