I never would have thought I would be able to learn as much as I did from Blake Shelton, so I want to open up the doors to working with people that might not make sense on paper, collaborating with different artists like that, because you can never stop learning. That's the most important thing.

There are so many ways to get involved with 'The Voice.' There is the open call, which tons of people are from. Of the people that you saw that made it past the Blinds, the majority are from open call auditions. They went through every round before you see the Blinds. But weirdly enough, I received a phone call.

I don't have the biggest range on Earth, obviously, and I feel like people give me a lot of flak for that, but I don't really claim to have a big range.

I think Dido's really cool. I feel like she kinda tapped in - back in the late '90s and early 2000s - she tapped into the ''90s-does-'70s' vibe.

I got hooked into folk music by accident, because that's what white college kids liked when I was a child.

My children have a world of opportunities that were not available to me. My kids have no idea about going without - there's no desire or need they have that hasn't been fulfilled, which is a blessing.

I try to live my life in a holistic way, show that all of it intersects because I'm coming from the same place. Now, at the core of it, I'm just trying to connect and be there, so I'm trying to be there for my family, my wife, my kids, my friends.

I'm a fairly ordinary person - a lifelong reader, a former software engineer, and former math teacher. I come from a wonderful family of teachers, musicians, librarians, and engineers. I think I surprised them as well as my friends and coworkers when I took up writing as a hobby and let it take over my life!