Based on a True Story …

Listening to the start of his new album, fans may worry that Blake Shelton’s become too comfortable in his spinning chair. The opening track, “Boys ’Round Here,” bounces between a great chorus and a mess of synthesizers, a mini-rap, and the underutilized featured trio, Pistol Annies. The next track, “Sure Be Cool If You Did,” could be just as annoying, but Shelton saves this one by ditching theatricalities and relying on his laid-back drawl and simple, but enjoyable, music. It’s the perfect song for an all-day beer party along the water during a Northern California summer. The rest of the album is solid, but doesn’t always live up to Shelton’s previous hits (e.g. “Austin” and “She Wouldn’t Be Gone”). Two of the songs here—“Do You Remember” and “I Still Got a Finger”—are in familiar territory for country-music fans, but they don’t add anything to the discussion. The former sounds too much like Alan Jackson’s “Remember When,” and the latter’s “take this job and shove it” theme has been done better. While these songs suffer from comparisons to other artists’ tracks, the album’s best song, “Country on the Radio,” references and thrives off country music’s thematic staples.