February 25, 2014 
Picture Credit: Tyler Folden/NBC
As judge Adam Levine said when commenting on Bria Kelly’s performance Monday night: “O! M! G!
Because, truth be told, I have never heard anyone quite like this young lady.
The very fact that she can squeeze the juice out of a blues song and personify the angst and passion that accompanies this genre is strong testament to this young lady’s enormous, God-given talent.
And she exudes confidence and professionalism that defies her young age. Where does this come from? I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears when I heard her.
And then, just like that, I was saddened to think that American Idol missed an opportunity with this young lady. I am not sure of she ever auditioned for Idol, but, even so…
This is singular talent – the kind that gets viewers excited from the beginning of the season. And gets them to tune in week after week.
As Usher said after he heard her prolific performance of “Steamroller Blues”: “Ladies and Gentleman, we present The Voice“.
Indeed!
Bria has separated herself from the rest of the pack early on in this competition and she is in it for the long haul.
What a little spitfire! I love her to pieces! And beneath all that rasp and grit in her voice is a strong technical foundation – circular mouth, diaphragmatic breathing, relaxed jaw – the works!
In the end, Usher craftily snagged her for his Team, much to the chagrin of Adam, Blake and Shakira!
It was a wonderful evening of performances and all the singers were excellent. But Bria – she is a force!
What do you think everyone? Have a listen and then comment away.
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I am excited for The Voice this year! I’m also excited for Usher to win this thing with her and curious to see how he handles her journey.
PS. Take notes Idol, no one on your show this season compares.
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👍👍👍 to Janey!
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I think if Bria auditioned for Idol she would have been cut in Hollywood. The PTB are clueless as to exactly what talent is.
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Unfortunately, Aubry, based on what I have seen so far, I have to agree with you. Same old cookie cutter singers. I was expecting more. The AI judges are excellent but their hands are tied I feel. The selection of singers is out of their control.
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As I was lounging and watching the Voice last night, I thought how nice it would be to have Harry and Keith on that panel too!!! Two lovely men on each side of the sweet and beautiful Shakira!!!
The talent last night was phenomenal…I liked Bria, but I really liked Dawn and Hawkes!
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Yes Vonnie! I think I have to go to iTunes and buy their song.
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Wow, I’m pleasantly surprised to hear praise for a Blues singer. Welcome to the dark side! Bria has the magic combination that I watch for on these shows which is someone who is influenced and guided on their musical journey by an older relative, usually their father, but not necessarily so. They always seem to have an old soul to use a trite expression. Allison Iraheta sang with her Uncle’s band. Siobhan Magnus followed her Father as well as other older relatives into rock and roll. Haley Reinhart followed both her Mom and Dad down the Chicago Blues Rock path. But none of these girl’s were just followers. Miranda Lambert did much the same thing when she competed on Nashville Star. Her Dad was her musical influence and her Mom pushed her. The final ingredient is that they all brought something of their own to the table and infused it into the family tree. That’s the stuff of all of my favorites from any of these type shows.
She had a lot of fun with James Taylor’s Blues classic, “Steamroller Blues” just like he does when he performs it. The crowd reaction for Bria is about what JT gets when he does it. It’ a good thing they only have 90 seconds or she would have gotten herself in trouble with the lyrics. I’m a little concern with her choice of Usher as coach though. I’m not sure there really is a good coach for a young blues singer on this panel. It’s not the same as R&B so I hope she has enough of a root to find her own direction. Blake would have turned her back into a country singer. I probably would have chosen Adam because he is on the Rock edge of Pop and several of his statements make me think his heart is more on the rock side. Rock and Roll actually has more in common with the Blues than R&B, IMHO. I’m curious to see what type of Blues she is interested in.
Aubry is exactly right about what Idol would have done with Bria. She would have been featured during auditions and cut in Hollywood.
Vonnie, I liked the duo as well. I didn’t think they really utilized the full capabilities of a duo though. They were sort of like two solo singers taking turns on the lead as I remember them. Even though they did a Beatle’s song their sound was reminiscent of Simon and Garfunkel to me. (BTW, I saw Vince Gill and Amy Grant’s first concert of their first ever concert tour together on the 13th of this month. They worked well together for three full hours. Good stuff.)
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My bad. I watched Dawn and Hawkes again and they did harmonize more than I remembered.
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Gene,
This is for you!!! 🙂
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Ha ha, thank Vonnie! Haley hadn’t sold me at that though. Her “Rolling in the Deep” at the time it was #1 and her Zeppelin cover with her dad playing guitar and her duet of “Moanin” with Casey were probably my favorite performances from her.
BTW, if you haven’t checked out a website called “Stageit” I recommend that you look in to it. Briefly, young starving artist (several Idol alum including Haley and Casey performing together) as well as more established artist (Bonnie Raitt, Sara Barillas etc.) Perform in a venue of their choice, maybe their living room, the studio, on stage etc. and for a very small few you can watch it live and communicate with the artist and even give them a tip if you like. The cool thing is that you can watch all of it for free on You Tube later.
Here’s a sample, back at cha.
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Definitely enjoying The Voice much more than Idol!!!
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i watched both episodes of the voice tonight. when i finished i realized how happy i was. this show, at this stage of the game, is great.
what i also realized is, how good it felt to have older people sing…and doing a really great job at it.
what i also realize is how much fun it is to have ‘audience participation’ by checking in at itunes to see how people are doing. i note that no one from tonight is on ‘the boards’ yet, but yesterday at this time there were three or four.
i also like listening to the samples to hear how they sound ‘audio only’.
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i enjoyed the duo too and noted that they were ‘charting on itunes’ yesterday and continue to. i watched (and FF a lot through) this past season of xfactor. there was a duo there that i totally enjoyed. i enjoyed them through the season, a LOT, so i’m a bit thinking they are better than the two on the voice.
at first xfactor wasn’t on itunes and then they started. i was amazed but it looked like everyone else enjoyed the duo too, so many of their songs would chart. in the end they won. i was thrilled. i do think i will buy their cd. here they sing my favorite song. you go through a quick blurb of intro, then the song, then a bit more of ‘the show’, i guess the judges, which i didn’t listen to:
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The duo and the good ole boy were the only one in the top 200 of the pop chart. Bria was at the top of the Blues chart, but you have to realize that she probably displaced Etta James, Muddy Waters or The King of the Blues, BB King who I got to see again last month performing for about 1200 people at 88 years old. it looks like the original artist are getting more mileage out of The Voice performance at this point than the contestants. I noticed Keith Whitley who wrote and recorded “Don’t Close Your Eyes” that the good ole boy sang below 100 on the pop chart and he’s been dead for probably 20 years.
An interesting young husband and wife duo to check out goes by the name “Johnny Swim” but their actual names are Amanda and Abner. Good songwriting and harmonies. Both are pretty strong singers.
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Amanda Sudano of Amanda and Abner, AKA “Johnnyswim” is the daughter of composer Bruce Sudano and the late Donna Summer, but doesn’t sing in the same style as her mother.
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Wowza Gene…loved the scatting in that song! Haley is magic isn’t she…I like her and Casey together! Why aren’t they on the voice????????
I will go check out some of these duo’s you and hunter have posted!!!
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Yeah, it’s pretty good stuff. I would like to see Haley and Casey put together a touring act. There is a trend around the country of smaller performance venues springing up in what used to be warehouse. You see younger acts who are just beginning to reach a national audience as well as older established artist who no longer (or never did) do the big arena type shows. 3rd and Lindsly that they feature on “Nashville” is one such place. Between the three here in town I have seen “Grace Potter and the Nocturnals” BB King, Delbert McClinton, Shelby Lynne, and even our own Kellie Pickler (winner of the coveted mirror ball trophy!) That type of circuit would be great for them to hone their chops and stay active in the business.
The downside of getting signed with a label is that some labels use it as a tool to stifle the competition for their established cash cows so young performers waste their productive life away not doing anything to receive a small check from the record company. Sounds a lot like our government actually. I think Haley is caught in that trap.
If you hunt around on You Tube you can find the rest of Haley and Casey’s show as one uninterrupted video. Same is true of the other Stageit shows. There are some free- view videos on their site as well.
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Thanks Gene, will check it out! These Warehouse venues sounds like it would attract an urban crowd as well as serious music enthusiasts who does not necessarily want the stadium concert! I think this is what Taylor Kicks was in search of too!!! I would love to see one or two of these crop up in our area!
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You’ve summed it up pretty well Vonnie. The mix of the crowd differs with the particular entertainer. Older than I expected, even for Grace Potter and Kellie Pickler. Pretty much hard core fans for all of these shows. You have to buy a ticket in advance, just like an arena or concert hall show, but the prices are very reasonable. 25 bucks for Grace Potter whose songs have been covered (with varying degrees of success) probably eight times so far this AI season.$10 for Pickler. BB was a whole lot more. We are going to see Dianne Birch who is a singer songwriter who reminds me of Laura Nero and Carol King with a touch of Joni Mitchell thrown in.
It looks to be an excellent business model for the owners, the performers and the fans. How can you beat that? One man’s urban blight is another’s opportunity. These old brick and steel or heavy timber buildings have a lot of character and the acoustics are very good as well. You could be the new owner of the one in your town???
Seating is limited to an area around the perimeter that is like a balcony, with the rest standing room. When I saw Delbert a few days before Christmas, I found myself standing right at the front of the stage. He was maybe 5 feet away. It had been 33 years since I saw him last and it could not have been better. There was quite a comradary in the mosh pit. Nice folks.
Taylor opened a restaurant / bar that was set up for live music. He performed there when he was in town. The last time I drove by there it appeared to have failed.
Dianne Birch at Daryl’s House:
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