New Tunes Tuesday - Blake Shelton

It's time to get personal. Blake Shelton's new CD "Based on a True Story" is relevant, relate-able, and revealing. If you feel like you already know Blake from his Tweets or coaching on The Voice, you're about to get a whole lot closer.

The album open ups with some hick hop with the Pistol Annies singing back up on "Boys Round Here." Talking about tobacco spitting and cold beer drinking, it exemplifies his laid back demeanor. You may have already heard the second track... his fastest rising single to date "Sure Be Cool If You Did." It's a clever little song with bonus points for rhyming "neon" with "be on."

My favorite tracks come near the halfway point. "My Eyes" is for any red wine and candles playlist you may have. "Girl the way you look tonight / my eyes are the only thing I don't wanna take off of you." "Lay Low" is a seductive little number that Conway Twitty certainly would approve of (add that one to said playlist too). And speaking of classic country, you will love "Granddaddy's Gun." It's more than just a gun - it symbolizes love and wisdom passed down from generation to generation. “He taught me a whole lot more than how to hunt / And one of these days I’ll pass it on to my son.” And "I Still Got A Finger" is a modern day take-this-job-and-shove-it kind of tune. A natural sequel to "Some Beach."

The standout track for me is "Mine Would Be You." It's a fantastically romantic song about a man's "all time high/best night yet/wildest dream come true." Yeah, we really love hearing that kinda stuff. But this one comes with a twist at the end that you don't see coming.

Overall it's a solid album. It's as real as it gets... based on a true story as the title suggests. It might be easy to overlook the emotion after the first listen. But after a time or two, the songs really start to resonate.