“Austin”
Blake Shelton
Written by David Kent and Kristi Manna
Radio & Records
#1 (5 weeks)
August 3 – August 31, 2001
Billboard
#1 (5 weeks)
August 11 – September 8, 2001
When “Austin” released, it sounded as dated on the radio as the lyric’s technology sounds now.
Back in the days of answering machines, this was the way to have a breakthrough country hit: a heartfelt story song based around a recurring lyric that the storyline can refer back to. This one is fairly high concept, with a woman returning after a long absence to find her ex is still sending her messages through his answering machine greeting.
It wasn’t plausible then, nor was it even the most interesting chorus involving an answering machine (see Tanya Tucker, “Soon.”) But Shelton sings it beautifully and he illustrates early on that he’ll find great success by keeping his sound a little bit behind the trends of the day, which is a neat trick because it makes his records sound comforting and familiar, even when brand new.
“Austin” gets a B+.
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…technically it may not be flawless, but still one of the greatest country songs of this century in my book delivered just perfectly. the guy in the song is the epitome of a bro, yet a charming one. makes you wonder for a moment where it all turned wrong and what caused it.
I’ve always wondered how much inspiration this song borrowed from “Is That A Tear?”. That’s probably the second most popular country hit about an answering machine
To this day, this remains my favorite Blake Shelton song. I would call this an “A”. At the time I was somewhat pleasantly surprised that this made it to #1
It’s still my favorite too. I can see the comparison to “Soon”, which is my second favorite Tanya tucker song, but I don’t think it’s derivative.
A good song. For me I would agree with the “B+”.
I remember liking his debut album but now it’s just ok outside of the singles “Austin” and “Ol Red” the only other song I liked was “Problems at Home”.
Good song.
I remembered seeing the title of this song on a list of radio new singles before I actually heard it. Neither the song title nor the artist’s name left me with the first impression of a Hall of Fame career about to be launched, but a week or so later when I actually heard “Austin” for the first time, I stood up and took notice. I was dazzled by how smooth and captivating it sounded, and how well the singer was selling the goofy song premise. Corny as it was, by the time Shelton got to that closing message from “Austin” on his answering machine, I was having the emotional response that everybody else was having to “I’m Already There”!
“Austin” was zooming up the charts that summer, and for good reason. It was clear this new artist from Oklahoma was gonna have a monster hit. You make a fantastic observation of Shelton staying a little bit behind the times with his song selection and general sound, giving listeners a sense of comfort and familiarity, and he launched at just the right moment in time to capitalize on most country listeners’ preference for comfort and familiarity. Something about this song in particular really feels like a fleeting flashpoint of pre-9/11 innocence. It’s why it held up as a radio favorite for the rest of the 2000s and, regardless of most people’s garbled memory of the timeline, might help explain its continued resonance and considerable recurrent airplay today, a generation removed from the relevance of answering machines.
I loved this song and still do. It was an oddball, as was the case with quite a few of Shelton’s early offerings, but the strangeness of the story is what made the song so endearing. He took some risks in those first three albums, some that worked and some that failed badly. I always believed that if he’d released “Ol’ Red” as the follow-up to “Austin”, he’d have been able to maintain his momentum better. As proud as he was of writing with Earl Thomas Conley, “All Over Me” just wasn’t destined to be a radio hit in 2001 and was a bad choice for a follow-up single for a new artist. Releasing “All Over Me” before “Ol’ Red” may have kept both songs from going top-10. Unfortunately, Shelton would only find his sea legs when he started playing it safe, as his music got a lot less interesting as the decade went on. “Austin” and “Ol’ Red” continue to stand out as career highlights for me, but there are still hits ahead from him in this feature destined to get good reviews from me.
Grade: A