Blake Shelton’s Childhood Involved A Lot Of Fireworks

Blake Shelton has had a lot of fun with fireworks. He loved to play with them growing up in Oklahoma on the Fourth Of July.

He told us, "I was probably eight or nine years old, and in Oklahoma, they outlawed all the bottle rockets because people were setting too much stuff on fire and shooting each other in the face and stuff like that. It was awful to me, and so bottle rockets for me just kind of went away as the year went by."

As Shelton shared, he had to fall in love with other fireworks for a while as a kid. He offered, "The men with parachutes were cool, and they always had the tank. You could light it, and it would shoot. And then they came out with the battleship that would float across the water and shoot things. Then, I moved to Nashville when I was seventeen or eighteen, and I remember going to the fireworks stand the first year there. They were like a suitcase full of one hundred dollar bills, bottle rockets for sale in the state of Tennessee, and they were cheap. I remember I didn't have that much money, but by God, the money I had, I probably bought 2000 bottle rockets because I was so afraid that they were going to outlaw them and I would never see them again."

Blake got to be a hero when he visited back home while living in Nashville. He said, "I had some buddies back home that would say, 'Hey man bring me back some of them bottle rockets so we can shoot the cows and stuff.' So, I was always the cool guy going back home in the mid-nineties in Oklahoma. It's a wonder I never got arrested or anything."

In another interview a few years back, Shelton told us about his Fourth of July kind of birthday presents. He said, "Firework stands always opened about four or five days before my birthday; my birthday is June the 18th, so they always opened a few days before that, so I got tons of fireworks for my birthday, which I loved.

He added, "I would try to save the cool ones until the fourth of July, like the fountains, some of the bigger ones. Although by the time the fourth got there, I'd be down to almost nothing. But, I was just obsessed with them."

Country music goes hand in hand with America and has been known for years as "America's Music." We will celebrate the Fourth of July holiday this week with our loved ones at a barbecue, traveling the country, and with fireworks displays. In honor of the holiday,  we take a look at country stars wearing stars and stripes for our great nation through the years.

For a bit of history: The Fourth of July, or Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence. It was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.

The Fourth of July has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941. However, the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence. Two days later (7/4), delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

To this day, July 4 has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades, family reunions, and concerts.