We’re well aware of what the final four are up to.  But what about some of our favorite second season singers who have come and gone?  On Wednesday (May 9) we’ll all get the chance to catch up with a big bunch of them.

More than a dozen former contestants from this season are coming together for what’s being billed as “The After Party” show.  The singers will be taking to the stage for a special show at Saint Rocke, just outside of Los Angeles.

The event will not only allow fans to reconnect with some of their favorites, it will also allow the performers to keep building the bonds they formed while on the show.

“The show is just another extension of our love for each other as artists and friends,” says former Team Adam member Nicolle Galyon.  “That’s one thing that really wasn’t shown on the show – how deeply connected we all became.  This is just proof that we all can’t get enough of each other.”

Expect things to be a lot looser, as the artists will have more freedom than they had on The Voice.  This time they’ll be able to perform from their own playlists – including original songs.

Naturally, they understand that not everybody will be able to be in the L.A. area, so there will be a special online version of the event.  A backstage version of “The After Party” will also be available on STAGEIT, where fans will be able to chat with the artists, make requests and even be treated to special acoustic performances.

Artists scheduled to appear include:

Pip Arnold (Team Adam), Monique Benabou (Team Christina), Anthony Evans (Team Christina), Nicolle Galyon (Team Adam), Justin Hopkins (Team Cee Lo), Naia Kete (Team Blake), Jamie Lono (Team Cee Lo), Orlando Napier Band (Team Adam), Nathan Parrett (Team Adam), Charlotte Sometimes (Team Blake), Hailey Steele (of The Line and Team Christina), Angel Taylor (Team Adam), Jordis Unga (Team Blake) and Tony Vincent (Team Cee Lo).

The show at Saint Rocke is scheduled to get underway at 7:45pm PT.  Guests must be at least 21 to attend the show in-person.  Tickets for the show at Saint Rocke are available HERE.  The special STAGEIT show is scheduled to begin at 7pm PT with tickets available HERE

Related posts:

1. Song Support: Nicolle Galyon Backs RaeLynn On “The Voice” With Her Voice
2. The Voice: Team Blake Recap – Week 9
3. Miranda Lambert to Perform on The Voice finale

It’s one thing to say you’re supporting somebody, but Nicolle’s taking it to another level by singing about her!  The former member of Team Adam posted the song “California” on her Facebook page with the caption:  “Any guess who this was written about??”  (If the lyrics don’t give it away, the link to The Voice voting page and the request for folks to vote for RaeLynn certainly do!)

You can hear the song below and also get a free download of it here.

Actually, the song has a double-shot of support from former contestants on The Voice.  Hailey Steele from the country duo The Line (formerly on Team Christina) sings the background vocals on the song.

For those who don’t know, Nicolle and RaeLynn met before this season of The Voice.  Fact is, it’s through Nicolle’s urging and encouragement that RaeLynn even auditioned for the show.  RaeLynn ended up on Team Blake, where she’s now in the Top 16 after wowing the voting public with her hip-swinging, boot-stomping version of Maroon 5′s “Wake Up Call.”  (See the video below.)  Now thanks to Nicolle, RaeLynn has a song of her own, even though it didn’t start out that way.

“I started this song with my friend Michael Davey and I/we never intended to write a song about RaeLynn,” says Nicolle.  “It really just started with that quirky dirty Wurlitzer lick and a story about a girl going to California.   Halfway into it I realized that we had laid the groundwork to write a song about RaeLynn. so we kinda backed up and approached the whole thing with her in mind.  I mean, that girl is a character and it’s really easy to write a song about a character!

“Like I’ve told her, now that I’m gone, it’s her responsibility to represent country music.  I’ve believed in her since BEFORE this show and I’m thrilled beyond belief to get to sit back and watch the rest of the world see what I’ve known for a long time about her.”

RaeLynn’s next performance on the Live Shows will be on Monday, April 16.  (Team Adam and Team Cee Lo take the stage this coming Monday.)  That gives RaeLynn a bit more time to work on her next song.  She’s already teased that performance by saying, “The Country is coming for y’all on the 16th!”  No matter what the song turns out to be, Nicolle knows the talented teen from Texas is going to blow people away.

“I think a lot of people underestimate the country artists and the country audience on these shows,” says Nicolle.  “I remember when there were still 200 people in the running to be on The Voice and I was telling everybody “THAT’S the girl to beat.”  A lot of the pop/rock contestants didn’t take me seriously.  I just thought to myself, “You’ll see.”  I know her.  I know the audience.  That girl is fixin’ to TAKE OVER.”

You can show your support for RaeLynn by liking her Facebook page and following her on Twitter @RaeLynnOfficial.  But the best way you can support her is to vote for her here after her performance on April 16th and by downloading the song on iTunes.

Related posts:

1. EXCLUSIVE: Nicolle Galyon After “The Voice”
2. VIDEO: Miranda Lambert & RaeLynn On The Voice
3. EXCLUSIVE: Interview with RaeLynn From “The Voice”

The country music singer/songwriter was paired with Mathai for her Battle Round.  Coach Adam Levine chose “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles for their battle.  The song was tailor-made for the piano-playing Galyon, who lists Bareilles as one of her influences.  Everything seemed to be going her way with a perfect song and Levine even saying she could play her piano during the battle.

Then the day before the battle, Levine shook things up by taking the piano out.  We will never know if things may have been different had she been allowed to battle from behind her Baldwin.  As it turned out, the other three coaches all felt Mathai not only sang better, but also had a more polished performance.  Levine agreed, ending Nicolle’s adventure on The Voice.

We caught up with her a few days after her elimination aired to discuss her Battle Round, her upcoming projects and the moment that finally brought her to tears.  Continue reading to learn how the 27-year-old native from Sterling, Kansas is on the rise both personally and professionally.

After your elimination you posted a blog over on your page at NBC.com.  After reading it, I was struck with the impression that what you’re most taking away from the show has nothing to do with singing, but the relationships that were formed.

I believe that that’s what we’re all put on this Earth for – is relationships.  I think the show, for me, was all about who I became because of being on that show.  That’s how I look at my whole music career.

I love music and I know that’s what I was put on this planet to do.  But I know there’s more going on – something bigger than just the music business.  At the end of the day being in the music business and my career make me a better person and can stretch me.  That’s what makes it all worth it for me.

The Voice has done that for me.   I have just been so challenged and have grown so much because of that show.

You’ve been heavily involved with your fans from the Blind Auditions on.  Along with Facebook and Twitter, you’ve been doing live webcasts and really engaging with people.  You’ve grabbed the whole experience with both hands and seemed to have really enjoyed the ride.  Is that correct?

Yeah.  I’m from a town of 2,000 people where everyone knows everything about you.  I think having that background makes me feel comfortable knowing that people know me.  I like to be known.  So having social media as a platform for people to know my story and to know my life and ultimately know my music, was such a gift.

Now I can sit back and be a spectator and watch all of these people that I love so much chase their dreams for the next month on the Live Shows.  It’s a really bitter-sweet, beautiful thing for me.

Now that you’re eliminated, are you officially backing another contestant?

Ultimately I’m a fan of everyone, but I definitely have my loyalties to people on a personal level.  But, obviously, RaeLynn and I have a relationship that basically supersedes the show.  The Voice or no The Voice, we’re gonna be in each other’s lives moving forward no matter what.

So I’m obviously “Team RaeLynn” because I love that girl.  But also she’s the only one that’s left hanging in there representing the true country music genre.  I’ve told her this many times:  “It’s your job now to represent all of us and show the world how cool country music is.  I’m not saying that to put pressure on you.  I’m saying that because you should be honored you get to be the person that does that.”

I think that her kinda country is cool.  I’m so proud that she gets to carry the flag from now on.

Now let’s talk about your Battle Round.  What was it like working with advisor Robin Thicke?

I found Robin to be extremely endearing and extremely genuine.  That’s funny because both Adam and Robin are such sex symbols.

A lot of people have brought that up in interviews.  Everybody wants to know, “How could you even focus when you’re in there with these guys who are so attractive and they just exude sexiness?”  Robin and Adam were both extremely endearing and extremely genuine.  So that kind of offset how physically attractive they both are.  I wouldn’t say that at the time to them, but the truth is they’re so cute!  You’re not a girl if you don’t think they’re cute!

I think Robin really related to me.  There’s part of the show that they don’t really show.  It’s these couch sessions where you sit down and you get to talk with your mentor and your coach at the same time.  I felt like in that session that Robin really related to me.  I think that he could empathize with what I was putting myself through with going on a show that’s strictly just a singing competition.

He even said to me in one of the segments that he’s never really performed a song that he didn’t write.  That was the first time that anyone on that show really, I felt, understood where I was coming from in terms of that.  I started writing songs and that’s what got me singing.  I’ve only really sung songs that I’ve written.  I was really putting myself out there in a way that I don’t think a lot of people really recognized and he got it instantly.

He also gave your voice quite the compliment, describing it as “angelic femininity.”

(Laughs)  If you watch the show, then you know there are so many unique voices.  I would consider myself to have a unique voice, too.  It’s very recognizable and it’s very believable.  But it’s not the kind of voice that traditionally gets a lot of attention and hype on a show like this.

I think the things that make my voice unique, Robin really understood and appreciated.  I know he used the words “pure” and “purity” a lot.  That really is what makes my voice unique.  It has this honest, purity to it.

Adam chose “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles for your Battle Round with Mathai.  That seemed to be right in your wheelhouse.  What was your reaction when you heard that would be the song?

I was flattered because I feel like if there’s any artist that I would want to emulate for my career, it would be Sara Bareilles.  So in that moment I remember thinking, “Sara Bareilles is going to see me do this!”  That was the first thing I thought.  “If I’m singing her song, then she’s going to see me do it!”  I cared more about that, almost, than anything else.  She wrote that song and I know where she was coming from when she wrote it.

I was so flattered that I got to do that song.  But I was also a little nervous because it was so in my wheelhouse that I thought, “How can I make it my own?”  You don’t just want to copy the artists.  You don’t want to sound too much like the artist.  That’s what makes an artist and artist is that they don’t sound like anybody else.

I turns out Sara Bareilles did see your performance and even tweeted you after it aired.  What was your reaction to seeing that?

I just felt so loved!  If there’s anybody who can understand what was goin’ on with me on that show, it was her.  Because you don’t accidentally become Sara Bareilles, the girl that plays piano and still gets played on Top 40.  You deliberately have to be stubborn.  I just think she, if anyone, would understand how much of a risk that is to just leave your piano.

Now I just want to meet her and I want to hug her and I want to tell her “thank you!” and I want to apologize for doing any bad things to her song!  (Laughs)  I feel connected to her even though I’ve never met her.

Speaking of leaving the piano, Adam originally was going to let you use it during your Battle Round, but then, as we all saw on the show, took it away from you.  The look on your face was almost one of distress.  Was that what you were feeling?

It was!  My head was spinning!  What you don’t understand is that we had rehearsed that song for three weeks.  We had tons of rehearsals on that song.  It wasn’t until ultimately the day before the taping for the show that he decided to pull it.

Had he told me three weeks before, “You’re doing ‘Love Song’ but you’re not playing the piano” I would’ve had time to adjust to that; to sink into that idea.  But it was so last-minute.  We had done the song and had worked out the staging and blocking.  We were going to incorporate the piano so much in the performance that it was like, “Oh, my gosh!  We have to unlearn everything that we’ve learned in 24 hours!”

Was there so much going on during the actual Battle that you didn’t have time to even think about your piano not being there?

I’m the kind of person that just blooms where they’re planted.  So if you put me in a situation where I don’t get to play the piano, I can somehow spin it to where it’s a positive thing.  I looked at it as a challenge – a welcomed challenge – and also an opportunity for me to show that I can sing.  That’s why I love the show, because it’s about singing.

The piano to me isn’t a crutch.  It’s an extension of who I am.  I think on the show it made it look like “this piano girl is going to have a meltdown without her piano.”  I didn’t feel that way at all.  I was like, “Cool!  I get to show that I can do that, but I can also do this, too!”

Another thing they didn’t show was when we were using the piano, when it was still in the program, I was grabbing the mic in the middle of the song and getting up and owning the stage halfway through it.  So it wasn’t like I wasn’t going to be getting away from the piano already.

I think that might have been where Adam’s decision came from.  When he saw I was grabbing the mic in rehearsals and getting away from the piano and I was doing a good job of it.  He was like, “You don’t need the piano.  That’s not necessary because you’re obviously comfortable enough working the stage without it.”  That’s how I took it.

Yes, I was nervous and very caught off guard.  But I was also empowered in a way.  I think he saw something in me.  I think he saw the potential for me to own it.  And I felt that I did own it.  No matter the outcome of the Battle Round, I still stand behind my performance on stage.  I feel like I did a really good job just being reckless and fearless and being brave in going after that.

As we all know, Adam picked Mathai as the winner.  You seem to have such a genuine respect and appreciation for her as a performer and as a person.  What can you say about her?

I think we were both equally shocked to be put together.  I think we both were vulnerable in the beginning to each other’s circumstances.  She was thinking, “I never thought I’d be with you!” and I was like, “I never thought I’d be with you!”

We both have this artistic maturity about us that allowed us to be a fan of each other’s strengths – even though our strengths are so different.  I’m the kind of person who is fascinated by people that can do things that I can’t do.  Mathai can do a lot of things vocally that I can’t do.  So I’m really a fan of her music.

But beyond that, I think we both live for something bigger than being on a television show.  We realize that how we treat each other is the most important thing.  I just can’t say enough about both of us!  I mean she was awesome to me, but I also feel like as human beings, we both won because we did something that was pretty remarkable on television that few people will ever get to do.  We did it with a lot of grace and class.

That’s what people are ultimately going to remember.  I don’t know if ten years from now people will remember the song that we sang, but they will remember how we hugged each other and how we made them feel when they watched us interact with one another.  I’m just proud of both of us and I’m so thankful that we were paired together.

She even told me one night in her hotel room, “I probably would’ve never taken the time to get to know you because you’re so different than what I thought you were.”  So that was a beautiful thing that we got paired together because we now know each other in a way that we never would have otherwise.

I think I just talked about her for 25 minutes without taking a breath!  (Laughs)

Your little brother Cooper’s joyful reaction when you passed the blind audition was so precious.  How did he handle it when you were eliminated?

They put Cooper on camera and asked him how proud he was and he just said some things that were absolutely beautiful.  And then he started crying.  As you know, a lot of people cried on the show, up to that point.  Way back before the blind auditions, people were crying in their interviews and then crying after blinds and crying before battle and after battles.

I got through my interviews and got through everything and didn’t cry on stage.  But when he started talking about me in that room, I started crying.  I remember the last thing I said was, “Dang it!  I told myself I wasn’t going to cry on this show!”  And the camera people were like, “Cut!  That’s all we need!”  So it was my final thing to say on camera – that Copper made me cry.  (Laughs)

What are a few of things you learned from either Adam or just being on the show that you now carry forward with you?

I’ve been asked this a lot and the answer that’s so obvious to me is to always bet on yourself.

This show really taught me to be stubborn about who I am.  If you lose yourself, you don’t have a chance as an artist.  That’s ultimately where all of my creative juices come from; is knowing myself and being honest with who I am.  This show has better taught me how to tune into that voice that goes, “Yes, Nicolle.  That’s who you are!”  or “No, Nicolle.  That’s not you!”

I’ve learned that and just betting on yourself in general.  No matter who I would’ve been paired with on that show, you have to bet on yourself.  You have to go, “No matter what the circumstance, I can win this!”  Because if you don’t think you can win this, then you’re never going to win it.

You’re still working as a songwriter in Nashville, but what’s next for Nicolle Galyon the singer?

Well, Nicolle Galyon the artist…I’ve started pre-production on my EP which will probably be five songs and will probably come out in May.  We started that a few weeks ago and I’m really excited.

I have the blessing and the luxury as a songwriter of creating music every day.  It’s almost to a point where it sometimes feels common-place.  Being on this show with other people who don’t get to make music for a living, made me really appreciate on a whole ‘nother level how lucky I am to live in Nashville, Tennessee and get to make music for a living.

So just doing demos for other artists, I get a lot of satisfaction out of that.  But I realize it’s time for me to put myself out there as an artist.  The fact that I wasn’t doing that before is worth me doing the show just to figure that out.

So I’ll have an EP out on iTunes this summer.  I can’t talk about all of it, but I’m writing with a lot of other artists — some on the show, some not on the show – and writing for their projects.  It’s just been cool to see the little seeds that have been planted because of this show that have nothing to do with the show.

I hope that someday I have my name on a song or two on RaeLynn’s record.  I hope there are other things that come out of the show that had nothing to do with the show.

It sounds like a like of things already have.

I think people know that I’m fearless now.  I think people in this town always knew that I could write songs, but now, whether they love or hate my music, they know that I’m fearless and a force to be reckoned with.  If you can get up there and do that on TV, what can’t you do?  I’m definitely not operating out of fear!  (Laughs)  People should know that about me by now!  (Laughs)

Finally, what would you like to tell your fans as you officially leave The Voice and head off to your next bog things?

First of all, thank you!  In this world it’s so much easier to be critical than it is to be complimentary.  I have had nothing but an outpouring of love from fans – people who have known me for a long time and people who don’t know me from Adam.

I entered into this show anticipating a lot of criticism because that’s what comes with these shows.  It’s part of what makes them enticing.  But I have been so surprised with the outpouring of love from all corners of the world.  People have really reminded me of the goodness that is out there.

*******

Keep up with Nicolle at her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter @nicatnitemusic.  Plus, relive her journey and much more HERE at her page at NBC”s site for The Voice. 

moves like jagger – nicolle galyon from Nicolle Galyon on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. EXCLUSIVE: RaeLynn From “The Voice” On Her Battle Round And Beyond
2. EXCLUSIVE: Interview with RaeLynn From “The Voice”
3. EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Nicolle Galyon From “The Voice”

With that said, it makes sense that country singer Nicolle would end up on rocker Adam Levine’s team on NBC’s smash singing competition “The Voice.”  As you will find out, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The 27-year-old moved to Nashville after graduating from high school.  She enrolled in Belmont University’s Music Business program and was focusing on a career behind the scenes in the music business.  But her undeniable talent wouldn’t let that happen.  She secretly began writing songs in her spare time.  Thanks to the urging of her friends, she entered a few of her songs into the Songwriter’s Showcase Series at Belmont.  Her success there opened up some doors, which opened up more doors, which led her to a publishing deal with Warner Music Nashville, where she has been a staff songwriter since 2007.

Several of her songs have made it onto records — including a pair by a certain American Idol alum.  But the voices singing those songs — telling her stories — weren’t hers.  That’s one of the main reasons she auditioned for “The Voice.”  She decided her love of music was greater than her fear of failure.  Score one for love.

The auditions were back in October, how hard was it to not say anything to anyone?

It was difficult.  Honestly, though, I think that my mom had a harder time with it than I did.  If you watched the episode my mom and my little brother, Cooper, came out to L.A. for a week.  Cooper is in fifth grade and was gone from school for a week.  He was the one who had to keep a secret in a tiny little town of two thousand people.

If I leave Nashville for a week, nobody notices.  But if a fifth grader leaves school to go to L.A. for a week, you can imagine all the little rumors that were going around my hometown back in Kansas.  (Laughs)  I think it was actaully ahrder on my mom and brother than on me.

Who were you with on Monday night when your segment finally aired and what was their reaction?

I was with about 40 of my close friends here in Nashville.  I was really blessed to have a bunch of friends that threw a party for me.  I just kinda got to show up and it was in my honor and we all watched together.

Everybody knew I was going to be involved in the show in some capacity because they had been showing me in these commercials that had been airing for weeks.  I was doing a pretty good job of just laying low and not really saying anything about the show.

Then they started airing these promos with clips of my audition.  That’s when it really became torture because everybody knew that I was going to be on at some point.  But I still had to act like I had no idea what they were talking about.

(Update:  We now have a video taken at Nicolle’s viewing party.  See it by clicking here.)

You’re a country girl, who sang a Kenny Chesney song in your blind audition (see the video below), yet you’ve said that even if all four coaches had turned around, you still would have picked Adam Levine and not Blake Shelton.  Why Adam over Blake?

I was a fan of the show the first season.  The coach and artists pairings I was most fascinated by, and most taken by, were the non-obvious pairings.  I think that is what was so special about Blake and Dia or Blake and Xenia.  They were non-likely; not your common pairing.  I thought that it was really interesting to see that.  So I thought it would be cool for a pop-rock guy to work with somebody that was in country.

But in addition to that, I’ve never really thought of myself as a singer, per se.  I’ve thought of myself as a musician first and then I became a songwriter,  Now I’m kinda growing into and putting the finishing touches on calling myself a singer.  Adam Levine is probably the most like me in that sense.  He kind of does it all.  He’s a front man for a band, he writes the songs, and he’s a musician.

And he himself, I’ve heard him say in interviews, “I don’t think I’m the greatest singer in the world.  I just happened to have the best voice out of all five or six of us in Maroon 5.  So I was automatically the front guy.”  To me that was attractive to work with because that’s kinda how I feel about myself.  I became a singer almost out of necessity as a songwriter.  Now “The Voice” is really helping me find my voice and kinda putting that final puzzle piece in place.

But it turns out you did have an impact on Team Blake.  We understand he might not have RaeLynn without some help from you.

(Laughs)  Well, my day job is basically as a songwriter, so to speak.  Last summer I was connected through my publishing company with this little girl who was a singer who wanted to start writing for her own project.  So they sent her to Nashville.

I got put in a room with her and it just happened to be a few days before the Nashville “Voice” Auditions.  I had been contacted and I had secured an audition spot.  But I was still pretty skeptical because I didn’t really think of myself as a big, powerhouse vocalist.  I know there are a lot of singers out there in this world that are still undiscovered.  And I thought, “Seriously?  What am I doing?  This is such a long shot!”  So when I met her, she had this voice that, to me, was really, really, really special.

On my blog at NBC.com, I share how I told her to audition in my place.  Long story short, we both ended up getting to audition and we both ended up in L.A. a few months later and just embraced each other.

Honestly, it’s been a big lesson.  You get what you give in life.  I think you get what you give in the music business, too.  I looked at her and was seeing outside of myself in that moment.  I thought this girl was made to do something like that.  There was, honestly, a little voice in the back of my head that was like, “She might be your competition down the road!”  But I didn’t care.  It’s not about that.  There’s room for everyone.

One of the sweetest moments with your audition was the tearful reaction by your little brother.  How important is family to you and your music?

I feel like I flew to Nashville on the wings of my family.  If I were ever put in a position where I had to choose between my family and music or my family and career, I would always choose my family.  They have done nothing but liberate me and send me on my way and told me at 18-years-old, “We’re gonna miss you, but that’s where you belong is in Nashville.”

I also think that you don’t really know somebody until you know some people in their family, too.  So to have my mom and brother on the show, even if it was just for a minute or two, I feel that helped the world see a bigger picture of who I am.  They’re such a big part of my life and such a big part of my support system.

My 10-year-old brother, Cooper, is probably the biggest star of the family, whether he knows it yet or not. (Laughs)  He’s almost like an icon of my time in Nashville.  I call him my “bonus brother” because my parents had him by surprise when I was a senior in high school.  He was in diapers when I moved to Nashville and I was always that cool, unique older sibling that is 17 years older than him.  I come home from Nashville every few months with all these cool stories and everyone’s asking me what’s going on with my music journey.

Over times he’s become my biggest fan.  Honestly, when I look at him, he’s almost like this visual kind of map of how long I’ve been in Nashville.  Now look at hm.  He’s 10-years-old.  His lifespan is basically how long I’ve been here working on music.

How is it that a girl from Sterling, Kansas, not known as a hot-bed for classical music, takes up classical piano?

(Laughs) When I was four years old I had a babysitter that gave piano lessons after school to kids who were, at the time, older than me:  they were fourth and fifth grade.  I would just sit there on the floor  and I would just watch her give them piano lessons.  After she was done and they all left the room I would go and sit down and mess around trying to mimic what they were doing.

She said she wouldn’t start giving me lessons until I could read.  But my mom was like, “That’s totally fine.  Whenever you think she’s ready.”  But she started unofficially giving me lessons really early and I just excelled at it.  I wasn’t one of those people whose parents had to tell them to practice.  In fact, they had to pull me from the piano because I was playing for so long and they wanted some peace and quiet in the house.  (Laughs)

I’ve loved music my whole life and I’ve embraced whatever opportunity has been put in front of me.  When you grow up in a little town of two thousand people in the middle of Kansas, it’s not like there’s a whole bunch of people who want to start a band with you.  And there’s not a lot of opportunities to do commercial music.

Classical was awesome!  I learned a lot about discipline and hard work and doing things not for the accolades.  It’s not really cool, to say, “Oh, yeah, I did this piano competition this weekend.”  That’s not going to get you a bunch of attention normally in a small town.  At a certain point I was on the basketball team in high school and I got way more attention for that than I ever did for my piano.

I think it was really good for grooming me for doing music, in the long-term.  Because if you do music for the love of it, that’s what is going to sustain you.  If you’re doing it for the attention or the accolades…Opportunities like “The Voice” or getting songs on the radio; those things are just a vapor.  They come and they go.  There’s gonna be a next season of “The Voice.”   If were doing “The Voice” to get rich and famous, that’s not really enough motivation.  You’re going to end up quitting.

My whole life I’ve been doing music for the love of it.  No matter what happens with “The Voice,” I’m going to continue to love it just as much.

Have you thought about the battle stages of the show and how you might have to step away from the piano?  Will that take you out of your comfort zone?

You know, I came on this show because I wanted to be challenged and I wanted to grow.  My motivation for doing “The Voice” was to see who I could become.  That’s a big part of it for me.

If that’s presented to me, I’ll take that challenge gladly because I want to stretch myself; I want to be pushed.  I think that’s another reason why working with Adam was such a big deal for me.  The cool thing about Adam Levine is that he’s not gonna do anything that anyone else tells him to do.  He’s going to tell you exactly what he thinks when he thinks it.

I think he’s gonna shoot me straight and if he wants to see me without a piano, I trust him and I’ll try that, for sure.  I go to shows and I don’t want to see somebody sitting there at the piano for three hours straight.  I totally get it.  I want to be as multi-faceted as possible and I want to have as many layers as I possibly can.  I want to surprise people, too.  I want to be able to grab that mic and just go on the stage.

“The Voice” will serve as your introduction to most of the world, but many are already familiar with some of your songwriting.  You wrote two songs that Lauren Alaina put on her CD (“Dirt Road Prayer” and “Growing Her Wings”).

I was just blessed to have the people at her label and also her fall in love with those songs.  There’s a song on there called “Dirt Road Prayer” and I heard that she and her parents, especially her mom, just fell in love with that song.

The funny thing about “Dirt Road Prayer” is that sometimes you’re writing songs with people in mind and sometimes you’re writing songs for yourself.  I wrote that song for no other reason than to just get some things that were on my heart out there.  I never thought in a million years that song would be recorded by anyone else, let alone somebody with as much momentum and success as Lauren.

I think it was a big lesson for me in songwriting.  Write what you feel, write what is real.

You’ve served as the Music Correspondent for Nashville Lifestyles magazine.  Are you still doing that and, if so, will you now be reporting on yourself?

(Laughs) That’s a little bit on hiatus right now.  I guess it’s on suspension for the moment.  I’m a big blogger.  I guess it’s an extension of my creativity and of my writing.  I started adding video blogs to my blog.  In 2010 I did a 365 day video blog where I would do a video every day for a year and then I wrote a little bit about it.

It was more than anything, like I said, an extension of my creativity and helped me practice the discipline of writing a little something every day beyond writing a song.  From that Stacie Standifer, who is editor of Nashville Lifestyles, kinda of happened upon it and was like, “Oh, my gosh!  I love your style and I love the way you present these everyday events in these videos.  Would you mind coming and doing some stuff for us?”  And I was like, “Absolutely!  I would love to!” because I love that magazine and I love Nashville.  It’s another way for me to be involved in Music City.

It’s only been a few days since we found out you’re on “The Voice,” but you’re now probably getting tons of attention (including this interview).  Are you enjoying the ride?

I’m a big dreamer, but I’m also 27-years-old.  I’ve been a songwriter in the business end of things long enough to understand the ebb and flow of it all and how everything comes and goes and everything has its time.

I know that this is so special so I’m soaking up every second of it and not taking any of it for granted and really soaking up all of the relationships.  All of the other artists that are on the show – I could sit here and talk with you for hours and hours about how much I love all these other people that I’m getting to spend time with.

But I also know that it’s a TV show.  And it’s gonna help me change who I am a little bit.  It’s gonna help me figure out who I am and then it’s gonna send me out into the world again at a certain point.  At that point it prepares me with all of these tools to go make more music and to make better music and to better reach the people who want to hear my music.

I didn’t get into music because I wanted to sing, as much as I wanted to say something.  I wanted to write.  This is another vehicle for me to be heard and to get my songs out there.  And it the process really stretch myself and really find my voice.  I’m not lying when I’m saying I still have a lot of doubts as to whether I can cut it as a singer.  And this show, just the blind audition process alone, made me feel like a brand new person.  That’s priceless to me.

Where do you hope this journey on “The Voice” takes you?

I think on a personal level, I just want to see how much I can stretch myself.  You said, “What are you gonna do if they if they take the piano away from you?”  I hope that happens!  I hope things come out of this show that stretch me and makes me do things I would never had the opportunity to do otherwise.  I really want to be heard.  I really want to reach people and let people become invested in my music.

Beyond that I want to introduce to people this idea of a girl sitting at a piano and singing songs about middle America and do it in an educated, sophisticated and charming way.  That’s the kind of music that I like.

I remember when the Dixie Chicks first came out and they presented country music, to me, in my eyes, in such a unique way that hadn’t been done before.  I remember looking at them playing those instruments that maybe girls really hadn’t played in country music so much.  I remember thinking, “Oh!  Maybe I can do this!”  And at that point in my life I had never even sung in front of anybody.  I was just a piano player.

I hope that maybe just by me sitting up at that piano on “The Voice” in my blind audition, some girls are like, “I can do that!” or “I want to learn to play the piano!’ or “I can see her doing this on the CMA Awards.”  If I can start to plant that idea in some people’s heads, then what a win – no matter what happens on the show.

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