Blake Shelton Honors His Career Origin During His 2021 ACM Performance

Blake Shelton has been in the game for over two decades and the country hitmaker celebrated that benchmark with his 2021 ACM Awards performance on Sunday night (April 18).

During the star-studded ceremony, which was broadcasted from the Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium and the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Shelton performed a mash-up of his 2001 debut single, "Austin," and his recent release, "Minimum Wage," during the show. From the Grand Ole Opry House, The Voice judge threw it back to the slow pace of his first single, before transitioning to his recent single, alongside his six-piece band and backup singer.

Speaking with ET Online ahead of the Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton-hosted ceremony, Shelton gushed about his two-decade-long career, confessing that he didn’t have any goals beyond being a country singer with music on the radio. "I had 'Austin,' it was a big hit. Then we came out of the gate after that and stumbled, had a few songs that flopped, came back with 'Old Red' and it was kind of a hit," he reminisced. "Then we had some flops, and I realized, man, making it more than a minute in this business, you have done something [right]."

Shelton went on to declare that having music on the charts 20 years later has him feeling like the "luckiest guy in country music." "I don't know how that happens. I don't," he continued. "I have so many of my friends that came out the same time I did and they had incredible careers, but they didn't last this long. I look at them as way more talented and better than anything I do. So I just know how lucky I've been. [I] guess I made some good decisions along the way and surrounded myself with people that I trust and are good at what they do."

Photo: Getty Images


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