Latest / Inside Country with Wayne D / Blake Shelton Is Surprised You Still Care!

Transcript

Blake Shelton Is Surprised You Still Care! · Inside Country with Wayne D

0:00
Speaker 1: Blake.
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Speaker 2: Last time we talked, you were you raved about your
0:05
Speaker 2: experience working with post malone. That's true and how it's
0:10
Speaker 2: and to be fair, then you went and told everybody
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Speaker 2: else the same thing. So I got no views on
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Speaker 2: that video. But kidding, but it's cool to see somebody
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Speaker 2: who is so established not be afraid to reach back
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Speaker 2: and help a newer artist in the format, or somebody
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Speaker 2: who's established who wants to dip their toe in. So
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Speaker 2: now that we're talking, you know, another number one later
0:34
Speaker 2: and you're feeling rejuvenated career wise. I mean, what would
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Speaker 2: you say to an artist in your spot who's plenty
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Speaker 2: established about working with you know, some of the newer
0:43
Speaker 2: talent coming into the genre.
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Speaker 3: Well, I think it's I think it's an important thing
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Speaker 3: to do. Uh and and I'm seeing it more and more.
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Speaker 3: I feel like these days with with someone who's been
0:59
Speaker 3: around for a while, like myself singing with it with
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Speaker 3: a new artist, and it's especially if it's somebody that
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Speaker 3: you believe in in what they're doing, because man, it's hard,
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Speaker 3: it's it's I can't even imagine being a new artist
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Speaker 3: these days and trying to break out of the pack
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Speaker 3: because not that It wasn't hard when I started, because
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Speaker 3: the opportunities were limited when I started. Now, I feel
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Speaker 3: like the opportunities everybody, every single person has an opportunity
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Speaker 3: because they have a phone and a TikTok or an
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Speaker 3: Instagram account. But because of that, how do you break
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Speaker 3: through the pack? How do you stand out of the
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Speaker 3: other one hundred thousand country artists that have that are
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Speaker 3: trying to make it right now?
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Speaker 1: You know?
1:49
Speaker 3: And and sometimes it could be as simple as you know,
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Speaker 3: Kenny Chesney or a Brooks and Dunn saying, hey, you know, listen.
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Speaker 1: To this song.
2:00
Speaker 3: I just cut with this with this kid, you know
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Speaker 3: what I mean, and and bringing some eyeballs to them
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Speaker 3: and uh no, no not. Let's let's not confuse anything here.
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Speaker 3: Post Malone did not need me, you know, in any way,
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Speaker 3: shape or form I needed. I needed him to help me.
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Speaker 3: But uh I do see that a lot with with
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Speaker 3: with the younger developing artists, and I do think it's important.
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Speaker 1: That's kind of what I did.
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Speaker 3: On the Voice in some ways is you know, let's
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Speaker 3: try to get people to pay attention to these artists,
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Speaker 3: whether they want the show or not, you know, because they.
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Speaker 1: It's it's hard it's tough out there.
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Speaker 2: Uh. As a guy who has operated at such a
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Speaker 2: at such a high level for so long and put
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Speaker 2: out so much great music, that means a lot to
2:46
Speaker 2: I'm not country just country radio, but country music fans
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Speaker 2: in general.
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Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 2: Another thing you had brought up when we talked recently
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Speaker 2: is there was a pocketed time where you're like, nobody
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Speaker 2: wants to hear music from me. I'm not, you know,
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Speaker 2: you it you had like this lack of confidence knowing
3:02
Speaker 2: that you're enjoying making music and you're and you're kind
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Speaker 2: of in this new level of your career. How do
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Speaker 2: you avoid going back to that spot, because obviously there
3:10
Speaker 2: has to be a little like, damn, I lost a
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Speaker 2: little bit of time there, right, How do you avoid
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Speaker 2: focusing on that and just making sure you move forward?
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Speaker 3: Well, man, I got to tell you, I'm kind of
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Speaker 3: whenever it's my whenever.
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Speaker 1: It's over for me.
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Speaker 3: As far as being you know, relevant in a current
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Speaker 3: in a current way, I'm okay with with whenever that
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Speaker 3: is because I feel like I've already exceeded you know,
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Speaker 3: whatever is is is reasonable, you know, And uh, And
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Speaker 3: I don't want that to sound like I'm not super
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Speaker 3: over the top, excited about the fact that I'm still
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Speaker 3: getting to sit here and talk to guys like you
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Speaker 3: and and and and and have a moment where I'm
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Speaker 3: on the radio, you know, you know, with a song
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Speaker 3: that's getting played right after a Morgan Wallen song or something.
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Speaker 1: You know.
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Speaker 3: I I know what that is, and I appreciate it,
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Speaker 3: and I know how lucky I am and blessed. But
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Speaker 3: I also know that, you know, I've seen people that
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Speaker 3: even people that I look up to, that just could
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Speaker 3: never really take not take the hint, but just understand that,
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Speaker 3: Hey man, it's you're you're not your time came and went,
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Speaker 3: you know, and it's it's just not a good look
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Speaker 3: to keep keep it, you know, trying to swing at
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Speaker 3: this thing, you know. And so and I've had those
4:44
Speaker 3: conversations with my manager where I've said, hey, man, when
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Speaker 3: this when it's not cool anymore, I need somebody to
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Speaker 3: tell me this, it's just not cool anymore, you know.
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Speaker 3: And I'll and I'll know that, I'll understand that. You know,
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Speaker 3: maybe it's going to take someone else to tell me that.
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Speaker 3: But when when that time happens, I'll be ready for,
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Speaker 3: you know, because I don't know that I deserved this
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Speaker 3: in the first place. And so whenever I get my
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Speaker 3: window shuts and it's because it's gonna be someone else's turn,
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Speaker 3: and I hope they get to do it just like
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Speaker 3: I did.
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Speaker 2: You know, well, I'll tell you it's not going to
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Speaker 2: be your manager that tells you that, because he's got
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Speaker 2: a mortgage.
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Speaker 1: So it's true.
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Speaker 2: The experience working with with obviously Hardy has written some
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Speaker 2: stuff for you recently, the experience working with post Malone,
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Speaker 2: how how has that helped you create a new version
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Speaker 2: of where Blake Sheldon's at in his career, because obviously
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Speaker 2: the song that we're that we're catching up on today
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Speaker 2: is getting close to being a number one song for you,
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Speaker 2: has it changed how you think when you're when you're
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Speaker 2: in a rite, when you're recording, when a song idea
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Speaker 2: comes up, Uh, you know.
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Speaker 1: Not really, I think more than anything, it just.
6:04
Speaker 3: It shows me what a contrast there is between you know,
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Speaker 3: what I do and the way I perform, and and
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Speaker 3: and and then the way they what they do and
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Speaker 3: the way they perform. It's really a completely different Uh.
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Speaker 3: It almost feels like a different lane. And I know
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Speaker 3: with specifically with Hardy, you know, he has such a
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Speaker 3: rock influence on on what he does, and he embraces
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Speaker 3: that and and he's so good at it. There was
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Speaker 3: one night I was performing somewhere, I have no idea where,
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Speaker 3: but I was on tour and I'd gotten a text
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Speaker 3: from Hardy and he's like, Hey, I'm in town, like
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Speaker 3: I want to come by and see the show. And
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Speaker 3: I said, if you're coming by, you're getting on stage
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Speaker 3: with me. And he was like, hell yeah, you know,
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Speaker 3: I said, we'll do God's Country together.
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Speaker 1: And so I brought out Hardy.
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Speaker 3: And you know, I'm a kind of a guy that
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Speaker 3: I pretty much for the most part stand in front
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Speaker 3: of the mic stand and and and seeing it. And
7:00
Speaker 3: the next thing, I know, you know, Hardy's like this
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Speaker 3: guy that's like trolling around the stage, you know, like
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Speaker 3: like he's about to punch somebody, you know, and like
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Speaker 3: he's got the you know, all the stuff he does
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Speaker 3: with his hands and this personality, and I'm going, what
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Speaker 3: in the hell is this guy?
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Speaker 1: You know? And then I then he became This was
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Speaker 1: before he was Hardy like like he is now. You know,
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Speaker 1: this was early on in his artist career.
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Speaker 3: And now I see these videos of him and and
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Speaker 3: he's spot on. That's where the audience is, That's that's
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Speaker 3: what they want from him, because that's what they're doing
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Speaker 3: out there. You know, they're they're they're in your face,
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Speaker 3: they're active, they're headbanging, they're doing all this stuff where
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Speaker 3: you know, I was, I was in the generation of like,
7:41
Speaker 3: oh my god, did you.
7:42
Speaker 1: See what Rascal Flats did?
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Speaker 3: They They actually walked from one side of the stage
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Speaker 3: to the other.
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Speaker 1: What about idiots?
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Speaker 3: You know, they're so stupid, you know, And now it's like,
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Speaker 3: so I tried to fit into that. So imagine me
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Speaker 3: watching you know, uh, you know Hardy or or some
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Speaker 3: of these guys where it's just like a totally different
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Speaker 3: personality on stage.
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Speaker 1: It's it's so fun.
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Speaker 3: And so to answer your question, all I'm thinking of
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Speaker 3: is like, Okay, I'm going to record a Hardy song.
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Speaker 3: How do I There's no way I'm going to be
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Speaker 3: able to perform it like Hardy. So I just got
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Speaker 3: to figure out how to dumb it down to what
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Speaker 3: Blake Shelton does.
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Speaker 2: You know when Hardy came out, were you like, shit,
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Speaker 2: we should have done this acoustic.
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Speaker 1: A little bit, because you know, you can imagine me.
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Speaker 3: I'm just going, Oh, my gosh, what is happening on
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Speaker 3: this stage right now? But it was so it was
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Speaker 3: such a a seeing. I was basically seeing the future
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Speaker 3: of country music that night, you know, because this would
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Speaker 3: have been twenty nineteen, just before he and Morgan and
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Speaker 3: some of these guys really broke the way that they've
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Speaker 3: done now and just completely shifted the genre to what
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Speaker 3: they do. And it was a neat moment for me
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Speaker 3: to see that.
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Speaker 2: Something else I wanted to ask you about is unt
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Speaker 2: your radio is about to turn uh the control of
9:03
Speaker 2: all things to Saint Jude. Uh, Yeah, in the next
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Speaker 2: couple of days. Here being a part of the format
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Speaker 2: for as long as you have obviously you've you everybody
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Speaker 2: at some point has been heavily involved in Saint Jude,
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Speaker 2: Saint Jude's mission. Do you have a Saint Jude story
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Speaker 2: that pops out that you could share with us through
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Speaker 2: throughout any time?
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Speaker 1: Of course?
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Speaker 2: Uh?
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Speaker 1: I uh, early early on in my career, Uh.
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Speaker 3: When I was doing radio tours and you know, all
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Speaker 3: all the stuff you do when you're when you're just
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Speaker 3: getting going, trying to shake hands.
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Speaker 1: Warner Brothers has sent.
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Speaker 3: Me to to the hospital, to to Memphis uh, to
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Speaker 3: go there and do an event, and there was a
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Speaker 3: there was a bunch of country artists there and Randy
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Speaker 3: Owen was even there for this and basically taking a
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Speaker 3: tour of the hospital and meeting some of the staff
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Speaker 3: and and and then a handful all of the patients
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Speaker 3: that they would even allow you to go meet. And Uh,
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Speaker 3: I'll never forget.
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Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 3: I met a little girl there and she was in
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Speaker 3: her room, and her parents were there and and and
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Speaker 3: you know, visited for a little bit. And then I
10:15
Speaker 3: walked out of the room and I was talking to
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Speaker 3: the staff and I was saying, you know, what's what's
10:20
Speaker 3: to deal with her? And they and they told me,
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Speaker 3: they said, look, we don't think she's gonna make it
10:27
Speaker 3: and and uh and the family is aware of this
10:30
Speaker 3: and and they're here because, uh, we're trying to figure
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Speaker 3: it out and at the same time, we're learning so
10:39
Speaker 3: much about how to treat this particular cancer that that
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Speaker 3: she has and and uh and I was so that
10:48
Speaker 3: moment was so powerful to me, because I mean, there
10:54
Speaker 3: there they are, uh, you know, battling for her life.
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Speaker 3: And at the same time, because of her battle, she's
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Speaker 3: she was going to save so many lives with all
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Speaker 3: the things they were learning about the cancer that she had,
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Speaker 3: you know, and it was it was just a moment
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Speaker 3: where everything came together in my mind. It's like, oh,
11:18
Speaker 3: that's why. It's not just what it's not just the
11:22
Speaker 3: people that are in here now, it's all the people
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Speaker 3: that are that are going to face this same battle
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Speaker 3: in the future. That's that's really for me why it's
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Speaker 3: so important to give to Saint Jude and to keep
11:38
Speaker 3: that mission going and to be sure they have every
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Speaker 3: tool they need, you know, to dig in and learn
11:47
Speaker 3: this stuff, do the research, learn learn the science behind
11:50
Speaker 3: what it takes to beat some of these diseases, and
11:53
Speaker 3: and and now here flash forward, you know, twenty five
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Speaker 3: years later. I still to this day think it's the
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Speaker 3: single most important charity work that I can that I've
12:09
Speaker 3: ever been a part of, you know. And the fact
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Speaker 3: that Country radio embraces this and has made this there
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Speaker 3: it seems like to me, nationwide, their their cause, their
12:20
Speaker 3: main focus every year. And this makes me proud because
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Speaker 3: it's one of those things that it really this is
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Speaker 3: the real deal, this this particular one. I know that
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Speaker 3: there's a lot of things out there that we see
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Speaker 3: that ask for our money or a donation.
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Speaker 1: And it's easy to be skeptical of stuff. This is
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Speaker 1: not one. This is not one of those.
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Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate your time. I know you got to run.
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Speaker 2: The last thing I want to ask is for this
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Speaker 2: point that's that you're in your career, is the number
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Speaker 2: one song? What it used to be for you? Like
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Speaker 2: it is when you're young. It's when you're young and
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Speaker 2: you're new in the game and you just put a
12:53
Speaker 2: couple of songs out. It's like a number one is
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Speaker 2: your whole world? What does it mean now that you've
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Speaker 2: had the success you've already had.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'm I mean, I'm going to tell you, you know,
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Speaker 3: I hit a stride there back around in twenty eleven
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Speaker 3: to two thousand and eighteen or nineteen, where you know,
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Speaker 3: I was on the voice and my that was kind
13:13
Speaker 3: of the peak of my career those those years, and
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Speaker 3: and they're a blur to me. And I had a
13:18
Speaker 3: lot of success, We had a lot of momentum at
13:21
Speaker 3: radio and just in my career. And now I'm I'm
13:25
Speaker 3: not there anymore. And and so now these these songs
13:30
Speaker 3: that become hits for me feel like they do in
13:33
Speaker 3: the beginning where it's like what are you kidding me?
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Speaker 1: Me like, what the hell you know?
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Speaker 3: And I really I think I enjoy this phase of
13:42
Speaker 3: my career as much as I did those early, you know,
13:46
Speaker 3: years of just breaking in because I feel like, you know,
13:50
Speaker 3: it's like this is this is a gift out out
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Speaker 3: of nowhere for me where I'm at, and man, I'm
13:57
Speaker 3: loving it.
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Speaker 1: I really am.
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Speaker 2: Listen, man, I know you got a busy day. I
14:01
Speaker 2: always appreciate catching up man, because you're always it's always
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Speaker 2: a great conversation. So thanks for the time today.
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Speaker 3: Man Hey, thank you, brother, appreciate it. Get those arms
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Speaker 3: out for us once in a while, I don't you.
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Speaker 2: Listen, you come down to Broadway, you and I can
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Speaker 2: wear matching shirts and just walk up and down.