Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Members of The Joy Reunion — Neil Morrison, Gentry Monreal and Robert Easley — listen to feedback from the coaches on The Voice Season 21. (NBC Photo)

Among them is The Joy Reunion, the singer-songwriter trio of Robert Easley, Gentry Monreal and Neil Morrison.

They say the trio’s name stems from the fact that they rediscovered their joy for music when they formed the group in 2017.

Their superb harmonies made them a hit on The Voice. Blake Shelton turned midway through their performance of Little Big Town’s “Boondocks.” John Legend turned shortly after.

Here’s what the members of the Redlands, Calif.-based group told Voice Views about their blind audition experience.

Voice Views: How did you wind up auditioning for Season 21 of The Voice?

Rob: Crazy story actually! I was leaving work one day and got a email notification on my phone from The Voice casting department. At first I thought it was spam, but I still shared it with Neil and Gentry. The email asked if The Joy Reunion would be interested in being apart of Season 21 of The voice. They stated that they found us through a hashtag on one of our Instagram videos and felt like we would be a great fit for the new season.

We decided to follow through with responding to the email and good thing we did! Turns out it was all legit! We went through many zoom interviews and sent in videos of us singing different songs. When we finally got the call back saying that we had been selected for a “blind audition” we were in shock! Such an honor to be apart of this amazing show and I’m so glad I didn’t put the email in the spam folder!

Voice Views: Why did you perform “Boondocks” for your audition song? Is it one Joy Reunion has performed often?

Gentry: We don’t do many covers so we knew we were in for a challenge as we looked at the list of songs to choose from for the audition. We listened to so many! When I saw “Boondocks” on there, I was like “why haven’t we covered this song yet?” It’s very fitting for us vocally and feel wise.

The three of us each came together with our top picks from the list and Boondocks was my #1. As soon as we ran it through together, that was it. We were all on board. That was our song. We feel really fortunate too that The Voice band let us have the freedom to arrange our 90-second version for our audition. “Boondocks” will forever be a really special song to us.

See also
More about The Joy Reunion and the music they’ve already released

Voice Views: How would you describe that blind audition experience?

Neil: The blind audition is one of the most intense, high-pressure, emotional and thrilling experiences of our lives! It’s this cocktail of nerves, anxiety, adrenaline and elation. We’ve been at the music game for quite some time, and we have all played really big gigs, to big crowds and we really don’t get nervous — but this was entirely different.

It’s the buildup — the weeks of preparation, of rehearsing, vocal lessons, staging and choreography lessons and wardrobe fittings, all for 90 seconds of music. Kind of like a bull rider who’s been training their whole like to ride the bull for just 8 seconds! And then the day of the blind audition, you’re running around doing make-up and wardrobe touches, vocal warm-ups, and last-minute filming; and then finally you’re right behind the door to the stage. You can feel the energy of the audience, you hear over the intercom “60 seconds” and this big count down in your head starts to go. It feels like you’re sitting on a rocket about to take off.

The doors open, and you see the famous coach chairs with their backs to the stage. You see the back of Blake’s head, you see Kelly’s sleeve and the room is completely quiet. I remember just saying to myself, don’t trip on the stairs walking up to the stage, “DON’T TRIP!” You find your mark on stage and it’s still silent in the room, and then the band kicks in and you blast off! Then you immediately get this rush of adrenaline, and you feel it pumping through your entire body. It’s so strong, you really have to control it because it can come out in your voice and in your hands.

So we blasted off and time then stood still and also sped up at the same time — kind of like when you’re in a car accident and it feels like it happened so fast, but at the same time you can relive every second of it in slow motion. I remember being 20 or 30 seconds into the song and no one had turned yet. I was thinking, “Oh man, what do we do? What do we do now to change their minds?” It felt like an eternity before Blake first turned and then John right after.

As soon as they turned, it was the biggest release of pressure. All of the buildup, all of the 20 years of trying to make it in the industry, we were finally accepted. When Blake turns during our audition on the show, the camera goes right to my face and you can see my acknowledgment of Blake’s chair turn and the release of all that pressure. It was by far the most intense and beautiful experience of our lives, and we’re ready to feel that rush again, because it’s our favorite thing to do!

Voice Views: And why did you decide to join Team Blake? How did that process work as a trio? Did you all agree? Had you discussed preferences pre-audition?

Gentry: Honestly, while we knew that any coach turning their chair to bet on us would be an honor, we agreed (which we don’t always do;) that either Blake and Kelly would align best with what we do. We went in with that mindset.
I think what shocked us the most was John turning for us and the things he had to say following our audition. He made it really hard to stick to our original plan. We still feel very honored by the feedback he had for us. At the end of the day, Blake is a King in country music and we’re so happy to be working with him.