Blake Shelton - Brining Back The Sunshine

With his latest album Bringing Back The Sunshine, Blake Shelton has returned with a collection of songs fans have been aching for him to release. Gone is the silliness of "Hillbilly Bone" and the "bro" of "Boys 'Round Here" and back is a collection of songs that is anchored by the 1-2-3 punch of the openers "Bringing Back The Sunshine," hit single "Neon Light" and "Lonely Tonight."

The album, which finds Blake working with producer Scott Hendricks once again, features a dozen tracks with songwriters like Craig Wiseman, Ben Hayslip, Mark Irwin, Anthony Smith, Brent Anderson, Luke Laird, Jessi Alexander, and Matt Jenkins, to name but a few. "Neon Light" may features some modern production sounds with the percussive loops and swish-y synthesizers but the funky guitars and keyboards are juxtaposed with Shelton's traditional-leaning stretching of the word "light" in the chorus. The smooth grove of the guitar on "A Girl" showcases the trademark balladeer skills from Blake Shelton and while she's not featured like Ashley Monroe or RaeLynn, the song's co-writer Sarah Buxton is audible in the harmony vocals.  "I Need My Girl" is another mid-tempo groove fest with a sing-a-long, arena ready chorus amid a passionate vocal from Blake Shelton.

Fans will undoubtedly be looking for some of the more 'traditional' fare on the album and while short on anything that'd be confused with 1970s country, "Just South Of Heaven" waxes nostalgia with a steady melody and story while "Good Country Song" obviously is that 'traditional' song on the record. Longtime fans are going to be calling for this one to be a single, what with the honky tonk pianos, the steel guitar grooves and classic Shelton vocal. It's also nostalgic in the way country songs make us feel but with all of the other radio ready material on the record, I don't know if it'll get a chance to be a single. But if country radio somehow veers more traditional than even the songs on Blake's record, it'll be a single.

"Lonely Tonight" features Ashley Monroe and while some may be hoping for it to be a duet, it's more like "My Eyes" from Based On A True Story... in that it's a way for Blake to give featuring credit to one of his talented friends. "Just Gettin' Started" has a honky tonk groove while "Buzzin'" serves as the most 'goofy' lyric on Bringing Back The Sunshine but it's also a potential smash radio hit with a slight 'rap' feel to it (though the lyrics are never spoken or rapped). The title track also gets the record going in a rockin' way and it should find its way onto radio as a single at some point, that or it'll start off a concert show.

Blake Shelton's clearly an A-list artist at this point and he could've mailed it in with Bringing Back The Sunshine but the superstar vocalist didn't do that. Instead, he doubled down, found songs that suit him (and perhaps nobody else) and has made a consistent and satisfying record in  Bringing Back The Sunshine. 

Note: There's a deluxe version available at Walmart that features three strong bonus tracks in "Messed Up," "I Really Shoudn't Drink Around You" and "Pain." All are songs that any other artist would've had on their regular album.