{"id":16024,"date":"2019-06-17T23:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1808132"},"modified":"2019-06-17T23:00:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T05:00:20","slug":"blake-shelton-remembered-before-he-was-an-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/blake-shelton-remembered-before-he-was-an-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Shelton Remembered Before He Was an Institution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">37m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bb1DTsxBOfE?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bb1DTsxBOfE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Viewed from the perspective of his 43rd birthday Tuesday (June 18), it seems like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/blake-shelton\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Blake Shelton<\/a> has always been a national institution \u2014 one that\u2019s only slightly less prominent than Mt. Rushmore, Oprah Winfrey\u2019s diet fixations and Willie Nelson\u2019s pigtails.<\/p>\n<p>Besides his media-grabbing presence on <em>The Voice<\/em> (which he joined at its inception in 2011), he can boast numerous music industry awards, 27 No. 1 singles and 11 albums, five of which have gone platinum (for a million sales) or multi-platinum.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"ffeb710d\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"><noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-523985544-1560812476.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"Blake Shelton Shock'n Y' All Fall Tour 2003\" class=\"js-srcset-img shortcode-image\" alt><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"photocredit\">Tim Mosenfelder\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>His marriage to Miranda Lambert in 2011 was deemed of such social significance that it was announced on the daily shipboard newspaper of the Queen Mary II luxury liner on its voyage back from England to the U. S.<\/p>\n<p>The tall, affable Oklahoman first entered the <em>Billboard<\/em> charts in April 2001 with \u201cAustin,\u201d a heart-melting song about two lovers playing phone tag. His light operatic delivery of the lyrics helped propel the single to the top of the charts in August of that year and keep it there for five consecutive weeks, a remarkable achievement for a new artist.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"88ec419b\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"><noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-461891626-1560812453.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"29th Annual American Music Awards - Arrivals\" class=\"js-srcset-img shortcode-image portrait p3x4\" alt><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"photocredit\">Ron Galella, Ltd.\/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But you wouldn\u2019t have predicted such a buoyant outcome for \u201cAustin\u201d or Shelton had you witnessed, as I did, how his live performance of the song was virtually ignored by the disc jockeys attending the 2001 Country Radio Seminar.<\/p>\n<p>Getting the attention of radio was (and is) of paramount importance to the record labels, so Warner Bros. Records had rented Nashville\u2019s Ryman Auditorium that February to showcase several of its new artists, including Shelton.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"18535c0a\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"><noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-130268677-1560812400.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"37th Annual CMA Awards - Show\" class=\"js-srcset-img shortcode-image\" alt><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"photocredit\">R. Diamond\/WireImage<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As Shelton \u2014 then 24, clean-shaven and baby-faced \u2014 sang his heart out in a set that spotlighted \u201cAustin,\u201d his soon-to-be breakthrough, the visiting disc jockeys and programmers milled rudely at the back of the hall and in the aisles, talking loudly among themselves and generally making it impossible for those really interested in music to hear what was going on. I recall feeling particularly sorry for Shelton given the sensitivity of his lyrics.<\/p>\n<p>He either looked wistful as he ended his set to a smattering of applause or else I imagined he did.<\/p>\n<p>But I relished seeing him at a Country Radio Seminar cocktail party just two years later. It was held at the Nashville Convention Center, and Shelton stood unmoving at the back of the room as waves of radio people washed up at his feet and asked him to pose with them for pictures. At that time, Shelton\u2019s \u201cThe Baby\u201d was resting solidly at No. 1, and the crowd seemed to be hanging onto every word he said. I hoped he savored the moment. Charting well is the best revenge.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Country Radio Seminar presented Shelton its Artist Humanitarian Award \u2014 and you can bet everyone was paying attention.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1808132\/blake-shelton-remembered-before-he-was-an-institution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 37m ago Embedded from www.youtube.com. [embedded content] Viewed from the perspective of his 43rd birthday Tuesday (June 18), it seems like Blake Shelton has always been a national institution \u2014 one that\u2019s only slightly less prominent than Mt. Rushmore, Oprah Winfrey\u2019s diet fixations and Willie Nelson\u2019s pigtails. Besides his media-grabbing presence on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 05:40:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}