Blake Shelton jokes Rascal Flatts still treats him like their “opening act.” Shelton opened for the trio in the early 2000s. They’ve reunited, and Shelton said they give him no more consideration now than they did then.
Shelton is featured on Flatts’ new collaboration project, Life Is A Highway: Refueled Duets, which will be available June 6. The 10-song album includes reimagined versions of the trio’s hits featuring Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Carly Pearce, Backstreet Boys, Jordan Davis, and more.
Shelton joined them for “Mayberry.”
“It was so much fun playing with Blake again,” guitarist Joe Don Rooney said in a statement. “He was on our first two tours with us back in the day, and it means so much that he wanted to do this project with us. He’s one of the best in the business. He truly owned this song.”
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Shelton joked that it still feels like they’re his bosses, “even 100 years later.” And, he said they made him sing “Mayberry” in singer Gary LeVox’s insanely high key. The former The Voice coach said he got a text from Flatts’ bass player, Jay DeMarcus, and another from LeVox that said they needed him to come to the studio and add his vocals to the song immediately.
Blake Shelton Still Feels Like He Works for Rascal Flatts
“It wasn’t, ‘When you get a chance,’” Shelton said. “It was like, ‘ASAP.’ And it was like, ‘Yes, sir. Shit, we better get in the studio.’”
The next time he was in the recording studio, he was supposed to be recording for his album, but he spent the day trying to learn to sing “Mayberry” in LeVox’s key, which was impossible for him.
“Can you imagine?” he said, laughing. “Not enough courtesy to go, ‘Hey, is there a better key for you that might work?’ Oh my God, blood was coming out of my mouth, trying to sing in Gary’s key. My ears were popping.”
(Shelton sometimes exaggerates for comedic effect.)
But, he promised, “It’s up there.” Shelton wonders if the trio was considerate enough to ask Clarkson what key she wanted to sing her song in.
“They wouldn’t have to shift it for Kelly,” he said.
“I Have No Luck With That”
He also joked that while Flatts seemed to have no problem lining up special guests to sing on their album, most people he asked to sing on his new project, For Recreational Use Only, turned him down.
(Maybe some, but not all. His wife, Gwen Stefani, John Anderson, and Craig Morgan are on Shelton’s new album.)
“I have no luck at that,” he said. “Every time, I feel, like when people ask me to be on their record, I feel like I almost always say yes even before I hear the song. It’s like, ‘Man, if you want me, hell yeah, I’ll do it!’ You know what I mean?”
With 30 No. 1 singles, nearly 11 billion streams, 52 million singles, and 13 million albums sold, other singers may be intimidated by his success. Shelton flatly rejects that idea.
“When I ask people to be on my record, a lot of the asks don’t come in,” he said.
The one person he can’t imagine making an album without? His wife Gwen Stefani.
“She’s just so much fun to make music with,” Shelton explained. “She gets so excited about it. To see her fall in love with the Nashville process has been super exciting for me to watch.”
(Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
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