Blake Shelton: Country music's next crossover success?

The Nashville star, who clicked as a judge on NBC's The Voice, is threatening to crash the mainstream with a new album

Blake Shelton performs on NBC's "Today": The country music star may soon follow in the footsteps of others like Taylor Swift who crossed into the mainstream.
(Image credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Blake Shelton's been one of Nashville's biggest, most charming stars for nearly a decade, yet few people outside of the country bubble recognize his name. But after unexpectedly breaking out as a judge on reality-TV hit The Voice and marrying fellow country star Miranda Lambert in a tabloid-friendly wedding, Shelton is poised to cross over into the mainstream. His new album, Red River Blue, released Tuesday, has critics debating whether Shelton is poised to become the next Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, or Taylor Swift. Can Shelton break out of his niche?

Shelton's got all of the makings of a star: As one of Nashville's "most affable celebrities," says Jon Caramanica at The New York Times, Shelton's been primed for a "mainstream star-making opportunity" like The Voice for years. In the world of country music, he's more "unpredictable and cheekier than all his male counterparts put together," free of the "stoic reserve" that plagues most of them. With Red River Blue destined to be a commercial hit, expect him to join Taylor Swift as "the most important and visible ambassador from Nashville to the American mainstream."

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