CMT Blog: Archive

All this talk about Blake Shelton's No. 1 hit "Home" has conjured up my not-so-vivid memory of the first time we met.

It was a couple years ago, and I had gone down to Nashville for the CMT Music Awards. The morning after the show, I reluctantly packed my bags and took my Xanax for the flight home. I went down to the lobby of the very barebones Holiday Inn to wait for my airport shuttle, and my anti-anxiety drugs were starting to kick in. So when I saw the elevator doors open, I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a guy who looked just like Blake Shelton get off.

I mean, he's Blake Shelton. Why would he be in a crappy Holiday Inn? (No offense. I just assumed stars would stay downtown at the plush Hermitage Hotel getting rose-petal turn-downs.) But the closer he got, the more he really, really looked like Shelton. So my cloudy thoughts went from "Damn, that guy looks just like Blake Shelton" to "OMG. That is Blake Shelton." I was anxiety-free enough to not only approach him, but make him sit down with me and drink bad black coffee out of Styrofoam cups. He told me about his new single at the time, his budding romance with Miranda Lambert and probably a bunch of other topics I can't remember. I do know, though, that he sat on the little lobby couch with me -- a complete stranger -- until my shuttle came.

I'd already been a big fan of his, so that morning in Nashville just cemented my theory that he is a great guy. He's got a very likeable personality behind all those hit songs. Whether he's on some big stage -- or in a some tiny hotel lobby.