Blake Shelton Was ‘Shocked’ the First Time He Heard ‘God’s Country’

Blake Shelton’s current single, “God’s Country,” is quickly racing up the charts, and is one of Shelton’s favorite songs he ever recorded, even though he didn’t write it.

“‘God’s Country’ is a song that was sent to me by [producer] Scott Hendricks,” Shelton recalled in a behind-the-scenes video detailing the song’s journey. “I was actually here in Oklahoma, on the ranch, and I’ll never forget it. I was actually running a skid steer, and they sent it to me. I was shocked. I had to stop and just listen to this song, because the song was talking to me about a place that I was in at that moment, which was a place in the middle of nowhere that meant something to me that probably nobody else could ever understand, what that is and what it is inside of me and what my connection is to the land.

“At that moment, I realized, ‘I’ve gotta record this song,’” he added. “And I think I even decided before I even recorded it, ‘This has got to be the song that I put out next.’”

“God’s Country” was written by Devin Dawson, HARDY and Jordan Schmidt, and could relate to any place, although Shelton knew that for him, the song was about Oklahoma.

“‘God’s Country’ is a song that has a strong and deep meaningful lyric, but at the same time it leaves it up to the listeners’ interpretation,” Shelton said of the song. “But no matter where you are from or where you’re standing it is my belief that you’re standing in God’s Country. It’s really about a state of mind. Wherever you’re from and how you feel about that place. For me, it’s about being from Oklahoma – where I was born, raised and still live today.”

Dawson never dreamed when he got together with HARDY and Schmidt to write, that the song would be such an instant success.

“We wrote it on a Thursday,” Dawson recalled to PopCulture.com. “Blake heard it, and by Monday he had recorded it. I don’t really how those work. I mean, sometimes songs last three years before they get cut. But this one, I just wrote a song that we loved, and it was the right timing, and the stars aligned. And, I got to sing harmony on it, when we were recording, so it’s really special for me. I’m excited about it.”

Download “God’s Country” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin