Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ashland Craft, The Swon Brothers and Ian Flanigan, all formerly of The Voice, released new country singles on Friday

Catching up on recent releases from artists fans met on The Voice.

Ian Flanigan, who placed third on Season 19, released “The Man My Mama Raised” on Friday. He wrote it with producer Jon Stone and calls it “the most personal song I’ve written to date.” It’s also going to be the title track to an album he plans to release in February. It’s the fifth single from Ian this year. He also recently dropped his cover of “Blue Christmas.”

The Swon Brothers, finalists on Season 4, have a great new song out called “Honest Mistake.” They say the release is their way of saying thanks to fans for recent sold-out shows. One is an upcoming Nov. 30 show at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red in Tishomingo, OK. In fact, that show sold out so fast, they’ve added a second. And, gotta say, it’s great to see Blake Shelton on Instagram supporting artists he met on The Voice 11 years ago! The Swon Brothers have also announced a Dec. 21 show to benefit the Salvation Army of Muskogee, OK. Emily Ann Roberts, another Voice finalist, will also perform.

Ashland Craft, a standout on Season 13, just released a single called “Right Damn Now.” As you might have guessed, it’s a rowdy good time. Ashland affectionately calls it a song for “all the line dancing, cold beer drinking, long-week workin, two steppin fools.” The single follows “Morning Person” and “Wrong Kind of Keepin’ Me Up” as Ashland’s third of 2024. And you might say she’s done pretty well since appearing on The Voice. Three songs from her 2021 debut album have more than 5 million streams on Spotify. “Make It Past Georgia” has more than 14 million.