Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 5 of The Voice begins Monday night at 8 p.m. on NBC. Check back for live blogs during each show and for bios of contestants who land a spot in the competition.

Meanwhile, it’s time to catch up with some familiar faces from past seasons, with the focus on those who have released music recently. Gracia Harrison, of Virden, Ill., was 18 when she auditioned for Season 3 of The Voice.

Before The Voice: Gracia was working two jobs, one at a retail store and one at a fitness center. “I’m grateful to have two jobs,” she told The Voice. “I know jobs are hard to find in this economy. But it would definitely be nice to work on music.” She auditioned for American Idol and for Season 2 of The Voice before landing a spot in Season 3.

On The Voice: Gracia became the first Voice contestant to yodel during her audition, something she did while singing “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.” She would have landed a spot on the show anyway; in fact, two judges turned their chairs before she started yodeling. Adam Levine called her “the best country voice we’ve heard on the show,” but she went with Team Blake. She wound up advancing to the knockout round before losing to fellow country singer Liz Davis.

Since The Voice: Gracia released her first single, “Table 32,” in mid-June and spent much of the summer touring and raising money to fund her debut album. She has now launched a kickstarter campaign to help finance the project, hoping to raise $7,500 by Sept. 29. Tunes slated for the album include “Jack Daniels,” “Tail Lights to Me Now” and “This Town is That Small.” Listen to “Jack Daniels” here and check out “Table 32” below. As for the touring, Gracia says in her kickstarter video that she got to open for Trace Adkins over the summer. Just last week, she opened for Lee Brice at a show in Illinois. “Holy Moly you came to party tonight,” she wrote on Facebook after that show. “I was able to rock out on stage, meet so many new people and truly live a dream opening for Lee Brice. It’s gonna be hard to top that one.”

Keeping up with Gracia: On Twitter, she is @gracia_harrison. And here are links to her website and Facebook page.

Gracia Harrison, “Table 32”