Hillbilly Bone

Content

The album's title track, which features a guest vocal from Trace Adkins, was released on October 24, 2009 as the lead-off single. One month prior to the EP's release, this song reached the country Top 10 and in March it became his sixth Number One. The track "Kiss My Country Ass" was co-written and previously released by Rhett Akins on his 2007 album People Like Me. Shelton wrote the song "Delilah" about a dog owned by Miranda Lambert, his then-girlfriend, later-wife and now-ex-wife. Shelton told Country Weekly magazine that this project is part of an experiment to release three extended plays a year, so that he can offer his fans more material per year "for a bargain price."

Critical reception

Jessica Phillips of Country Weekly, Thom Jurek of Allmusic and Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine all gave the EP three stars out of five. Phillips wrote that it "finds Blake Shelton coming into his own when it comes to song selection." She also called "Delilah" the strongest-written track on it. Jurek called its material "formula contemporary country" and said that the label's decision to release multiple EPs instead of an album was "risky." Jonathan Keefe criticized the "compressed" production and the lyrics of "Hillbilly Bone" and "Kiss My Country Ass," but commended the recording for having a common theme among its songs.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums, and number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 71,000 copies in its first week of release.

Personnel