Blake Shelton Fights Hard to Get Country Music on “The Voice”
One of BLAKE SHELTON’s most important jobs on “The Voice” is helping his contestants pick songs that’ll blow everyone away. And even though he’s damn good at it, he has to fight the suits who think they know better.
He talked about it in an interview with “The Tennessean”. For example, in Season Four he was advisingDANIELLE BRADBERY to pick classic country songs, but he had to go toe-to-toe with the producers who were pushing for mainstream hits.
Quote, “I was saying, ‘I hate to tell ya this, but there’s a big piece of ground between L.A. and New York City, full of people that know these songs.’ These were songs I never thought would’ve been so much of a challenge to get on prime-time television.”
Danielle was the season winner, so score that one for Blake. He also made it clear in the interview that he doesn’t push country songs on the artists, just because. He only suggests stuff he thinks will help them do well.
What’s cool is that he’s introduced America to a lot of good country music, and he’s happy about that. Quote, “If I can have one little blip on the radar of keeping country music in the mainstream, then nothing could make me more proud.”
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood Gave Cars and Gifts to the Fan Who Bought Their Five Millionth Ticket
Remember last year when GARTH BROOKS and TRISHA YEARWOOD gave tons of gifts to a fan who bought the four millionth ticket to their tour? Well, they may have topped that on Friday in Edmonton, Alberta.
According to TMZ, the couple with the five millionth ticket got a Lexus SUV, a Nissan truck, a $5,000 Amazon shopping spree, a $5,000 shopping spree at an Edmonton mall . . . plus a trip for two to the Wynn Hotel in Vegas, and tons of Garth merchandise.
The show was special because Garth broke his own concert attendance record from the ’90s. Back then it took 100 cities to sell five million tickets, but this time around he did it in just 60 cities.
The venue also got in the spirit. They gave Garth two plaques commemorating each of his five million-selling tours, and they put up a huge banner with his name on it.
They also played a video message on the big screen from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who dominated the sport when he skated for the Edmonton Oilers.
LAUREN ALAINA got a standing ovation last week after performing her song “Three” during a luncheon at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. I’ll tell you why that’s a big deal. Us radio types . . . we’ve seen pretty much everything, and are NOT easily impressed. (Here’s video.)
Things are looking up for MEGHAN LINSEY on that poisonous spider bite chaos. The bruises and swelling have gone down and she’s on the road to recovery. She hit up Facebook to say the toxicologist is not recommending surgery and expects the wound to heal just fine on its own. She also thanked her fans for their support.
BRANTLEY GILBERT has extended his 2017 The Devil Don’t Sleep Tour . . . with the added shows taking him into late September. Grab updates at BrantleyGilbert.com.