Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Mikele Buck, 39, from Big Chimney, W.Va., auditioned with “She Used to Be Mine” by Brooks and Dunn. Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton turned on the last note. Blake praised Mikele’s “rough-around-the-edges” sound, but the veteran musician opted to join Team Kelly Clarkson.

His background: Mikele says he hails from a military family, so he joined the reserves when he was 19. He wound up serving in Iraq as part of a unit that cleared bombs for troops that would follow the same routes. Making life overseas tougher was the fact that he learned that he was about to become a father for the first time just as he was being deployed. A guitar helped him cope with serving in the Iraq War and music helped him re-ajust once he got back home, he told The Voice.

What the show didn’t show:

* While he now resides in Bear Grass, N.C., he’s a native of West Virginia and worked on coal barges there before entering the military.

* During high school, he played drums in rock band. It was after graduation that he bought his first guitar, started writings songs and became the focal point of his performances.

* After returning from the war in Iraq, he headed to Nashville, recorded a debut album that came out in 2005 and is available on iTunes and formed his first band in Greenville, N.C.

* He’s been Carolina-based ever since and one of his most popular songs — first released on that 2005 album — is “Sweet Carolina.” Check out a live version below.

* The Mikele Buck Band followed up with a 2015 single called “Moonlight Kiss,” then released a nine-song live album in 2017.

* Over the years, the band has opened for Jason Aldean, Jon Pardi, David Nail and Brett Eldredg, among many others.

* One of the band’s highlights was opening the Carolina Country Music Festival in Myrtle Beach in 2015, performing before Hunter Hayes and Lady Antebellum.

* Mikele classification for his genre: Country/Reddirt/Americana Music.

On social media:
Instagram
Website
Twitter: @mikelebuckband
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