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Trace Adkins is Keepin’ it Country:
Category Archives: Team Blake
The Voice: Team Blake Advances to Top 10
Team Blake advances another week and is stronger than ever!
It was Top 12 time on The Voice this week, and the voting was left completely up to the public. The coaches did not get a vote nor could they save anyone. Usher and Shakira each ended up losing a team member in Vedo and Garrett, respectively, while Team Blake & Team Adam remained in tact.
That means Danielle Bradbery, Holly Tucker, and The Swon Brothers move on! Blake sure did put together a powerhouse country team.
Congrats, Team Blake! We’re rooting for you. Keep it up and keep it country!
The Top 10 take the stage Monday night on NBC at 8/7c!
Check out the video of Blake performing with his team on Tuesday:
Blake Shelton is Keepin’ It Country on The Voice!
With auditions, battle, and knockout rounds complete, The Voice will be moving on to live competition next week.
This week, Blake, Adam, Shakira, & Usher each chose a final four to represent their teams. The competition is fierce this season and is sure to be great entertainment.
Our very own country rep, Mr. Shelton, is a 2-time Voice champ and reigning winner. He’s kept it pretty diverse in the past, but he is country strong with Team Blake moving forward.
The remaining team members are Danielle Bradbery, Holly Tucker, Justin Rivers, and The Swon Brothers. While there was a great deal of talented artists, I definitely think Blake got it right this week.
There really is only one artist on the original Team Blake that I hoped would have made it to the playoffs, and that is Caroline Glaser. I wish Blake had decided not to pair her and Danielle against each other in the battle rounds. I would have liked to have seen both of them representing Team Blake in the live shows. However, Caroline is with Team Adam now, and that really is the beauty of the steal. It allows the coaches to keep talent that maybe would have been let go too soon.
Will Blake and his country crew make it a 3-peat this season? There are some powerhouses this year, especially on Team Adam. While we know that Blake’s buddy, Mr. Levine, is always gunning to take the title from him, Shakira and Usher are definitely equally determined to win it all. The next few weeks should be a good battle!
The live rounds kick off on Monday night on NBC at 8/7c. Don’t miss it!
Team Blake!
Join Us For Our Twitter Chat with Adley Stump Tomorrow February 4th
On Tuesday, February 5th, Adley Stump from NBC’s The Voice & Team Blake will be appearing on our Keepin’ It Country Presents Stageit stage. However, in preparation for her big Stageit show, she’ll be joining us tomorrow February 4th at 10PM EST/ 9PM CST for an exclusive Twitter chat!
To participate in this exclusive event:
- Make sure you follow both @keepinitblog and @adleystump on Twitter;
- When you tweet questions, or send a message to Adley, tweet both @keepinitblog and @adleystump and include the hashtag #getstumped;
- We will streamline the questions and send them to Adley and she’ll answer them for all of Twitter to see!
Even if you don’t have any specific questions for Adley, we would still love for you to join and chat. We are looking forward to another fun Keepin’ It Country Twitter event and cannot wait to hear what Adley will share with our readers!
Then, come back on Tuesday night for our exclusive Stageit show with Adley at 10PM EST/ 9PM CST. She’ll be performing some of her faves and giving away prizes. You can grab your tickets for that event here.
Interview: Trey Graham, Everybody!
A few of us have followed Trey Graham since about 2005 — back when he hit the road as background vocalist on Kelly Clarkson’s tour. Trey won the hearts of Kelly’s fans with his stellar vocals and endearing personality. After taking a slight detour for a bit, Trey is back on the road toward a music career, and we couldn’t be more excited to see where this journey takes him! We caught up with Trey and learned about his past, his present (he is currently auditioning for NBC’s The Voice!), and predict great things for his future. Without further ado, Trey Graham everybody!
Country Music Blog Rodeo: The Year of the Country Crossover
Over the last few years, country music has certainly expanded beyond the old stereotype of boots, big hair and ten-gallon hats. Artists like Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum have huge pop hits, the Zac Brown Band & Jason Aldean sell out Madison Square Garden and the Scotty McCreerys and Tate Stevens of the world rise to fame via televised talent shows. On the flip side, Mumford & Sons get played on country radio, UK-lite-rocker Ed Sheeran tours with Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson performs on the CMA’s. Over the last few years, it has become commonplace for country musicians to dabble outside of their genre, and if January of 2013 is any indication, this trend is only going to continue into 2013.
Interestingly enough, I grew up claiming that I loved all music “except country.” (Seriously – I think I wrote that on my Myspace…don’t judge me, I’m from NY.) However, after being taken to see Rascal Flatts at Madison Square Garden, my perspective on the genre completely changed and I was hooked. Now I’ll listen to anything from Garth to Reba to Taylor to Jason. However, if you were to ask a purist of country music, they’d probably argue that Rascal Flatts is just a boy (err, man) band in cowboy boots, Taylor is a dubstep-loving pop act and Jason’s renegade hick-hop style bastardizes country music. Yet, on the heels of Aldean selling out a show at New York’s Madison Square Garden in mere minutes, I’d argue that the biggest development of country music in 2013 will be the pure magnitude of its reach and ability to cross over, while also openly welcoming those who dabble and stretch the ideas of what typical “country” is.
Team Blake wins second straight season of The Voice
Congratulations to Blake Shelton and his finalist, Cassadee Pope! Team Blake has once again, for the second straight season, and second time in 2012, won NBC’s The Voice. Team Blake actually had 2/3 chances to take the title after two of his contestants made the final. Team Blake was both the champion and the runner-up, dominating this season. All three finalists received a brand new KIA from Cee-lo Green, however, as an early Christmas gift!
Blake had it in the bag after it was announced team Cee-lo came in third place. Cassadee, who started off on the show as a pop-rocker, has turned closer to pop/rock-country under guidance from her coach. It isn’t a stretch t o see her coach continue to be a part of her career, if his past involvement in his acts like Dia Frampton, Gwen Sebastian, and Raelynn are anything to go by.
Do you think Team Blake can do it again next season? Season 4 of The Voice kicks off in March, 2013 (and the blind auditions were already filmed before this season ended!). What was your favorite moment from this season?
Raelynn to Premiere New Single on The Voice
Former Team Blake contestant Raelynn will be premiering her debut single on The Voice next week! The young singer, who signed a recording contract with Big Machine Records earlier this year, has been hard at work on her first album – even writing with Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton! Catch her singing “Boyfriend” on December 11th on NBC. It’s been a big year for the Texan songwriter, who appeared on dates as a surprise guest on Miranda’s “ON FIRE” tour, and even performing her own sets on-board the Blake Shelton Cruise in October!
Are you excited about hearing her single? Who do you hope gets a record contract from this season of The Voice?
EXCLUSIVE: Interview With 2 Steel Girls
Two weeks ago, Blake Shelton picked the first duo of the season on NBC’s The Voice, the mother-daughter team of 2 Steel Girls. It was a big moment for the pair, who have had to hide the secret of being on Team Blake since the episode was taped earlier this year. For country fans who are wondering just who exactly the talented pair are, we sat down for a call last week with the friendly, and sweet, ladies to find out exactly who they were and what fans can expect from them musically. Turns out the second time was the lucky one for one member.
The duo is a family affair: with Allison Steel (mom) and Krystal Steel (daughter). Their son/brother and father/husband are part of their band, and you know they’ll be going places when their first live performance was at the iconic Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee.
Get to know the duo before they make it big – because they will. While they earned America’s attention with their blind audition of Carrie Underwood‘s “Before He Cheats,” find out why Krystal isn’t such a fan of the performance (but the coaches were!).
Check out our exclusive interview with 2 Steel Girls from The Voice below and let us know what you think about Team Blake’s chances for a repeat championship this year:
Recap: The Voice – Episode 3: Boybanders, Mamas and Domo, Oh My!
First off, NBC, THREE nights in a row? I love Adam, Christina, Blake and CeeLo as much as the next person, but three in a row was a bit much.
Our first singer of the night is Samuel Mouton, a guy who cooks pizzas and washes dishes in Colorado, but hopefully not at the same time. He looks like a dirty skateboarding, short-haired Shaun White-type, but then opens his mouth and sounds like Bob Marley. It’s an odd disconnect as he sings “Redemption Song,” but Adam is the first to turn around, followed quickly by CeeLo and Christina. It’s an easy choice for Samuel, who joins Team Adam.
Next up is Chris Trousdale, a very pretty boy who was formerly a member of the boy band Dreamstreet. Don’t judge me, but I’m pretty sure I once saw Dreamstreet in concert. Anyway, Chris was basically the JC Chasez to Jesse McCartney’s Justin Timberlake. Unlike JC, however, his voice is surprisingly weak and shaky and we learn that he now works in a Sushi restaurant. Also, for a former boybander, he made a terrible song choice with “Glad You Came” by 2012 boy band, The Wanted. Although none of the judges turn around for Chris, he does get Blake Shelton on stage to “moonwalk” in his cowboy boots. I’m sure that Gif is all over Tumblr by now.
Blake Shelton Takes On Simon Cowell
Things are about to get interesting tonight. Blake Shelton, who serves as a coach on NBC’s hit The Voice, has had enough of Simon Cowell’s bickering. The always-unfiltered country star told Access Hollywood his true feelings on Simon’s vocalizations over The Voice and X Factor rivalry. The new season of X Factor USA premieres tonight on Fox at 8 pm EST, while the third episode in the 3-day premiere of NBC’s voice will air in the same time slot on NBC.
Simon told Ellen yesterday on her show that he isn’t happy with the way the shows are to air tonight, claiming that The Voice broke an agreement between the two programs to let each other shine on different nights. Simon said:
“I am pissed off about it, because I think there’s a kind of gentleman’s agreement. But we have to rely that the viewers will make the right selection.”
Blake, who isn’t one to keep quiet about whatever’s on his mind, told Access Hollywood today:
“Every time I turn around the guy is mouthing off… Don’t y’all wish you had time to sit around and bitch and moan like that guy does?”
Blake doesn’t want to start in on the blame game, instead suggesting to the reality show king that he needs to worry about X Factor and not what The Voice is doing. He continues:
“Every time I turn around, he’s mouthing off about our show. It’s like, ‘Do your own show! Come on! Put something together there and do your thing’. We’ll just do ours and we won’t mouth off about you. I wish I had that much time. The guy must just have more free time than he knows what to do with.”
Not wanting to be taken the wrong way, Blake believes that there’s room for both The Voice and X Factor this fall. He tries to keep the peace by adding:
“There’s room for all these shows. “That’s what frustrates me when I hear the bickering. I’m like, ‘We’re all doing pretty good. High five!’ But I think the thing that the other shows probably took notice of was – the four of us on The Voice – we’re not judges.”
What do you think? Is there enough room for both shows, or will you be watching one over the other? Who do you think will win the ratings battle tonight? The Voice airs on NBC tonight at 8 pm EST, while X Factor will premiere it’s new season tonight on Fox at 8 pm EST.
