Since country artists were confined to their homes in early 2020, they found a new way to share music with fans. Thankfully, we live in an age when an artist can share a video of themselves singing a tune and their performance can be watched by millions of people around the world.
Tim McGraw presented a musical challenge to his fellow artists. Calling it the “Deep Cuts Challenge,” he called on his friends to perform covers of lesser-known songs from famous artists.
In McGraw’s case, he sang John Schneider’s “Take the Long Way Home,” calling it one of his “favs.”
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McGraw directly called on a few artists to participate in the challenge, and Brad Paisley picked up the torch. Since then, other artists have joined in with their own covers of other artists’ deep cuts.
Carly Pearce eventually participated the challenge, opting to sing Patty Loveless‘ “Sorrowful Angels.” In the caption to her video, she called on Blake Shelton to join in the challenge as well.
A couple days passed before Shelton finally answered Pearce’s challenge. He said Gwen Stefani was the one who noticed that Pearce had called on him to partake in the Deep Cuts Challenge.
So when he found some time, Shelton started a fire outside on his property in Oklahoma, grabbed an acoustic guitar, and offered up his rendition of a lesser-known song from Wynonna Judd, titled “Only Love.”
“Only Love” was released in 1993 and peaked at the third spot on the Hot Country Songs chart. Although it was a Top 10 hit, when people think of Judd’s solo career, songs like “No One Else On Earth” and “To Be Loved by You” usually come to mind first.
But in Shelton’s case, “Only Love” is a standout song in Judd’s catalog. He went so far as to call it one of his two favorite songs of hers.
After introducing the song, Shelton apologized in advance if he messed it up. He then moved in to singing, and delivered a heartfelt cover that fans praised in the comments.
Once he finished, Shelton thought for a bit about who he’d like to challenge before calling on Joe Nichols to share his own deep cut.
Tune in to the clip below to see Shelton’s offering to the Deep Cuts Challenge with his performance of Judd’s “Only Love.” We’re so glad McGraw started this challenge, because it has produced some outstanding performances, including this one of Shelton’s.