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Blake Shelton Talks About ‘For Recreational Use Only’

Get ready for an unforgettable week of awesome country music and behind-the-scenes stories as Blake Shelton is this week’s Backstage Country host alongside Elaina Smith! The country music superstar will…

Blake Shelton performs onstage during the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards at The Ford Center
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Get ready for an unforgettable week of awesome country music and behind-the-scenes stories as Blake Shelton is this week’s Backstage Country host alongside Elaina Smith! The country music superstar will be Smith’s co-host to share exclusive insights into his career, personal experiences, and, his album, For Recreational Use Only, released earlier this year.

Blake Shelton on 'For Recreational Use Only' 

Smith asked Shelton about his album, For Recreational Use Only. Shelton admitted that for years he was in the album cycle of releasing a single and timing the release of another one after two months. Stepping away as coach from The Voice to have some time off, releasing a couple of singles, the project's kind of “jacked up along the way.” The “Austin” singer said, "I mean, as long as we're just being honest here. This is my first, ‘No, man, we're gonna get all the pieces together, get the team around me, and we're really gonna make one more serious, hard push at this thing, and see if there's still people out there that want to hear it." 

Shelton revealed feeling relieved when “Texas” came out. He noted how, “It felt like a gift, like, ‘Oh, wow. I get to still do this for a minute.’ At this point, I've been doing it for so long. Anything is just icing on the cake, and I just have learned to take these moments in now and really enjoy them when they happen because so much of my career has just kind of been a blur." 

Blake Shelton - Texas (Official Music Video)

The singer-songwriter and TV personality is also appreciative of how “rare” what he has, and that he’s just trying to enjoy it as much as he can. Shelton chuckled, “I'm having a blast. These conversations with you, things like this, nobody gets to do this. This is a lot of fun and it's a blessing.” 

Listen to For Recreational Use Only here