Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Bryan Olesen, 49, of Lincoln, Neb., performed “Love Runs Out” by One Republic. His excellent a capella opening earned three chair turns in a heartbeat. Bryan rocked out on stage with confident, vocally impressive performance, but couldn’t budge Chance for some reason. No idea why he wouldn’t turn for that performance. It was certainly four-chair turn worthy. Reba said it was a performance she could feel without seeing anything. She called Bryan absolutely incredible. John called it the best audition the coaches have seen and said Bryan has all the tools he needs to be a superstar. Bryan’s daughter joins Jadyn him on stage and they even sing a bit together. Brian opts to join Team Legend.

Here’s more about Bryan.

* He’s a veteran guitar player and rocker, now 50, based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* He’s also part of what’s now a two-member Christian band called VOTA. John Wooten is the band’s other member and they’ve released lots of music.

* “I’ve always had this desire to use music for ministry,” Bryan says in a 2015 interview. That prompted the formation of a Christian band called Casting Pearls in the late 1990s.

* But making music a full-time gig was still a challenging proposition until Bryan got his big break, an offer to join the popular Christian group Newsboys as their lead guitarist. He also sang background vocals.

* That happened in September 2003. Bryan quit his “regular” job and almost immediately went on tour with the group. He remained with the Newsboys, traveling the country and world, until early 2006.

* Bryan then turned his full-time attention back to Casting Pearls, which soon became VOTA to avoid confusion with the Christian band Casting Crowns.

* VOTA has four albums of music available on streaming sites — “Self-Titled” (previously “Casting Pearls”) from 2005, “VOTA” from 2008, “Love Found Me” from 2013 and “Fearless” from 2016.

* VOTA used “Love Found Me” to raise awareness and funding to fight human trafficking in India and Nepal. “Fearless” was released in conjunction with Food for the Hungry to help support poverty-stricken families in Nicaragua.

* More recently, VOTA released a cover album called “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” That album is only available through the band’s website and only to individuals who sponsor a child in an impoverished village in Mexico.

* VOTA’s website describes the project this way: “We had bold ideas for this album, huge songs to tackle, ideas that weren’t anywhere near completed yet and we were right smack in the middle of the pandemic. We had the sense that God needed to show up or we were going to fail miserably. We believe He did.”

* That album includes covers of songs by Tom Petty, U2, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and more. You can check out Bryan’s version of the title track in the music video below.

* In his Voice bio segment, Bryan noted he’s coming off a divorce and is the oldest contestant on Season 25. “There a lot of life I have left and I’m here to live it,” he said.

Bryan on social media:
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