''For Recreational Use Only'' is the thirteenth studio album by American country singer

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

. It was released on May 9, 2025, through

Wheelhouse Records BBR Music Group (formerly Broken Bow Records) is an American record label based in Nashville. Founded in July 1999 by Benny Brown, the label specializes in country music. The label's executive vice president is Jon Loba. Craig Morgan had the fi ...

Background

started writing the album's songs after the success of "

Pour Me a Drink "Pour Me a Drink" is a song by American musician Post Malone featuring American country music singer Blake Shelton. It was released through Republic and Mercury Records as the second single from Malone's sixth studio album, ''F-1 Trillion'', on ...

", his collaboration with

Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...

; according to Shelton, the success of the collaboration "lit a fire under" Shelton. The album was announced on March 14, 2025.

Promotion

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

" was released as the album's lead single on November 15, 2024. It peaked at number 61 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

. "Let Him in Anyway" and "Stay Country or Die Tryin'" were released as promotional singles ahead of the album. According to ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'',

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

loves the former song. "Stay Country or Die Tryin'" was released as the album's second single to country radio on May 19, 2025. The music video for "Stay Country or Dir Tryin'" uses AI as a tribute to country life and land. On May 8, "Hangin' On" was released as a promotional single.

Critical reception

The American newspaper ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' stated that it is a "fitting declaration for both his latest project and the current state of his career"

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– lead vocals *

Nir Z Nir Zidkyahu (, , born November 1967), also known as Nir Z, is an Israeli studio-session drummer, and the brother of Blackfield's drummer Tomer Z. He joined in spring 1997 with Genesis, he played in eight tracks for their last album ''Calling A ...

– drums (all tracks),

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

(tracks 1, 8, 9),

shaker Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...

(5),

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

(6, 11),

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s (9) * Troy Lancaster – electric guitar *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

– electric guitar (tracks 1–5, 7–10) *

Gordon Mote Gordon James Mote (born October 25, 1970) is an American Christian country/ southern gospel singer, piano player, and worship leader. He was born blind. He has released eight studio albums. His album ''Don't Let Me Miss the Glory'' (2007) was hi ...

– piano (tracks 1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12),

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(1, 5–9),

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

(2, 4, 7, 9), organ (2), synthesizer (4, 12); celeste piano, strings (12) * Sam Bergeson – electric guitar, programming (tracks 1–3, 5, 7–10);

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

(1, 5, 9), additional guitar (1), synthesizer (2, 3, 7, 9), backing vocals (2, 7), acoustic guitar (2, 9), bass (3); keyboards, percussion (7);

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

(10) *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass (tracks 1–3, 5, 7–10) *

Bryan Sutton James Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's gr ...

– acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 3–5, 8–10),

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

(1, 9), guitar (8) * Perry Coleman – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4–8, 10, 11) * Justin Niebank – programming (tracks 1, 4–6, 8, 9, 11, 12) *

Aubrey Haynie Aubrey E. Haynie (born March 27, 1974) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he w ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

(tracks 1, 8) *

Drew Parker Drew Jacob Parker (born 29 December 1997) is a Welsh professional wrestler, best known for his tenure with the Japanese promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), and currently appearing in the British independent circuit. Professional wrestli ...

– backing vocals (track 1) *

Ilya Toshinskiy Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first al ...

– acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 6, 7, 11) *

Pat Bergeson Patrick Bergeson (born March 11, 1961) is an American guitarist, harmonica player and occasional songwriter. Based in Nashville, he is best known for his live and session work with Chet Atkins, Lyle Lovett, Suzy Bogguss and Les Brers. Biography ...

– electric guitar, guitar (track 2) *

– lead vocals (track 3) * Mark Hill – bass (tracks 4, 6, 11) * Paul Franklin –

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

(tracks 4, 6, 11) * Blair Masters – synthesizer (tracks 6, 11), steel guitar (6), piano (11) *

Adam Shoenfeld Adam Shoenfeld (born April 29, 1974) is a professional guitarist, songwriter and producer based in Nashville, TN. Primarily focused on modern country music, his guitar playing has been featured on over 500 albums, and is closely associated with Bi ...

– electric guitar (tracks 6, 11) * Kara Britz – backing vocals (tracks 6, 12) *

Craig Morgan Craig Morgan Greer (born July 17, 1964) is an American country music artist. Morgan began his musical career in 2000 on Atlantic Records, releasing his self-titled debut album for that label before the closure of its Nashville division in 20 ...

– lead vocals (track 6) * Carla Harris – backing vocals (track 7) * Chuck Aly – backing vocals (track 7) * James Furlough – backing vocals (track 7) * Keely Hendricks – backing vocals (track 7) * Kenny Sweeney – backing vocals (track 7) * Kevin Harris – backing vocals (track 7) * Mason Rudolph – backing vocals (track 7) * Remy Garrison – backing vocals (track 7) * Shannon Finnegan – backing vocals (track 7) * Teri Hendricks – backing vocals (track 7) * The Never Beens – backing vocals (track 7) * Tim Jenkins – backing vocals (track 7) * Torey Harding – backing vocals (track 7) * William Clay – backing vocals (track 7) * Colton Swon – backing vocals (track 9) * Zach Swon – backing vocals (track 9) * Larry Franklin – fiddle (track 10) * Seth Taylor – acoustic guitar (track 12) * Blair Whitlow – backing vocals (track 12) * Brandon Winbush – backing vocals (track 12) * Robert Bailey – backing vocals (track 12) * Vicki Hampton – backing vocals (track 12) *

Wendy Moten Wendy Moten (born November 22, 1964) is an American jazz singer. Born in Memphis and based in Nashville, Moten has had a successful career in music, including several major-label solo records, some international hit songs, and a second career ...

– backing vocals (track 12) *

Mike Brignardello Giant is an American melodic rock band that was formed in 1987. The band originally consisted of founding members Dann Huff (lead vocals and guitar) and Alan Pasqua (keyboard), and had Dann's brother David Huff on drums and Mike Brignardello o ...

– bass (track 12) *

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * John Anderson (jazz trumpeter) (1921–1974), American musician * Jon Anderson (John Roy Anderson, born 1944), lead singer of the British band Yes * John Anderson (producer) (1948–2024 ...

– lead vocals (track 12) * Russ Pahl – steel guitar (track 12)

Technical

Scott Hendricks Scott Hendricks (born July 26, 1956) is an American record producer who has produced over 30 country music artists. His productions have garnered 121 Top 10s, and 78 Number One hits. Between 1995 and 1997, he was President and Chief Executive Off ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Andrew Mendelson – mastering * Justin Niebank – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9, 11, 12), engineering (all tracks) * Jeff Juliano – mixing (track 3) * Matt McClure – mixing (tracks 7, 10) * Brian David Willis – engineering (tracks 1–4, 6, 7, 9–12),

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

(1, 3–5, 7, 9, 10) * Sam Bergeson – engineering (tracks 1–5, 7–10), additional mixing (1) * Sam Ellis – engineering (track 1) * Joey Stanca – engineering (track 2) * Sean Badum – engineering (tracks 6, 11), engineering assistance (4) * Clarke Schleicher – engineering (tracks 6, 11) * Kelsey Porter – engineering (tracks 6, 11) * Zach Swon – engineering (track 9) * Terry Watson – engineering (track 12), engineering assistance (4) * Jacob Spitzer – engineering (track 12) * Drew Bollman – additional mixing (tracks 2–12) * Shannon Finnegan – production assistance (track 2) * Nate Juliano – mixing assistance (track 3) * Caroline Whitaker – engineering assistance (track 4)

Charts

References

{{Blake Shelton, state=open Blake Shelton albums 2025 albums Country albums by American artists Albums produced by Scott Hendricks