Blake Shelton ends four-year hiatus with new album, “For Leisure Use Solely”

After 20 years of hits, hairstyles and tv appearances, Blake Shelton is again on high of the nation music charts with “Texas,” the lead single from his thirteenth studio album “For Leisure Use Solely.”

The nation music star, who stepped away from NBC’s “The Voice” after 23 seasons to concentrate on fishing and farming in Oklahoma, mentioned that returning to the highlight has been reinvigorating.

“As we sit right here proper now, it has been the primary nation track within the U.Ok.,  which isn’t College of Kentucky like I believed,” Shelton joked throughout an interview at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

The album features a collaboration together with his spouse, rock star Gwen Stefani, on the monitor “Hangin’ On.” Shelton mentioned each had been instantly drawn to the track.

“We had been each like, ‘I am in when you’re in,'” Shelton mentioned. “The track simply has a kind of choruses that simply hits you and knocks you down.”

Whereas recording new music, Shelton has additionally been filming “The Street,” a brand new CBS singing competitors present. The venture marks his return to tv after leaving “The Voice” to spend time with household.

Social media posts have captured Shelton embracing rural life, singing about “corn within the truck, corn within the discipline” whereas farming, and fishing with Stefani. Now, he is balancing leisure with household obligations, together with being a stepfather to Stefani’s sons.

“I by no means put them on the spot asking what they give thought to my music as a result of I am afraid they might hate it,” Shelton mentioned.

He is now increasing his musical collaborations, teaming up with rapper-turned-country artist Put up Malone on the chart-topping “Pour Me a Drink.”

“Something that occurs that is present and turns into a success on the radio for one of many previous guys that is left within the enterprise, it is tremendous thrilling for me,” Shelton mentioned. “I simply by no means know when the final album I make is the final album I make.”