Fully Loaded: Gods Country splits the difference between a compilation and a new EP, balancing seven relatively recent hits with five cuts making their debut here. The two bookend cuts -- Gods Country, which feels like it couldve been written by Aaron Lewis, and the swaggering Trace Adkins duet Hell Right -- emphasize Sheltons burlier side, but he gets sweeter when he sings the power ballad Nobody But You with Gwen Stefani and lays back for the sunny Jesus Got a Tight Grip, which never seems as religious as its chorus suggests. Save for Tequila Sheila -- a pointless replica of Bobby Bares 1980 hit, right down to the fake crowd noises -- the new cuts are strong enough, and when theyre paired with the hits 2016s If Im Honest and 2017s Texoma Shore, it amounts to a pretty solid Blake Shelton album, albeit one that feels like the holding pattern it was intended to be. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Rovi