Blake Shelton doesn't want to confuse anybody. He's not a rock act or a cross-over anything. He is pure C-O-U-N-T-R-Y.

His sound is not slick and over produced. He doesn't have a high-powered light show. He simply lets the music do his talking.

Wearing his trademark ripped jeans, cowboy hat and flannel shirt Sunday at the main grandstand at the Du Quoin State Fair, Shelton confidently waltzed to the center of the stage and delivered thunderous blows of hard core country.

After reeling off a few cover tunes and a couple obscure album cuts, Shelton tossed out "Austin" and "The Baby," and the passive crowd finally erupted.

"When I got the offer to come to Illinois for a few dates, my people in Nashville told me not to do it," he said. "They thought I was too country for y'all. I disagreed. I told them to get off their lazy (butts) and come up here and they would find my kind of people, a crowd wearing Wranglers and cowboy hats.

Southern Illinois isn't new territory for Shelton.

After moving to Nashville when he was just 17, Shelton put together his own band and played in local clubs. While still an unknown, the Oklahoma native played a 1999 gig at The Sweetwater Saloon in Golconda.

Those days are long gone.

Shelton has released three successful albums; the last contained the hits "Some Beach" and "Goodbye Time."

Shelton said he prefers the solitude of his farm over the hustle and bustle of the city. In the quiet time, he concentrates on picking out hit songs.

The largest Du Quoin applause was for "Ol' Red" a saga of a coon dog that helps a prisoner escape from a Georgia prison.

Cable television found a way in 2003 to give the underdog a chance in country music.

Buddy Jewell was the most popular demo singer in Nashville, with more than 4,000 songs to his credit. It was his voice that was first attached to "Write This Down" and "A Little Past Little Rock," long before they were hits for George Strait and Lee Ann Womack.

However, he struggled for years without a record deal. He came close several times, but the elusive recording contract always evaded him.

Then, the USA cable network launched a reality program for struggling country music performers. The concept was to let nation-wide viewers pick a winner, not some stiff-suited executive who probably had never seen the insides of a real honky tonk.

The winner walked away with a major record deal and the services of producer Clint Black.

Jewell prevailed against more than 8,000 contestants in the inaugural contest and has proven that just maybe the people who buy the records may know a little bit more than the people trying to sell them.

He electrified the Du Quoin crowd with a solid 50-minute set, including a rousing version of his debut single, "Help Pour Out The Rain (Lacey's Song)."

As always, the giant May flies attacked Jewell the moment he stepped on stage.

"I've had deep fried Oreos and deep fried twinkies, but I've never had one of these giant things," Jewell said.

A balladeer at heart, showed a completely different side when he ripped through Bob Seger's "Turn The Page" and pumped up the crowd by dabbling in Southern rock, dancing along the groove of "Needle & The Spoon" by Lynyrd Skynyrd,