Idol Chatter & Voice Views

You hear Casey tell you his last name is pronounced “music man,” and you figure it must be a gimmick.

It isn’t; it’s his real last name.

“I can’t take credit for it,” Casey Muessigmann, 22, of Preston, Iowa, says. “My parents gave it to me.”

Growing up, Casey tells The Voice he had two passions — music and wrestling.

When he went to college, he put music on the backburner to pursue a collegiate wrestling career.

But he was sidelined by a knee injury, and that pushed him back in the direction of music.

And music pushed him to audition with The Voice, where he unleashed a countrified version of “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Naturally, Blake turned around. But so did Cee Lo, saying he heard southern rock and soul as well in Casey’s performance.

Nevertheless, Casey chose Blake as his coach, saying he went on the show in hopes of “making great country music with Blake Shelton.”

What the show didn’t show: The intro to his audition would have you believe the wrestling injury put him in a funk that caused his weight to swell to 370 pounds and left his “life in a shambles.” In his Voice blog, he says that happened after he went off to college, started making bad decisions and flunked out after one semester. The injury came later, after he turned back to God and got his fitness and academics back in shape. Oh, and Casey has released an album, “Together We’ll Ride,” which is available on iTunes. It was released in August 2010. You can hear more Casey on his YouTube channel.

Editor’s Note: Check back for live blogs once the battle rounds begin on The Voice.

Casey Muessigmann sings “You” by Chris Young