While modern country songs have become increasingly theatrical, Blake Shelton became a star by being down to earth. That’s not to say his sophomore album, The Dreamer, doesn’t have moments of high drama or blood-pumping action. “The Dreamer” has plenty of the former, while “My Neck of the Woods” covers the latter. But the important thing is that Shelton sings the way he'd talk to someone: not with cheesy punchlines or tall tales but empathy for day-to-day realities. Hence, in the The Dreamer you get songs about long-haul truckers (“Asphalt Cowboy”) and working-class families (“The Baby”) rather than tales of hell-raisers and line dancers. Even when Shelton sings about a tropical party in “Georgia in a Jug,” he’s coming not from the perspective of a world traveler but a down-on-his-luck guy who can only dream about paying for a vacation. Making a way into the hearts of working people has always been essential to country music, but precious few modern stars can do it with Shelton’s sincerity and down-home poise.