Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Jake Hoot, 30, of Cookeville, Tenn., performed “When It Rains It Pours” by Luke Combs. Jake delivered a solid country vocal and poured on the power near the end of that performance. Kelly Clarkson turns around and begs Blake not to hit his button. Turns out he didn’t, fearful Kelly would use her block. Blake says he can tell Jake’s “the real deal.” Well, Kelly wound up landing him because no one else turned.

Here’s more about Jake.

* Jake is a country singer-songwriter, who stands 6-foot-6, which is an inch taller than Blake Shelton.

* He released his first-ever single, “Better Off Without You,” in late May. He co-wrote the song with good friend Dave Pahanish, who also produced it. You can check out a snippet of the song below.

* More music will likely be coming from Jake sometime soon. He launched a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, raising more than $9,000 toward the cost of a debut EP.

* In his Kickstarter bio, Jake says he’s been living in Cookeville for 10 years and is father to a feisty 3-year-old daughter who’s the motivation behind all his goals.

* That said, he’s done a bit of traveling, being the second of nine children born to Baptist missionaries.

* He was born in Texas, also lived in Haiti and Oklahoma, but spent most of his childhood in the Dominican Republic, according to his Facebook bio.

* His family settled in Cookeville when Jake was in his late teens and he wound up attending and playing football at Tennessee Tech University.

* It was during his college years that he began playing regular gigs at local restaurants and college bars.

* He describes his music this way: “Growing up, I was always a huge fan of classic country and rock, but having lived in the Dominican, I think there’s a little bit of an island feel to my music as well.”

* He’s had the opportunity to open for several country music notables, including Chris Lane and Jake Owen.

See also …
Jake Hoot talks about his blind audition on The Voice

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