Based on a True Story...

Based on a True Story...

by Blake Shelton

Overview

A few months before he released his seventh album, Based on a True Story..., Blake Shelton weathered a minor storm over comments he made to GAC's Backstory, where he claimed "nobody wants to listen to their grandpa's music." Shelton further explained "old farts" "don't buy records anymore...the kids do, and they don't want to buy the music that you were buying." At 36 years old, Shelton isn't exactly a kid, but he sure has his finger on the pulse of what America is all about in 2013, a perspective that informs every cut on Based on a True Story.... Not so coincidentally in terms of attitude, this is the first album Shelton has made since turning into a genuine crossover star thanks to his role on the televised competition The Voice -- Red River Blue, his last album, appeared just a month after the first season of The Voice wrapped -- and it reflects his newfound popularity via its reliance on rocking rhythms, woolly mammoth hooks, red state swagger, and pristine power ballads, all protected in a high-gloss coat of studio varnish. Some of that varnish includes a dose of heavy Auto-Tune on Blake's voice, a bit of trickery he doesn't need -- there's a reason why he's a judge on a singing competition; he has an easy, natural grace to his delivery -- but its artificially correct sound is simply another indication of the thoroughly modern Shelton: few other country albums of 2012-2013 are as unabashedly of the moment as this, celebrating all of the U.S.A. from the fame-hungry Sunset Strip to parties in the boondocks. By playing to both the high and low brow, Shelton consolidates the entire spectrum of his audience, from the country to the coasts. Both audiences buy into his increasingly macho strut, where he tosses out casual profanities, brags that he's "Still Got a Finger" (to flip you the bird, of course), and salutes his redneck brothers via the rapped "chew tobacco/chew tobacco/chew tobacco/spit" chorus of "Boys 'Round Here." That Shelton can pull off this big, swinging bravado isn't much of a surprise -- when his voice trills electronically on "Small Town Big Time" he makes it sound like a joke -- and the very sense that more is more is essential to the appeal of Based on a True Story...: every song is bigger, brighter, bolder than the next, super-sized country for a super-sized time.

Product Details

Release Date: 03/26/2013
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
UPC: 0093624946113
catalogNumber: 530386
Rank: 12622

Tracks

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Blake Shelton   Primary Artist
Scott Hendricks   Background Vocals
Greg Morrow   Percussion,Drums
Gordon Mote   Piano,Wurlitzer,Hammond B3
Russ Pahl   Lap Steel Guitar
Danny Parks   Acoustic Guitar,Banjo
Jimmie Lee Sloas   Bass
John Willis   Banjo
Rhett Akins   Background Vocals
Aubrey Haynie   Fiddle
Bryan Sutton   Acoustic Guitar,Guitar (12 String Acoustic)
Troy Lancaster   Electric Guitar
Wes Hightower   Background Vocals
Perry Coleman   Background Vocals
Tom Bukovac   Electric Guitar
Tommy Harden   Drum Loop
Adam Shoenfeld   Electric Guitar
Ben Phillips   Percussion
Rodney Clawson   Background Vocals
Gwen Sebastian   Background Vocals
Dallas Davidson   Background Vocals
Charlie Judge   Synthesizer,Hammond B3
Pistol Annies   Background Vocals
RaeLynn   Background Vocals

Technical Credits

Dean Dillon   Composer
Connie Harrington   Composer
Scott Hendricks   Producer,overdub engineer
Justin Niebank   Engineer
Tim Nichols   Composer
Craig Wiseman   Composer
Rhett Akins   Composer
Tommy Lee James   Composer
Drew Bollman   Engineer
Andrew Dorff   Composer
Deric Ruttan   Composer
Michael Dulaney   Composer
Katherine Petillo   Art Direction
Jessi Alexander   Composer
Bobby Pinson   Composer
Rodney Clawson   Composer
Dave Turnbull   Composer
Gary Hannan   Composer
Marv Green   Composer
Phil O'Donnell   Composer
Amanda Craig   grooming
Ian Kirkpatrick   Composer
Jimmy Robbins   Composer,Programming
Ben Hayslip   Composer
Dallas Davidson   Composer
Josh Osborne   Composer
Clint Lagerberg   Composer
Wade Kirby   Composer
Charlie Judge   Loop
Will Gray   Composer
Chris Tompkins   Composer,Programming

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Based on a True Story... 5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 1 reviews.
Joyachiever More than 1 year ago
I confess that I was initially introduced to Blake Shelton’s music during the summer of 2011. I had heard his “Honey Bee” song from the Now 39 compilation (which I reviewed on August 24, 2011) and a fun concert of his that I attended back in February 2012. I had also decided to give the “Based On A True Story” a chance because of his Red River Blue cd (which is pretty good). “God Gave Me You”, one of his songs from “Red River Blue” is both an uplifting song and has a music video available online that symbolizes the great love that Blake Shelton and his wife Miranda Lambert have for each other. However, I am also somewhat familiar with multiple 80’s/90’s songs from the country music genre because my late adoptive mother and older sister both enjoyed and listened to country music frequently as I was growing up. Additionally, I was initially exposed to country music in my early childhood due to the fact that my maternal grandmother also listened to country music. “Based On A True Story” is even better than “Red River Blue” and contains among the following intense songs: Boys Round Here (feat. Pistol Annies & Friends), “Sure Be Cool If You Did”, “Do You Remember”, “Country On The Radio”, “Doin What She Likes”, “My Eyes” (feat. Gwen Sebastian),“Mine Would Be You”, and “Ten Times Crazier.” It is only a wild guess, but it appears that some of the happy love songs from “Based On A True Story” are a positive tribute to his wife Miranda Lambert. “Based On A True Story” by Blake Shelton is good for those who are open to listening to modern country music with songs that cover the various facets of love and living life.