‘Catch of the Day’ – Blake Shelton – “A Guy With A Girl” [AUDIO]

Today we feature an artist who was born and raised in a small Oklahoma town, the son of a beauty salon operator and a used car salesman. He started singing and performing in pageants at an early age, and by the age of 12 his uncle had taught him to play guitar, leading to him writing his first song at age 15.

Blake Shelton knew early on he was headed to Nashville. In 1993, he graduated from high school at age 17, and soon was off to Music City in search of fame and fortune. But there was hard work ahead for young Blake, who got a job working at a music publishing company, doing anything and everything. 4 years later, songwriter Bobby Braddock ("He Stopped Loving Her Today", "People Are Crazy), who was signed to the publishing company Shelton was working for, passed Shelton's demo on to executives at Sony Music, who signed him to a production contract.

Other than recording a few demos, nothing came from Shelton's affiliation with Sony. In 2001 he signed with Giant Records, who originally wanted to release his version of "I Wanna Talk About Me" as his debut single. But after the label executives met on the idea, Shelton's version of the song was shelved, and the song went to another Oklahoma native, Toby Keith. Instead, the label decided on a slower song, "Austin", to be Blake's first single. It proved to be the right choice on both songs, as Keith would go to #1 with "I Wanna Talk About Me" and Shelton would do the same with "Austin".

Shortly after the single's release, Giant Records ceased operations, and Shelton's contract went to the label's parent company, Warner Bros. Records. Warner released Shelton's self-titled debut album, featuring "Austin" in July of 2001. The album featured two more top-20 singles, "All Over Me" and a song that became a signature song for the Oklahoma, "Ol Red". Shelton has released 9 studio albums, 1 holiday album and 4 compilation albums for Warner Bros. Nashville. 10 of his 14 releases have been certified gold, 4 of them have

gone platinum. The albums have spawned 22 #1 singles, including a run of 17 straight number ones, which began in 2009 when he teamed with Trace Adkins on "Hillbilly Bone" and ran through 2016's "Came Here to Forget", which is from his most recent album If I'm Honest. The streak appears to have come to an end with his most recent single, "She's Got A Way With Words", which appears to have peaked at #7.

Undaunted, Shelton is ready to start a new streak with a brand new single from If I'm Honest, the album's fourth release, which is in our spotlight today. Blake Shelton and "Guy With A Girl" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll wanna hear it again.