Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Taylor Phelan, 25, of Sherman, Texas, auditioned with The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather.” His unique delivery prompted Adam Levine to turn his chair early in the performance. Before long, he was followed by Blake Shelton, Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani in rapid succession. Pharrell complimented Taylor on being “melodically meticulate.” And despite voicing a pre-audition preference for Adam, Taylor opted to join Team Pharrell.

His background: He started performing at age 16 in his church youth group, then formed an indie-rock band called The Canes in 2011. He says the band enjoyed a lot of success in a short period of time; then his daughter was born in March 2013. “I decided I couldn’t be in the band and be the kind of father I wanted to be, so we had to hang it up.” He and his wife started an event design business that has done well. Now Taylor and his wife Nikki have decided it’s time for Taylor to give music another chance.

What the show didn’t show: The Canes were a Chicago-based band and released a six-track EP, “Cupid and the Atomic Bomb,” in 2012. You can check out a couple of tracks below and more of their music on this YouTube channel. You’ll also find a 16-minute band documentary there. In his Voice video interview, he says he moved to Chicago to take a staff position at a church. “I went from being potentially a Christian artist to a singer-songwriter to playing in a secular indie-rock band, touring the country and having a really good time doing that. Everyone of those stages have shaped who I am as an artist.” Oh, and that family design business: It’s called “Blooming House Collective” and you can head here to learn more.

On iTunes: “Sweater Weather,” his audition song, and that six-track EP with the Canes.

Keeping up with Taylor:
Twitter: @taylorphelan
Facebook
YouTube

“Cupid” with The Canes

“Misunderstood” with The Canes

“Hometown Glory”