Blake Shelton‘s marriage to Gwen Stefani was a marriage of two entirely different worlds, in more ways than one. When Shelton and Stefani began dating, she was living in Los Angeles, while Shelton was on his Oklahoma ranch. The two worlds couldn’t have been more different, at least at first.
“One of the first times I ever brought her here, I remember her just being so taken aback,” Shelton recalls on The Michael Waddell Podcast (via Country Now). “She goes, ‘So this is your … you own this?’ I go, ‘Yeah, this is the ranch. This is part of the ranch.’ And she goes, ‘But I didn’t know you could have a creek or a river. You can have that?’ I go, ‘Well, I don’t know what the laws are with the water.’
“And then it started confusing me,” he admits. “I was like, wait a minute. She goes, ‘No, I just thought anything like this, what I’m looking at, would be like a national park, like a park or a state park or something, but this is just on your land?’ And I go, ‘Yeah.’”
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What Gwen Stefani Thinks of Being on Blake Shelton’s Ranch
Now that they have been together for a decade, and married for four years, the mother of three loves being able to call Oklahoma home.
“She really has taken to it,” Shelton boasts. “She loves nature. I mean, when she’s here, she loves to just get out of the house and go on walks. She’ll just walk around; I got roads around the ranch, and she loves to exercise and just be out in it. So she just has really taken to the lifestyle of just having some freedom. For the last 30 years of her life, she steps out of the house and there’s somebody…taking pictures of her. And here, there is none of that, and she really appreciates it.”
Shelton is not only glad that Stefani feels so at home in Oklahoma, but that he was the one to make it happen.
“One of the joys of my lifetime has been, I guess introducing is the word, but bringing Gwen here and letting her experience something that’s just kind of untamed and beautiful,” he says. “Just completely different than anything she’s experienced growing up in Southern California.”
Blake Shelton’s Hit Single, “Stay Country Or Die Tryin'”
Shelton’s latest “Stay Country Or Die Tryin’” single is in the Top 5, likely to become his 31st No. 1 hit. The song, from his latest For Recreational Use Only album, is one of his favorite songs he has ever recorded.
“This is one of my favorite songs,” Shelton says on Country Countdown USA. “I love songs that are filled with attitude. That’s what ‘God’s Country’ had, too. You’re so proud of who you are that you’re mad about it. It’s just the lifestyle I live when I can turn off the singer and become the fake rancher I am. I become that guy when I sing this song.”
For Shelton, the song is reminiscent of his earlier hits, which is why he wanted to record it.
“When I heard ‘Stay Country or Die Tryin,’’ it took me back to the first time I heard ‘Ol’ Red’ or ‘God’s Country,’” says Shelton. “It’s got so much energy and is full of those little catchphrases and things we say out in the country. I absolutely fell in love with it. I’m proud of this recording—and I love singing it live even more.”