Blake Shelton is atop the country music heap. His albums sell like crazy, fans love the guy, and he seems to have the world by the tail. He recently disclosed the reason he moved to Music City. It's not what you might think. Per Taste of Country via Q With Tom Power, the singer said he was motivated at 17 to make the move because of a woman named Mae Boren Axton.
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She was a songwriter from his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma. Even more importantly, Axton was a co-writer of one of Elvis Presley's big hits, "Heartbreak Hotel." That constitutes major songwriting chops.
Shelton Met Axton When He Was 16
As he tells it, "At one point, they brought her back to Ada to honor her with some award they were gonna give her, and I got to meet her. I was part of the entertainment for the award that night." Following his performance, Shelton had a chance to chat with the songwriter. "[S]he was just being sweet, you know, she's like 'You gotta move to Nashville.'"
The outlet estimates that Axton was in her late seventies at that point.
Her advice landed with significant impact on the then-teenage Shelton. "Man, hearing somebody who was somebody telling me I need to move to Nashville, I mean, that's all it took." He took her suggestion very seriously.
He Headed for Nashville Two Weeks After That Fateful Encounter
He did not waste any time. Shelton, now 49, was still unsure of his exact career path. He said, "Two weeks after I graduated high school, I was still 17 years old, I moved to Nashville and I had her phone number and I called her and I said, 'Mae, I'm in Nashville now, and I'm the guy you met in Ada and you said I should move here,' and I said, 'What should I do now?'"
Axton put the ambitious teen to work - painting her house. "So my first two weeks in Nashville she hired me to come over, I didn't know anything about painting, either, I probably did more damage than anything."
Then Shelton met her son, singer Hoyt Axton. "Within a day or two he and I had become buddies, and one day he invited me — he was sleeping in his tour bus in his driveway — and one day he invited me on his bus."
His Friendship With Hoyt Axton Led to a Career Milestone
Shelton recalled Axton fondly. "He was just telling me stories and he said, 'Listen to this song,' and he started tapping on the table and he sang me 'Ol' Red.' I was not yet 18 years old and I had already heard, at that point, what would go on to be arguably the most important song I've ever recorded."
