Red River Blue

Shelton's marriage to Miranda Lambert and his debut as a judge on The Voice both occurred earlier in the same year as Red River Blues release; one year before the album's release, Shelton joined the Grand Ole Opry and won the Country Music Association Award for Male Vocalist of the Year. The proximity of all these milestones to the album's release led Matt Bjorke of the website Roughstock to write that Red River Blue marked "the biggest album release of [Shelton's] career" since Shelton's self-titled debut album. In April 2011, Shelton said, "Playing your cards too close to your chest doesn't pay out. I feel like right now if I've got a single that's exploding, easily my fastest climber, I don't want to do something like wait and put (the album) out in the fall. It's when you rally the troops and say, 'Man, we've got to get this thing done.'" According to Thom Jurek of AllMusic, Shelton "only had half an album finished" at the time and was "given two weeks to complete the rest". ==Content==

The album's second single is a cover of "God Gave Me You", which was written and originally recorded by Contemporary Christian music artist Dave Barnes. Shelton duets with Lambert on the album's title track. The song was originally recorded by Ray Stephenson, who co-wrote it with Buddy Owens. Shelton has said that his decision to cover the song was inspired by a time three years before the album's release when he and Lambert briefly broke up. Shelton duets with Martina McBride on "I'm Sorry", which had first been pitched to Shelton for one of his earlier albums, but Shelton was initially unsure if he was the right vocalist to record it. Calling it "a hard song to sing", he explained, "Once we got in there and cut it, I realized I can be comfortable with this." Shelton wanted Red River Blue's third single to be "one of the rowdier songs on the album" and considered "Get Some" before "Drink On It" was chosen. "Drink On It" was the last song Shelton recorded for the album. ==Reception==

Commercial The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one with 116,000 sold in the US in its debut week. It is Blake Shelton's highest charting album and his first album to reach number one on this chart. As of March 2015, the album has sold 1,240,000 copies in the US. In 2016, it was certified double-platinum with sales of 2,000,000 units. Critical Red River Blue received a mixed to positive response from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 9 reviews. Emily Wetta music critic for Nashville Country Club wrote that "While most of the songs have a word or phrase that is continually repeated, it still won't stop you from listening to the album on repeat. With heart warming love songs and the occasional feel good song, Red River Blue has great balance. Full of honest and raw emotion, Blake wins the hearts of all women and with songs like 'Get Some' wins the male audience." Critic Dave Heaton of PopMatters gave the album a five out of ten stars, and noted that "Red River Blue's songs generally feel both cynical and overly familiar". Rolling Stone music critic Will Hermes rated the album a two and a half out of five stars, and wrote that "Red River Blue is unlikely to offend anyone...[and it] shows similarly versatile market savvy." Likewise, critic Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine gave it the same rating, and criticized the album because it "...proves that he's a capable singer who chooses to sing some lackluster songs." ==Track listing==

• Tim Akers – Hammond B-3 organ, piano • Jessi Alexander – background vocals • Mike Brignardello – bass guitar • Tom Bukovac – electric guitar • Perry Coleman – background vocals • Eric Darken – percussion • Connie Ellisor – violin • Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar • Aubrey Haynie – fiddle, mandolin • Wes Hightower – background vocals • Paul Jenkins – electric guitar • Mike Johnson – pedal steel guitar • Elizabeth Lamb – background vocals • Miranda Lambert – background vocals on "Red River Blue" • Troy Lancaster – electric guitar • Martina McBride – background vocals on "I'm Sorry" • Chris McHugh – drums, percussion • Brent Mason – electric guitar • Greg Morrow – drums, percussion • Gordon Mote – Hammond B-3 organ, piano, programming • Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar • Carole Rabinowitz – cello • Eberhard Ramm – viola • Blake Shelton – lead vocals • Adam Shoenfeld – electric guitar • Pamela Sixfin – violin • Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar • Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar • Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Singles ==Accolades==

Red River Blue was nominated for Best Country Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. At that same ceremony, "Honey Bee" and "God Gave Me You" were nominated respectively in the Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song categories. The following year, "Over" earned Shelton another Grammy nomination in the Best Country Solo Performance category. ==Certifications==