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.

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