Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Dustin Christensen, 35, of Orem, Utah, auditioned with Rod Stewart’s “Downtown Train.” Three coaches turned around as soon as he hit the chorus. The lone holdout, Pharrell Williams, quickly followed. Blake Shelton said he heard some Neil Diamond in Dustin’s voice. He also had dozens of audience members hold up cut-outs of his face to help sway Dustin’s decision. Dustin decided to join Team Blake.

His background: Dustin says music has always been his passion. His teachers would complain that he had trouble paying attention in school; Dustin says it’s because he was thinking about music and writing songs in his head. He also described himself as an awkward kid, partly because of vision problems that resulted in him wearing a patch at times. He says he had a rock band in high school and got to play at the 2002 Olympics for thousands of people. “You just think, this is it,” he says. “That wasn’t the case.” He went to college, majored in finance, obtained an MBA and considered a desk job. “But everything inside me said, ‘You have to do music.’ Today, he makes his living through music, doing a lot of studio work to supplement his income.

What the show didn’t show: During a conference call with the media, Dustin described his music as a melting pot of sounds. He said he grew up listening to ’80s rock with his sisters and brothers. Meanwhile, his dad was listening to George Jones and Willie Nelson.

The band Dustin was a member of was called Jerrytown, and he was the lead singer. That band released an album in 2002 (“Way Out Waiting”) and an EP in 2006 (“Love and Sirens”). Dustin has since released a solo album called “Highway Lines.” Be sure to check it out; he sounds superb. Standout tracks include “Carolina,” “Even Now,” “Old House” and “Where Does the Time Go?”

“When I had that band it was more alternative rock,” Dustin said. “And the stuff I do now as a solo artist is more in the (Bruce) Springsteen world with some Americana and country in there.

“I think that’s always why I wanted to song write so much. Just because some days I’ll wake up and want to write an ’80s rock tune, and some days I wake up and want to write an old country tune.”

On the show, we saw Dustin talked about possibly having Adam as a coach, but Dustin said “I was always kind of leaning toward Blake.” He added that he was just hoping one coach’s chair would turn and changed his mind about who he would select after each coach talked.

“And then Blake was the last person to speak and, you know, after all that with the faces and all that stuff (see the clip below), I just felt like I should go with Blake.”

For links to profiles on other Season 9 contestants, head here. I’ll be posting blogs on the eight singers featured Monday night this week.

On iTunes: Jerrytown’s music is there. So is Dustin’s 12-track solo album from 2011, “Highway Lines.”

Update:
Battle round: Lost to Barrett Baber, singing “Walking in Memphis.” But 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: He performed “Free” by the Zac Brown Band, but lost to Keith Semple.

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Twitter: @Dustinonline

If I Know Anything (from Highway Lines)

One Step Up (cover)

Fix Me Up (from Highway Lines)

Blind audition — “Downtown Train”