Comments on: Album Review: Blake Shelton, Red River Blue

By: Anthony Roberts

Anthony Roberts — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:00:13 +0000

I immediately bought two of this album when it first released. It is one for home and one for my car. I actually have his entire album. He is my second favorite male singer next to Josh Groban. My favorite track from this album is I’m sorry where Martina McBride had been featured. I always play it when I and my wife have a misunderstanding. Isn’t it sweet? Ha-ha! After one decade of singing he still on his good voice. I will be glad if I can see this person in personal. Well Blake Shelton is one of the best singers I know.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:57:49 +0000

The title track had to grow on me. I honestly didn’t like it the first time I listened to the album.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:16:54 +0000

Excellent review. I finally got around to listening to the i-Tunes preview of the Red River Blue album again. I didn’t care much for it the first time about 10 days ago and a second listen didn’t make me like it any better. While I think that Leeann’s take on Blake’s singing ability in the first paragraph of her review is right on, the mediocre material more than justifies her 3 star rating. If the individual songs were all rated, I don’t see any here that would rate an “A”, including the title track.

By: Leeann Ward

Leeann Ward — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:00:17 +0000

Really? I thought it read more like a 3 rather than 3.5. I try to save 3.5 albums for albums that I like better than this one. If anything though, the ballads really weigh this album down. I agree that “Get Some” is executed better than it would look on paper.

By: Noah Eaton

Noah Eaton — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:21:17 +0000

And to clarify, I do believe the title track is actually one of the few instances that are both well-written and executed.

“Get Some” would be a more fitting example of a song that is somewhat banal on paper but stands out when performed by Shelton.

By: Noah Eaton

Noah Eaton — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:19:35 +0000

The tone of the review sounds closer to three-and-a-half stars than three stars, to me.

That said, I largely agree here. And I don’t know to what extent the hubbub regarding how his label was taken aback by the success of “Honey Bee” to the point they rushed to the studio to record the rest of the album for a July release rather than a September one is true………but one can’t help but wonder if we would have gotten a tighter final product if this was indeed more hastily produced.

I feel Shelton is falling into a Darius Rucker sort of funk………..where he settles with too much banal material artistically but his vocals, at times, can single-handedly save a song and make it somewhat resonant. It’s certainly true with the title track. Just as often as not, though, the songs just don’t offer Shelton enough breathing space to let his vocals shine.

My advice: download the title track and “Drink on It” (perhaps “Ready to Roll”) but skip the full album purchase.

By: lisa

lisa — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:48:50 +0000

i love red river blue. all the songs are good.
chris young neon is good.

By: Blaine Jacobs

Blaine Jacobs — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:29:12 +0000

Couldn’t agree more with the review Leeann. I was especially looking forward to this album, along with Chris Young’s Neon, and I was sorely disappointed with both. You could make a solid album if you took the best of Blake Shelton’s work from his past four releases.

By: Scooter

Scooter — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:39:58 +0000

I think Blake is a great Twitter and television personality and so far only a mediocre country music singer. But there are always one or two songs on each album that I really like. The title track is the only one I downloaded on this one.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:12:53 +0000

@Jake

I’m not the one implying people are dumb. I’m stating that is what the recording industry and FM radio are implying about their core country audience.