Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Andrea Thomas, 31, of Nashville, auditioned with “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” by Allison Krauss. She was well into her performance when Blake Shelton turned around. Gwen Stefani came teasingly close to turning as well, but decided not to at the last moment, meaning country singer Andrea joined Team Blake. Blake called her voice “beautiful” and “angelic.”

Her background: Her performance was montaged, so we learned nothing about her on Monday’s show. But her Voice bio indicates that Andrea grew up in a family of gospel singers. Her grandfather, Jimmy Jones, was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. He also started a TV show on a local Christian network; Andrea sang on that show every week from age 8 to 16.

What the show didn’t show:

* She is a 2009 graduate of Belmont University with a bachelor’s degree in music business.

* As the show mentioned, she sang background for Carrie Underwood, touring with her from 2012 to 2015. During a conference call interview, she told Voice Views she’d been doing demo work for a guy who was good friends with Carrie’s band leader. She wound up auditioning to sing background vocals. And got the gig. “It was an amazing experience to work with such a high-profile artist,” Andrea says. “And I hadn’t toured at all, so I came in super green. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but it was such a cool experience.”

* As for her own music, in 2011, Andrea released a 10-track Christian pop/folk album called “Awaken My Soul.” She has a writing credit on all but two of those eight songs. “Awaken My Soul” is still available on Bandcamp.

* In 2013, she released a holiday EP called “A Christmas to Remember” that includes covers of “The Christmas Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

* She’s also dabbled in acting and played the role of Juliet in the 2015 family drama “Welcome to Inspiration.”

* You can also check out three of Andrea’s songs on her Soundcloud page. “So Stay” is especially impressive.

* Andrea is now working as a session vocalist — she’s done work with Burt Bacharach — and is lead singer for a cover band. She’s also working on a new project of original music.

* Andrea calls the music she’s working on now country-soul-pop and says she loves artists like Chris Stapleton, Adele and Bonnie Raitt.

* She says she grew up listening to pop and always tried to do pop, but couldn’t quite break free from those country roots. Heck, her middle name is Reba and she has a country-music loving grandfather who insisted on calling her Reba. “So for me, the marriage of pop and country that’s really come in the past couple of years has really made my heart full because I am now able to honor my history and my grandfather and everything he instilled in me. And also be able to combine that with pop melodies.”

* In a Facebook live chat after Monday’s show, Andrea called the blind audition “the most terrifying, nerve-wracking experience of my life, by far, no matter what I’ve done.”

* As for the fact that only one chair turned — well, Andrea didn’t mind. “I’m so excited to be on Team Blake. He’s the only one that I wanted to pick.”

Keeping up with Andrea:
Twitter: @andrearthomas
Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube

“Don’t Let Me Down” cover

“Let Me Love You” cover