blakeshelton.com/Startin' Fires (Deluxe Version) iTunes Pre-Order update
Posted on: 11/7/08
The exclusive iTunes Pre-Order for the Startin' Fires (Deluxe Version) is now live at iTunes
iTunes for $11.99! Order before 11/17/08!
When you pre-order the album, "Good At Startin' Fires" will begin to download immediately. Your credit card will be billed for the track, and the remainder of the album's cost will be charged separately when it becomes available on 11/18. An email will remind you to download your copy on street date.
Your deluxe Startin' Fires pre-order from iTunes includes:
- All 12 tracks from Startin' Fires (available for download 11/18/08)
- An instant download of "Good At Startin' Fires" (all other tracks will be available 11/18/08
- Exclusive Christmas track "Silent Night" (only available until 11/17/08)
- Exclusive bonus track "Ain't That Good"
- Official music video for "She Wouldn't Be Gone"
- Startin' Fires Digital Booklet
Visit iTunes here to place your Pre-order!
BLAKE SHELTON
Startin’ Fires
Song by Song
GREEN—George Teren, Craig Wiseman
Even before I heard the first full line on the demo, I heard Craig Wiseman's voice and it got my attention. When you get songs from Craig, you'd better pay attention, and it was almost as if he sat down and wrote the song about my life. Everything in that song is me, outside of skinny-dipping, which I don't do because of shrinkage.
GOOD AT STARTING FIRES—Sherrie Austin, Will Rambeaux, John Stephan
We laughed when we first heard this song because we knew they'd say it was about Miranda. In fact, when the studio engineer got done mixing it, she said, 'We can make a Youtube video that superimposes you on the "Kerosene" video and my CMA performance, putting out the fires.' It actually reminded me of a 2008 version of "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On," the old Mel McDaniel song. I just thought it was a throwback to the music I grew up on.
SHE WOULDN'T BE GONE—Jennifer Adan, Cory Batten
This and "I'll Just Hold On" are the two coolest songs I've ever cut as far as being unique and from a fresh place as far as country music. I love to sing songs about regret--always have--and mistakes you make along the way. It's extremely emotional and has a little different slant on things the guy could have done right along the way.
I'LL JUST HOLD ON—Ben Hayslip, Troy Olsen, Bryan Simpson
There's a little touch of Glen Campbell to that song. Melodically, it really pushes me as a singer. When we got into the studio, Scott Hendricks and I started talking and decided we wanted to try a sitar as the lead instrument in the intro, and that just put a whole different spin on it. It's a real standout and a bright spot for me.
100 MILES—Chris Stapleton, Craig Wiseman
When I heard that song, I stood up and was yelling at people in the room, "dag nabbed it! Do you hear that?! That's awesome. That's the kind of song I want to cut. That's what I want to do." It has the regret I want to sing about, it showcases me as a singer, and it's a throwback--it sounds like it came from a different era.
NEVER LOVIN' YOU—Kendell Marvel, Chris Stapleton
This sounded to me like a song Merle Haggard would have written or recorded, and that was enough for me. I told Scott when we went in to cut it, "Man, I feel like I'm honoring all my heroes by recording this one." Even the intro sounds vintage, and as far as the track goes, that phase shifter on the guitar makes it sound like the song came from Waylon or Merle in 1978 or 79.
COUNTRY STRONG—Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip
My friend Rhett Akins co-write that. I got a little bit of resistance on it and ended up fighting for it and winning. Yes, you can say you've heard a lot of songs like it, but that song is who I am and who my friends and family and the people I hang out with are. That's our lifestyle and what we do, and that's what I wanted for this album. That's probably the most fun song on the record, just an uptempo feel-good song that stands for who I am.
HOME SWEET HOME—Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip
This is the other song Rhett co-wrote. Listening to it for the first time, I could feel that stamp of me and my personality and what I love, so much so that after I cut it and had it on the CD listening around the house, Miranda made a slide show on her computer for me with that song as the music and pictures of me and my dad and friends deer hunting and me and her on her farm. It was everything that song is about.
THIS IS GONNA TAKE ALL NIGHT—Chris Dubois, Ashley Gorley
I loved that song for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's just fun to listen to and sing along with. Then, there's a lot of romance to it. It's a pretty sexy song for being so uptempo. I'm definitely trying to explore that part of myself too, the romantic side, and see how people react to that, but this song is just a lot of fun.
HERE I AM—Blake Shelton, Dean Dillon
That's a thing I wrote with Dean Dillon a few years back. I've always loved the song, but we've always been so ballad-heavy on albums I just never put it on record. We discuss it every time I go into the studio but we never got around to it. I promised myself I was going to cut it on this album. Here again, we've got a love song and I'm trying to gear myself toward that, especially the older I get.
I DONT CARE—Casey Beathard, Dean Dillon
This was on the Pure BS album. It was one of the ones we wish we could have gotten to as a single, and I knew we'd be kicking ourselves in years to come if I didn't. We decided to put it on this album as a 12th track, and try to get to it as a single.
BARE SKIN RUG featuring Miranda Lambert—Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert
We recorded this track sitting around a campfire. It's just me playing guitar and singing and Miranda singing her part. It's not dressed up, tuned or overdubbed. It's just as raw as it can be. People are interested in us and they really want to know what we're like. That's it. That's as raw as it gets, as real as it gets. Scott had a couple of boom mikes set up overhead and that's it. You hear the crickets and the fire just the way it was.