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. Allison Steel and daughter Krystal, of Nashville, were 44 and 23, respectively, when they auditioned for Season 3 of The Voice as the 2Steel Girls.

Before The Voice: Krystal began singing in church at age 12, but it wasn’t until April 2011 that she and her mother formed 2Steel Girls as a duet. And this isn’t just a mother-daughter endeavor. Allison’s husband, Todd, plays the drum and her son Aaron plays guitar. The band released a pre-Voice single called “Chasing You,” which is now available as a free download on the 2Steel Girls website.

On The Voice: Allison and Krystal became the first mother-daughter duo to audition on the show and earned a spot on Team Blake after belting out Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.” After the audition, they said they were actually hoping to land a spot on Team Christina. They met the same fate as every other duo to audition on The Voice prior to Season 4; they were eliminated in the battle round after squaring off against fellow country singer Gracia Harrison and performing “Sin Wagon.”

Since The Voice: The mother-daughter duo have been busy, releasing their first single, “Train Wreck,” in May, participating in their first CMA Fest this summer, then releasing their first EP, also called “Train Wreck,” in early August. That EP includes the single and five other tunes, all of which you can listen to on their website. “Everything we’ve done is through hard work,” Krystal says in a video they recently posted to YouTube featuring their inspirational song “Forward.” “We have failed a lot. But don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t accomplish what your dreams are.” Oh, and they’re already encouraging fans to keep their eyes peeled for two of their buddies — brothers named Sam and Luke — who auditioned for Season 5 of The Voice.

Keeping up with 2Steel Girls: Head to their website to listen to all the new music. Here’s a link to their Facebook page. On Twitter, they are simply @2SteelGirls.

2Steel Girls, “Train Wreck”