Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blind audition: Keith Paluso, 30, of Memphis, Tenn, performed “Way Down We Go” by Kaleo. He earned a quick chair turn from Blake Shelton. On the final note, Adam Levine turned as well, only to discover he’s been blocked by Blake. That meant Keith automatically joined Team Blake.

His background: Keith told The Voice he’s a park ranger who gets “embarrassingly excited about birds.” And as a result of his love a nature, he wound up taking his future wife on a toad survey on their first date. Keith had stepped away from music for a while after college. It was the birth of his son that inspired him to take it up again. Keith said he wants to show his son that sometimes you have to take chances in life.

On the block and Team Blake Shelton: “It’s a really great compliment,” Keith said of the block during a conference call with the media. “You only get one for the season, and that means that you like a contestant enough that not only will you turn a chair for them, but you’ll try to make sure you get that person (by using your one block.” On Blake: “Blake jumps around a lot on the show, but he is an incredibly intelligent person. I’ve been out of the game for a while, but I feel like Blake has a great ear for things and how he can change them for the better.”

What the show didn’t show:

* Keith started working for Tennessee State Parks while still in college, then spent five years as a full-time park ranger. Following the birth of his son, he became natural resource manager for City of Germantown in Memphis, overseeing 29 nearby parks and their rangers.

* Keith said he played music with his brother growing up and performed a few shows in college, but then put his guitars away to focus on his career. “I would maybe get a guitar out if I’m hanging out with friends and stuff like that, but otherwise, they were in a closet collecting dust. I really didn’t start playing again — and when I say playing again, I don’t mean playing shows; I mean like getting them out of a closet — maybe last summer. ”

* Nevertheless, back in June, Keith released his debut EP, the six-song “The Linden Ave. Sessions.” He says the EP is made up of “songs we’ve been playing for years so we can clean out the closet and get ready for new things.” “Your Day” closes the EP and is a standout track.

* As for who his music will appeal to, Keith writes this on Instagram: “If you like the sounds of old tent revivals, people that pray while handling snakes, moonshiners, and southern soul, then get ready for some good stuff!”

* Keith calls his backing band the Wind River Gospel. He classifies his music as southern soul/Americana.

* Last November, the same week he and his wife were expecting their first child, he presented himself with a challenge to write a song a day. “I’m doing this because I think creativity is a skill you can practice and get better at over time,” he says in the intro to a song called “Rich Man’s Daughter.” You can check out all five songs that challenge yielded on his YouTube channel. I’ve embedded one of those originals — “The Workshop” — below.

* Clearly, Keith is a guy with a sense of humor. He also identifies himself as “a beardtastic guitar picker and ice cream enthusiast.”

His social media links:
Instagram
Twitter: @KeithPaluso
Facebook
YouTube