Blake Shelton to Commemorate 20th Anniversary of Debut Single ‘Austin’ With New Release

Blake Shelton‘s debut single, “Austin,” was released on April 16, 2001, and the country star is celebrating the song’s anniversary with a special item. On April 16, 2021, Shelton will launch a pre-order for a special, limited edition of “Austin” on vinyl, which does not yet have an announced ship date. True to the original single, the vinyl will also feature B-side track “Problems At Home.”

“Austin” was written by David Kent and Kirsti Manna and gave Shelton his first No. 1 hit. It also became a crossover success, peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song follows a woman who moves to Austin, Texas after breaking up with her boyfriend and decides to contact him one year later. Each time she calls, she receives his answering machine, which always ends with the phrase “And P.S. if this is Austin, I still love you.”

“I remember the first time I heard ‘Austin’ on the radio,” Shelton said in a statement. “I was driving on 440, and I kept looking to both sides trying to see if other drivers were singing along! At that time, the station had a slogan about how they played new artists and legends, and the DJ said something like, ‘Who knows… maybe this artist will become one of the legends.’ This song started it all for me. I couldn’t be prouder to celebrate its 20th anniversary.”

In the years since he released “Austin,” Shelton has become one of country music’s biggest stars, earning a whopping 28 No. 1 songs on the country charts and selling millions of albums. He has won numerous awards and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2010. In 2011, Shelton became a coach on The Voice, a position he has held for every season of the show since. This year, the reality competition premiered its 20th season.

“I think it’s just been a satisfying experience for me because you learn a lot when you’re in the music industry as long as I’ve been in the music industry — 20 years now,” Shelton told ABC Radio of his time on the show. “And most of that stuff, you would end up just taking the grave with you, because there’s not a lot of people out there that can use the information that you’ve gathered over the years.”

He added, “And the fact that we’re working with artists and we’re actually coaching them and trying to help them not make the same mistakes that we made along the way, it’s cool to have that outlet,”