Blake Shelton recalled his debut single “Austin” going No. 1.
The country superstar shared that he was actually at home at his mom’s house in Oklahoma when his then record label promotions team called him to tell him the exciting news in August 2001.
“I was actually at home in Oklahoma when ‘Austin’ officially became the No. 1 song in country music or at least my record label knew it was about to be because they called me and they had me on speaker phone,” Shelton explained. “They were like ‘guess what, congratulations your song’s going No. 1.’ And I remember I was in Ada, Oklahoma, I think I was at my mom’s house.”
The “Minimum Wage” singer was in Ada, Oklahoma for an in-store autograph signing as it was album release week.
“The reason I was even there is because that was the week the album was coming out and they sent me out on this…” Shelton continued. “Back in the day you used to go out and do these in-store autograph signings and they had sent me to my hometown Walmart or Hastings, I think, to do an in-store signing, autograph albums as people were buying it.”
Despite having to do autograph signings of the new record throughout the U.S., the singer admits he was happy to be in his hometown when the song hit No. 1.
“We did one in Oklahoma City and Dallas and we did them all over the place and I just happened to be home when the song went No. 1 which actually made it even more special,” Shelton admitted.
“Austin” was co-written by David Kent and Kirsti Manna and recorded by Shelton. The track was released in April 2001 as the lead and debut single from Shelton’s self-titled debut album.
Watch Shelton explain how he happened to be at home when “Austin” when No. 1 below.
