Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Their audition: The Bundys — Megan, Ryan and Katey — of Nashville, Tenn., auditioned with “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls and earned quick chair turns from Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson. The Bundys opted to join Team Kelly. In the process, they made Voice history, becoming the first trio ever to compete on The Voice.

More about the Bundys …

* They grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and were raised on music, including that of John Denver, Dolly Parton and Simon and Garfunkel, according to the group’s website bio.

* All three siblings started writing music based on their own musical tastes, and they didn’t become a group until after Megan moved to Nashville to pursue a career in country music.

* She was working on an EP in 2010 when she asked Katey and Ryan to help with harmonies. “It was then that we officially became The Bundys,” the website says.

* The Voice will mark their second attempt at a televised singing show. They auditioned for The X Factor back in 2013, but their time with the show was short-lived. In a 2015 interview, Megan referred to the experience as “exhausting and emotionally draining,” but also “a great motivator.”

* With the help of a Kickstarter campaign and producer Justin Tocket, The Bundys traveled to Louisiana to record their first major project, a 12-song album called “Louisiana Avenue” that was released in 2015.

* They followed that up with five-song EP, “Before I Go,” in 2017. Check out the music video for one of those songs, “Fine and Dandy,” below. On Facebook, The Bundys call it “one of the favorite songs we’ve ever written.” “King” from the same EP has attracted more than 300,000 streams on Facebook.

* The Bundys performed at the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Dinner in 2017 to honor Dewayne Blackwell. They sang his song, “Mr. Blue.” In 2016, they opened for LeAnn Rimes on her 11-city “Today is Christmas” tour in 2016.

* Katey told Voice Views that The Voice has always been one of their favorite shows. “We love the platform they give their artists. It’s genuinely about the music and so often today in entertainment, it’s not about that anymore. We always said we would love to audition, but they never allowed trios…until this year! We heard from a producer that they were accepting trios and we knew we had to audition.”

* As for singing “Closer to Fine” for their blind audition, Megan said “we’ve always loved the song because of the harmonies. We felt like it was a perfect representation of our style of singer-songwriter/ Americana music. The more we worked with the song, the more we realized how timeless the lyrics are. It’s about finding yourself, being different and being proud of who you are. We felt like this was perfect for us in a competition where we certainly are different!”

* Katey is married and lives in Chicago; Ryan and Megan are Nashville based. “As a band, long-distance really is tough but we’ve been making it work for over two years now,” Ryan told View Views. “We often like to meet in the middle and go to places like Cincinnati, where our family still lives. We’ll spend hours in our parents living room writing new music or practicing. If we’re booking shows we try to make sure the gig is somewhat equidistant between both Nashville and Chicago. And more times than not Megan and I will head up to Chicago or Katey will come down to Nashville to practice or play shows.”

* As for selecting Team Kelly? “Our family has loved Kelly Clarkson for years,” Katey said. “I was even Kelly for Halloween when I was young! We love Blake and it was a really tough decision, but Kelly brought up a few of our favorite artists and seemed really excited about working with our harmonies. We knew then she was the coach for us.”

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