Austin by Blake Shelton

Album: Blake Shelton (2001)

Charted: 18

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This romantic country ballad was a milestone release for Blake Shelton. Not only was it his debut single, but it was also his first #1 hit on the Country chart and first entry on the Hot 100 (#18). In the song, the heartbroken narrator doesn't want to believe his relationship is over, even though his girlfriend has changed her number and moved to Austin, Texas. He leaves an outgoing message on his answering machine in case she ever calls: "If this is Austin, I still love you."
The album was produced by country veteran Bobby Braddock, who wrote his fair share of hit breakup tunes ("He Stopped Loving Her Today," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E"). He wasn't immediately sold on "Austin," though, which was written by David Kent and Kirsti Manna. And neither was Blake. "About a third of the way through the song, I was thinking, 'This is pretty corny,'" Braddock recalled in his 2015 memoir, A Life on Nashville's Music Row. "About two thirds of the way through, I thought, 'This is kinda like one of those Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan love stories.' By the end of the song, I had a lump in my throat. Blake, not the real 'sensitive guy,' found it a little mushy for his taste, but I asked him to listen again, and he warmed up to it a bit."
This was originally titled "If This Is Austin," but Braddock thought "Austin" sounded more like a hit title.
Blake wanted "All Over Me," a song he co-wrote, to be the lead single and it was slated to be until Braddock returned with undeniable evidence that "Austin" was the winner. He had played the song for a handful of female friends, who all cried upon hearing it.
This was originally pitched to Clay Walker, who turned it down.
This topped the Country chart for five consecutive weeks, making it the most successful country artist debut since Billy Ray Cyrus did the same with "Achy Breaky Heart" in 1992.
Post Malone, whose real name is Austin Post, grew up believing this song was written about him. It was a playful misunderstanding that his mom, a country music fan, fostered. The irony is even more amusing considering Post Malone's subsequent collaboration with Blake Shelton on "Pour Me A Drink."
Even after recording "Austin," Shelton had no faith in it. "I was so afraid of that song... I was just convinced that, you know, to be a new artist, you needed to come out with maybe an up-tempo or something fun, you know?" he admitted to Taste of Country Nights host Evan Paul. "And 'Austin' is this super slow ballad story song about an answering machine."

Shelton doubted radio programmers would give the track a chance, let alone listeners cruising around in their cars. He didn't think people would connect with the heartfelt love story unfolding through a series of answering machine messages.

But the success of "Austin" proved him spectacularly wrong. "I've never been so happy in my life to be that wrong about something," Shelton admitted, reflecting on the song that launched his career.

Comments: 2

Larry Brown from Houston, TxThis "songfacts" entry forms part of a continuing string of recent coincidences in my life. A few days ago I found myself in Houston's airport with all day to kill. I toured the terminals and browsed the book section in various gift shops, looking for any book from Nora Ephron. "You've got mail," by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, is my favorite movie and I'd like to read some of Nora's work. No luck, and I found that all the airport gift shops carried the same small selection of titles. One of those was "Is she really going out with him" by popular British author Sophie Cousens. I didn't really notice it, but since I saw it ten times after browsing ten gift shops, the title stuck in my head. When I got home Youtube randomly suggested a live Carpenters concert to me, The Carpenters being my lifelong favorite group and Youtube knows that. I watched the video, skipping through it haphazardly, and I almost fainted when, during the introduction to "Don't they know it's the end of the world," one of the group members said "Is she really going out with him?" That was such a far-fetched coincidence that I was forced to interpret it as a sign from God, something I don't tend to do. What is the sign telling me to do? Well...I guess buy and read that book. Trips to two Walgreens and then Walmart did not turn up the book, and today while I was on the phone on some unrelated business this song played on the music on hold, and I jotted down a little of the lyric so I could look it up later. I left home and went to Barnes & Noble Booksellers, a store after which was patterned the "Fox & Sons" bookstore in "You've got mail." I found the Sophie Cousens book, bought it, sat down in the coffee shop similar to the one in Fox & Sons, and started reading at page zero. I literally (almost) fainted when I found that in the forward to the book was a quote from Nora Ephron: "Be the heroine in your own story. Don't be a continual victim." The content of that quote may be relative to my life, but the germane point is that I was looking for a Nora Ephron book, God directed me to buy an apparently unrelated book, and in it was Nora Ephron. When I got home I used the lyrics I had scrawled earlier and looked up "Austin" on Youtube. I first listened to just the song and loved it. Then I watched the video and loved it. I loved it so much I came here to SongFacts to look it up, whereupon I find that the producer thinks the song is similar to a Nora Ephron movie. (When he references Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, he is referring to one of both of "Sleepless in Seattle," or "You've got mail," both by Nora Ephron. God is trying to get my attention, and He has succeeded!
AnonymousI've always loved this song!! Still prefer it over some of his new ones.:)

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