Blake Shelton is sharing his appreciation for HARDY and praising the “God’s Country” co-writer for being an “important piece” of his country music career.
Blake Shelton Credits HARDY As “An Important Piece” Of His Career
The country music superstar and former The Voice coach appeared in an interview with American Songwriter, where he talked about his upcoming album, For Recreational Use Only, due May 9 via BBR Music Group/BMG. He also spoke highly of fellow artist HARDY, who shares two credits on the forthcoming debut as a songwriter. Those tracks include “Strangers” and “Let Him In Anyway.”
Sharing his gratitude for getting to cut tracks co-written by HARDY, Shelton said, “Hardy’s been an important piece of my career… Every time I see [him] now I’m like, ‘Man, listen, I just can’t thank you enough for taking a chance on, now, one of the old guys in country music. You know what I mean? And let me have a crack at some of these songs because without that, I mean, I would still be singing country music, but it’d be in a cover band somewhere and back in Oklahoma without these writers taking a chance on me.”
Enlisted Nashville Songwriting Community For New Album
Shelton, who pulled from the songwriting community in Nashville to assemble For Recreational Use Only, reflected on his debut self-eponymous album, released in 2001. At the time, he says he was working as a staff writer at Sony Music Nashville. Looking back, he says, even then, he looked to outside writers for his music because “I’m a fan of songwriters and there are so many great songwriters in Nashville that if I look at my song next to some of these songs, I’m going, man, this is trash compared to what these writers come up with.”
“I’m always honored and blown away when I get a song that I at least think is great. And a writer is willing to, especially back then, take a chance on someone either completely unknown or up and coming,” he added. “It could be the best piece of work of their life that they’re handing over to somebody like, that’s your baby, you’re handing it to this idiot sometimes. I mean, you have to think that sometimes, I think. And so when they do, it’s a big deal for me.”
HARDY Co-Wrote One Of Shelton’s Biggest Hits: “God’s Country”
For those unaware, HARDY’s music career began as a songwriter. One of his biggest hits came with 2019’s “God’s Country” — a No. 1 smash from Shelton’s compilation album, Fully Loaded: God’s Country. The song won Single of the Year at the 2019 CMA Awards and earned a Grammy nomination that same year for Best Country Solo Performance. While Shelton humbly appreciates getting the opportunity to release songs penned by top-shelf songwriters, he notes, that HARDY’s gratitude is mutual as he feels Shelton helped put his name on the map.
“Hardy says that to me, and that’s the great thing about a moment like that is they had written the song… it was written by two artists. Devin Dawson is another writer on it,” Shelton said. “I think they were both at a place in their career where they were like, ‘What’s going to have a bigger impact?’ I think they probably both thought, what if we don’t make it, but we have a chance for an established artist to record this song? What would that do for our overall career? And so that’s, I guess I haven’t had this conversation with ’em, but I imagine that must be the thinking behind it because I think it probably did help elevate Hardy into what he is now because each big moment like that you have you win.”
Shelton noted that his performance of “God’s Country” at the ACM Awards in 2019 was “The only time Garth Brooks has ever reached out to me on the telephone,” adding “He called us to say, ‘Man, what the hell was that? That was incredible,’ which ended up leading to some work that he and I did together. But it was like I knew that performance made an impact if he was paying attention.”
New Album Marks Blake Shelton’s First Solo Project Since 2021’s Body Language
For Recreational Use Only serves as Shelton’s first solo project of his career since 2021’s Body Language and also marks his first collection under BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville. Featuring 12 tracks, the album includes collaborations with Gwen Stefani, John Anderson, Craig Morgan, and the Swon Brothers. The project, available now for pre-order/pre-add/pre-save, also includes the Top 10 single “Texas.”
“It’s been a long time since we had a new album out, and I want to thank the songwriters and musicians who helped bring this record to life,” Shelton shared via a press release. “Scott (Hendricks) and I have been working on this music for years, and I’m beyond excited to finally share it with the fans.”
For Recreational Use Only track list
- “Stay Country or Die Tryin’” (Drew Parker, Graham Barham, Sam Ellis, Beau Bailey)
- “Texas” (Johnny Clawson, Kyle Sturrock, Josh Dorr, Lalo Guzman)
- “Hangin’ On” (feat. Gwen Stefani) (Sam Ellis, Charles Kelley, Greylan James)
- “Strangers” (Michael Hardy, Zach Crowell, Jameson Rodgers)
- “Let Him In Anyway” (Michael Hardy, Zach Abend, Kyle Clark, Carson Wallace)
- “Heaven Sweet Home” (feat. Craig Morgan) (Chris Tompkins, Sarah Buxton, Jake Rose)
- “Life’s Been Comin’ Too Fast” (Craig Wiseman, David Lee Murphy, Lindsay Rimes)
- “Don’t Mississippi” (Shane McAnally, Ross Copperman, Ben Hayslip, Josh Osborne)
- “All of My Love” (Colton Swon, Zach Swon)
- “Cold Can” (Bobby Pinson, Josh Osborne, Andrew DeRoberts)
- “The Keys” (Jay Brunswick, Brock Berryhill, Bobby Pinson)
- “Years” (feat. John Anderson) (Pat McLaughlin, John Anderson, David Ferguson, Daniel Auerbach)
