Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Morgan Wallen, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., sang “Collide” for his blind audition on The Voice. He immediately displayed a nice rasp to his voice, prompting Shakira to turn around in a heartbeat. She was joined by Usher midway through the performance. Usher complimented Morgan on his unique vocals. And Morgan joined Team Usher.

His background: Morgan says he started singing at age 3 when his mom “threw me up on stage in church.” At age 8, he entered a vocal competition and says he was offered a record deal. But his family turned it down because they wanted him to lead a normal childhood. That childhood involved playing lots of baseball, and he had aspirations of a college scholarship until an arm injury sidelined those dreams. So he turned back to singing. He describes himself as a normal small-town kid who doesn’t have a clue how to get into the music business other than The Voice. At the time of his audition he was working as a landscaper.

On choosing Usher: “I saw the way he coaches people,” Morgan says in his Voice video. “He expects a lot out of you. That’s what I like. Coming from a baseball background, I always like the coaches who would get in my ear and set the bar higher. I perform better that way.”

What the show didn’t show: Morgan says he considers himself relatively new to singing by Voice standards. He’s never had a vocal lesson and stepped away from singing to focus on baseball for a long time. More recently, he says, he’s been performing as part of his church’s praise team, not on his own. As a result, “to see those two chairs turn around was a huge confidence booster for me.” It was his mother who encouraged him to try out for the show, signing him up for the open call auditions in St. Louis. Depending on how things go on the show, Morgan told The Daily Beacon in Knoxville that he might return home, put a band together and start playing around the area.

On iTunes: Just his audition song.

Update: He defeated the Brothers Walker in the first battle round; they sang “Hey Brother.” Morgan lost his next battle round match to Stevie Jo; they sang “The Story of My Life.” But he was stolen by Adam Levine.

Keeping up with Morgan:
Twitter: @MorganCWallen
Facebook
YouTube

Editor’s Note: For links to profiles of all the Season 6 artists on The Voice, go here. And check back for live blogging during every episode of Season 6.

“Let Her Go” (Passenger cover)

“Landslide” (Fleetwood Mac cover)