Blake Shelton Wants Garth Brooks to Release Digital Music

Blake Shelton is continuing his campaign to get Garth Brooks to make his music available on iTunes.

The 'Doin' What She Likes' singer tweeted his request earlier this month, and now he's making another plea.

“I just hate to think that there’s a generation that hasn’t discovered him yet, because he’s too important," Shelton says (quote via Taste of Country). "He’s the reason that I wanted to be a country singer. He’s the reason that I worked a summer and saved up to buy a black Takamine guitar with a cutaway on it."

The husband of Miranda Lambert explains why he feels so passionately about Brooks' music.

“ I just hate to think that people can’t . . . get his music whenever they want to,” he adds.“I don’t even have a CD player anymore. I don’t even own one, I don’t think. If I do, it’s broke.”

Shelton adds that he thinks it's important that Brooks make his music available to the next generation. “My ultimate fear is, and I’ve had friends tell me that their kids didn’t know who Garth Brooks was, and that upsets me. I don’t like that,” he notes.

“I think it’s because kids are walking around with their iPhones and their iPods, and if they can’t get it on there, then they probably don’t know it exists.”

Shelton might be fighting a losing battle. Brooks says he has no plans to release his music digitally until iTunes agree to not sell his songs as singles, and instead sell only an album in its entirety.

"I’ll never have a digital partner in iTunes as long as they keep the same rules they have now," Brooks says. "I respect them; they’re friends of mine. They show me respect. They make me believe they’re friends of mine. But if they’re not going to change their ways, I’m not going to change mine. We have to figure out how we get new music to the people.”

It seems like the Country Music Hall of Fame member might not need a digital outlet anyway. His latest project, 'Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences' -- an eight-disc set that includes four discs of cover songs and a DVD of live performances -- was sold exclusively at Walmart, and stayed at No. 1 for six weeks.