The Dreamer (CD - 2003)

Personnel: Blake Shelton (vocals, acoustic guitar); John Willis (acoustic guitar); Brent Rowan (electric guitar, baritone guitar, Wurlitzer piano); Danny Dugmore, Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Russ Pahl (banjo); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, fiddle); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); David Angell, John Catchings, David Davidson, Pamela Sixfin (strings); Charlie McCoy (harmonica, trumpet, vibraphone); Michael Rojas, Tim Lauer, Bobby Braddock (keyboards); Michael Rhodes, Alison Prestwood (bass); Shannon Forrest, Greg Morrow (drums, percussion); Sharon Vaughn Bellamy, Larry Cordle, Neal Coty, Wes Hightower, John Wesley Ryles, Blake Shelton (background vocals).

Personnel: Blake Shelton (acoustic guitar, background vocals); John Wills (acoustic guitar); Brent Rowan (electric guitar, baritone guitar, Wurlitzer organ); Dan Dugmore, Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Russ Pahl (banjo); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, fiddle); Rob Hajacos (fiddle); Donald Teal, John Catchings, Jim Grosjean, Anthony LaMarchina, Mary Kathryn Vanosdale, Kris Wilkinson, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson , David Angell, Carole Rabinowitz-Neuen (strings); Bobby Braddock, Michael Rojas, Tim Lauer (keyboards); Greg Morrow, Shannon Forrest (drums, percussion); Danny Myrick, Dennis Wilson , Larry Cordle, Leslie Satcher, Melodie Crittenden, Neal Coty, Wes Hightower, John Wesley, Blue Miller (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Ed Seay.

Recording information: Cool Tool Audio, Blluebery Hill; Sony; Tracking Room; Treasure Isle; Tree Studio.

Photographer: Kristin Barlowe.

Rough, rawboned energy drives Blake Shelton's sophomore release, but it's not quite enough to distract from its brevity or the fact that the young singer would benefit from a little more seasoning. His vocal technique is fine, and his willingness to tackle a lyric is admirable; the problem lies more with the material, which represents the doldrum state of songwriting in music city. The story told by "The Baby," for instance, has been told more than a few times: basically it's "My mom is dead." But whether presented tongue-in-cheek, as in the Commander Cody trucker lament "Mama Hated Diesels," or as poetry, which Merle Haggard achieves in "Mama Tried," there's something less formulaic in the older tunes. The same applies throughout The Dreamer, which explains why Shelton is at his strongest on the least-ambitious material, such as "Playboys of the Southwestern World," a rowdy collision of "Brown Eyed Girl" and "American Pie," sung with a mischievous twist that suggests, at times, Bruce Springsteen with a corn liquor hangover. None of the drawbacks of The Dreamer suggest any reason for pessimism about Shelton's prospects; there's nothing here that an escape from music row wouldn't cure. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk

From the opening guitar riffs of THE DREAMER's first song, "Heavy Lifting," it's clear that there's more than a little rock & roll in Blake Shelton's country music, but that doesn't mean the lad hasn't got a sense of Music City history. In case you thought the country tradition of trucking songs died out with Dave Dudley, Shelton serves to remind that it's very much alive--though now decked out with modern-sounding rhythm loops--on "Asphalt Cowboy." "In My Heaven" finds Shelton imagining his version of paradise, a place where there's no violence, loneliness, or dishonesty. The album's working-man-with-heart-of-gold stance, widescreen power chords, and anthemic choruses suggest that Shelton is something of a country Springsteen, but the bottleneck guitar on "My Neck of the Woods" and the honky-tonk fiddle of "Georgia in a Jug" leave little doubt as to the side of the Mason-Dixon line on which his heart resides. minimize