Meet Barrett Baber of The Voice Season 9

The Voice

September 28, 2015 By Mark Franklin 0

His audition: Barrett Baber, 35, of Fayetteville, Ark., auditioned with “Angel Eyes” by the Jeff Healey Band. His performance prompted early chair turns from Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams wound up turning as well, helping Barrett close the Season 9 premiere with a four-chair turn. Barrett opted to join Team Blake.

His background: Barrett says his family was always involved in missionary work and moved to South Africa when he was 9. The music there was unlike anything he had heard and helped teach him “the power of music,” he says. At 13, the family moved back to the U.S. Barrett sang in a choir and earned a vocal scholarship. In 1999, his college choir got an opportunity to travel to Germany to perform. On the return trip, his plane crashed in Little Rock; 11 people died, including a couple of members of the choir. These days, Barrett teaches drama and speech in high school, but would still like to make a career of music. “I want people to see you can overcome immense tragedy in your life and still do something great,” he says.

What the show didn’t show: Barrett’s father was a preacher and he grew up singing in a church in East Arkansas. And he might be a high school teacher today, but he’s found time to make lots of original music. Since 2012, he’s released a pair of albums, a couple of singles and an EP. The latter just came out in May. You can check out three of his originals from those releases below. Also make sure to check out “Something ‘Bout the Summertime” and “Tipsy on Wine,” two other excellent tracks from the EP.

In a conference call with the media, Barrett said he was overcome and humbled by the reaction to his blind audition. His cover of “Angel Eyes” turned out to be the second most popular on iTunes among the eight songs made available for download from that show. “It’s amazing to think that only a few hours ago, I was just a guy and a guy who sings some songs every now and then, and now I’m a guy that people know,” he said the day after that audition aired.

As for selecting a coach, Barrett said he went into the blind audition figuring he’d pick Blake if that option presented itself, but then was nearly swayed by Adam’s passionate pitch. Then Blake started talking about country music. “The kind of music that I want to make is right in his world,” Barrett said. “I thought, ‘Man, I’m trying to get better.’ That’s my entire goal for this process … just to be better at making music and writing songs. And when he (Blake) said those things, I thought, ‘Yes, that’s it.'”

For links to more bios of Season 9 artists on The Voice, head here.

On iTunes: One of the most prolific contestants in terms of already releasing music, Barrett’s music on iTunes include the 11-track album “Colt Square Sessions” from 2012, an 11-track album “Battlefield Us” from 2013, a pair of singles in 2014 (including “Razorback Game Day”) and a 6-track EP called “Falling Again” released in May.

Update:
Battle round: Defeated Dustin Christensen singing “Walking in Memphis.” Dustin was stolen by Adam Levine. The song hit #48 on the iTunes’s singles chart, the second best of the battle round.
Knockout round: Defeated Blind Joe, singing “Colder Weather” by the Zac Brown Band. The song hit #160 on the iTunes Top 200.
Live playoffs: He sang “I Drive Your Truck.” The song his number 17 on iTunes, third best among 24 live playoff songs. Barrett was voted into the Top 12 on Team Blake.
Top 12: He performed “Right Here Waiting for You” and was voted into the Top 11. The song hit number 11 on the iTunes Top 200 (fourth best from the night) and number 2 on the county singles chart.
Top 11: He performed a rock version of the classic country hit “Delta Dawn.” The song hit number 29 on iTunes, sixth best of the night. Barrett was voted into the Top 10.
Top 10: Barrett sang Conway Twitty’s “I’d Love to Lay You Down.” The song was the second most successful of the night on iTunes’ Top 200, hitting number three there and number one on the site’s country chart. Barrett was voted into the Top 9.
Top 9: He covered Ella Henderson’s “Ghost,” putting a country spin on a pop song. Barrett’s cover hit number nine on iTunes, eighth best from Top 9 night. But Barrett was voted into the Season 9 finale.
Top 4: He finished third in Season 9. During the performance finale, he sang “Die a Happy Man” and ht number seven on the iTunes Top 200, performed “Silent Night” and hit number 20, and performed “Rhinestone Cowboy” with Blake Shelton and hit number 18.