In a career that has had as many valleys as peaks, Blake Shelton seemingly finally has some momentum going with a pair of consecutive Number One singles in “Home” and “She Wouldn’t Be Gone.” The latter single was the first single from Shelton’s fifth album “Startin’ Fires” and this song has just been chosen as Shelton’s second single. “I’ll Just Hold On” starts off with an interesting instrumental choice for country music as Tom Bukovac plays the sitar. This instrumental choice will be jarring to some as this Indian instrument hasn’t been used as prominently as before. It also should help people instantly recognize the song.

Lyrically, the song walks down a “I’ll love you as long as it lasts” theme as Shelton sings about ‘holding on until’ the girl is ‘gone’ from his life and that in the end he’s happy for just happing the chance to have loved the free-spirited girl at all. It’s a song that continues the slightly pop-y sound of the recent hits while also retaining the traditionalist elements (there is some genuinely nice fiddle work in the song from Aubrey Haynie).

Despite sounding different from other stuff currently on the radio because of that sitar use, the lyric has been said before and I have to wonder if the release of this song won’t return Shelton back to the valley portion of his career.