Video: The Swon Brothers enjoy “one-of-a-kind feeling” winning their battle round on “The Voice”
As the Season 4 battle rounds launched Monday on “The Voice,” celebrity coach and country music superstar Blake Shelton pitted Muskogee’s The Swon Brothers against Pennsylvania bar singer Christian Porter.
The song choice for the Battle, Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” provided an immediate edge for the Swons, who aced their Blind Audition with Petty’s “American Girl.”
Zach and Colton Swon skillfully blended their voices on another of Petty’s classic rock anthem, and Shelton ultimately picked them over Porter, making the singer/guitarists the first duo in the reality show’s history to make it past the battle rounds.
The victory was a “one-of-a-kind feeling,” Colton said in a conference call Tuesday.
“Sitting there watching and seeing him contemplate on the decision, that’s one of the best and worst feelings I’ve ever felt in my life because you’re just happy to be in that situation; at the same time, you just don’t want this thing to end. You don’t want to go home as soon as you’re getting started,” Colton, 24, said.
“So then, I remember looking over at Christian, and I know he was feeling the same thing. But just in that moment right there, you just feel there’s a mixed emotion. It’s bittersweet, but luckily, we were blessed enough for Blake to go with us. And when he finally said that we’d won, it was just like someone had lifted a weight off our shoulders now. But guess what? It starts all again.”
The Swons move on the knockout rounds, which begin airing April 29. As they advance in the competition, Zach said they hope that as a do, they can bring something different to the show.
“My goal in this thing, obviously, we are not the best singers. We can’t even compare to like (Team Adam’s) Judith (Hill), Karina (Iglesias), and just the people like just wail. But I hope it’s different enough to be remembered,” Zach, 28, said.
“That’s like the main thing that I want to get out of it is, you know, I don’t want to fall through the cracks and be forgotten. And hopefully, we make a big enough difference that people will remember it.”
“The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesday on NBC.
To read more post-battle comments from The Swon Brothers, click here.
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Interview: Team Blake singers The Swon Brothers advance on “The Voice” thanks to prayer, brotherly harmony
Muskogee country-rock duo The Swon Brothers perform Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” during Monday’s battle round episode of “The Voice” Season 4.
A version of this story appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. To see video of The Swon Brothers’ battle round on “The Voice,” click here.
The Swon Brothers advance on “The Voice” thanks to prayer and brotherly harmony
On Monday’s episode, the Muskogee country-rockers Zach and Colton Swon became the first duo in the reality show’s four-season history to make it past the battle rounds.
Muskogee country-rockers Zach and Colton Swon credit plentiful prayer and brotherly harmony with helping them become the first duo in the four-season history of “The Voice” to win a battle round.
“Really, we don’t have any secrets or tips. But the main thing that we did before every battle is pray. We have relied on praying through this whole thing. And believe it or not, you know, it’s calmed our nerves. It’s got us through all the stress. And that is the God-honest truth,” Colton, 24, said in a conference call Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday’s pre-taped episode of the hit reality TV show, celebrity coach and Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton picked The Swon Brothers over Pennsylvania bar singer Christian Porter in their battle round, which pits contestants from the same team in a kind of competitive duet.
In previous seasons, “The Voice” duos often faded into the role of background vocalists in the battles, making it difficult for them to advance past the ring. The Swon siblings said their long history of performing together helped them win the nerve-racking 90-second sing-off.
“Our parents made us sing together,” Zach, 28, said with a laugh. “We’re not the best duo that’s ever been on the show, I’m sure, but I think we are just so comfortable with each other, it really helps us when it comes to high-pressure situations, you know. And I know that I could not be on that stage without him, and I wouldn’t want to.”
In 2008, Colton made it solo into the top 48 on rival reality show “American Idol,” but he prefers singing with his sibling, too.
“I would think the edge that we have definitely comes from the harmony — just the brother harmony — because some of these battles kind of get stressful … and just having the other person to lean on during this whole thing, I think that’s a big, big advantage. Because if you’re going through this alone — I can’t imagine doing this alone. It would be pretty tough without my brother,” he said.
The singer/guitarists started performing with their parents’ southern gospel group Exodus when they were youngsters. After the episode aired, they took to their Facebook page to dedicate their battle round victory to “the good Lord and Boston,” asking their fans to pray for the city where two bombs exploded Monday near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
“Hopefully, they (‘The Voice’ viewers) find out that our main goal is to build relationships with people, not just to play music for them. So at the end of the day, that’s our goal is to love on people and just build friendships and relationships. Because without that, we wouldn’t have a career as artists,” Colton said.
At the outset of their battle round, Shelton seemed to give the brothers another big advantage: He assigned the Swons and Porter to duke it out musically over the Tom Petty classic “I Won’t Back Down.” During their blind audition, Zach and Colton performed another Petty anthem, “American Girl,” and got three coaches — Shelton, Usher and Shakira — to turn their big red chairs. The brothers stuck with their fellow Oklahoman and picked Team Blake.
“I think we were initially confident just because it’s kind of our style. But then again, it kind of made us more nervous too because it’d be like somebody beating us at our own game, you know, if he would’ve won,” Zach said.
“Christian came in and absolutely nailed the song. And when that started happening, the nerves started to rise in us,” Colton added.
When the battle was over, Shelton seemed to agonize over picking the winner, telling the brothers and Porter “I don’t know that either one of you took it away from each other.”
Ultimately, the Tishomingo resident gave the victory to the duo, with the high praise, “If you guys came on the radio, I would instantly know you were the Swon Brothers. You have a very distinctive sound.”
The brothers called winning the battle a confidence booster that will allow them to continue to learn from Shelton. But the war isn’t over: The Swons move on the knockout rounds, which begin airing April 29.
“It’s tough to see people leave. But you know, the less people (that) are here, the more time you get with your coach and the more personal it gets, and I think it’s going to shine through,” Zach said. “Blake’s an Oklahoma guy and we connect. So I’m anxious to see what happens.”
“The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesday on NBC.
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Video: The Swon Brothers win their Battle Round on “The Voice”
Brotherly harmonies won the day for Muskogee’s The Swon Brothers as the Battle Rounds began tonight on “The Voice.”
Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton opted not to go for the obvious Battle Round pairing for Zach and Colton Swon, who could’ve been pitted against another sibling act, since Team Blake also boasts The Morgan Twins.
Instead, Shelton matched The Swon Brothers with bar singer Christian Porter, 21, of Stroudsburg, Penn.
The song choice for the Battle, Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” provided an immediate edge for the Swons, who aced their Blind Audition with Petty’s “American Girl.” The Swon Brothers blended their voices beautifully on another of Petty’s classic rock anthem, besting Porter to become the first duo to make it past the Battle Rounds.
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Video: Battle Rounds begin tonight on “The Voice”
The Swon Brothers
Check out this preview of the Season 4 Battle Rounds, beginning tonight on “The Voice.”
The Battle Rounds pit two artists from the same team against each other in a competitive duet.
The video features a brief glimpse of Muskogee’s Zach and Colton Swon. As previously reported, The Swon Brothers’ rendition of Tom Petty’s “American Girl” got three coaches – Usher, Shakira and Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton – to turn their chairs, and the siblings went with their fellow Okie, joining Team Blake.
“The Voice” airs from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
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ACM Awards score biggest ratings in 15 years
Oklahoma native Blake Shelton, right, congratulates his co-host for the show, Luke Bryan, after Bryan wins the award for entertainer of the year at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP)
The 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards led CBS to a Sunday night victory as the night’s top program in viewers and demographics with the event’s highest measures in viewers since 1998, in households and adults 18-49 since 2001, and in adults 25-54 since 2000, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for April 7.
According to a CBS news release, Sunday night’s broadcast also marked the first time that the ACM Awards have beaten the same season’s Country Music Awards (CMAs) in these ratings categories since the advent of people meters.
Hosted by Tishomingo resident Blake Shelton and fellow superstar Luke Bryan, the ACM Awards swept the night in households (9.2/14), viewers (15.38m), adults 25-54 (5.3/12) and adults 18-49 (4.3/11).
The show posted its best deliveries in households and adults 18-49 since 2001, in adults 25-54 since 2000 and largest audience since 1998. Compared to last year’s ceremony (on April 1), the show was up +16% in households (from 7.9/13), +26% in adults 25-54 (from 4.2/10), +39% in adults 18-49 (from 3.1/08) and added +2.29m viewers (from 13.09m, +17%), according to the release.
Compared to the CMA Awards on ABC on Nov. 1, the ACM Awards were ahead by +8% in households (from 8.5/13), +13% in both adults 25-54 (from 4.7/11) and adults 18-49 (from 3.8/10), and led by +1.70m viewers (from 13.68m, +12%).
“Wow,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of the Academy of Country Music in the release. “We knew we had a great plan to get the word out to music fans to watch, but the fact that they embraced us on this level just makes us want to reach higher next year.”
The ACM Awards also broke records online and on social media. According to BlueFin Labs today, the ACM Awards were No. 1 in this week’s Top 10 Social Shows, with 1.9 million social media comments and 619.4 million impressions – beating out the 2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament, NBA Basketball, MLB Baseball and “The Voice,” among others. The number of unique commenters about the awards telecast this year surged to 613,000+, a record high.
For perspective, in 2011 the awards garnered 157,000 social media comments, in 2012 it garnered 676,000 – and in 2013, it earned 1.9 million.
Social media mentions around this year’s show hit an all-time high, up +285% over last year, according to SocialGuide, and visits to ACM Awards content on CBS.com were up +136% over last year. In addition, more than 1.1 million votes were cast for the Entertainer of the Year and New Artist of the Year categories combined, an increase of +22% over last year’s vote.
For the night, CBS was first in households (8.4/14), viewers (13.87m), adults 25-54 (4.5/11) and adults 18-49 (3.6/10) for the sixth consecutive Sunday and the seventh time in eight weeks.
As previously reported, it was a big night both for Shelton and his wife, Miranda Lambert. Lambert won a leading four trophies, including one she shared with her husband, Sunday night.
In addition, Thompson Square, which consists of Miami, OK, native Keifer Thompson and his wife Shawna, was named vocal duo of the year during the performance-packed show, which aired live from Las Vegas.
Performers with Oklahoma ties included Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Shelton and Lambert.
To read my live blog of the ACM Awards, click here.
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Video: Meet Oklahoma’s Swon Brothers, competing on Team Blake on “The Voice”
As previously reported, The Swon Brothers of Muskogee successfully auditioned for “The Voice” on one of last week’s episode of the hit NBC reality series.
Zach and Colton Swon opened the April 1 episode performing Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” They got three of the hit reality show’s celebrity coaches to swivel their chairs: Usher, Shakira and Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton.
The Swon Brothers stuck with a fellow Okie and opted to join Team Blake, which NewsOK TV blogger Melissa Hayer reports is who they had in mind to team with in the first place.
“Seeing other coaches turn around, you think you have it all down, and you’re ready for an answer, but when you actually see interest from other people, it’s very flattering. But, you know we gotta stick to our Oklahoma roots. There was just no question about it,” Colton said in a teleconference in which Melissa participated.
“Yeah, I think our fan base that we have probably would’ve shunned us from Oklahoma if we picked anyone else,” Zach added.
The Swon Brothers praised Shelton for his down-to-earth attitude, which contrasts with his out-of-orbit TV and music career.
“I think the coolest thing about Blake so far — he’s definitely helped us in the music side of things, but just knowing that a guy that is so huge and on top of his career right now is so down to earth and so humble. The first day I met him, it just seemed like somebody I’d hang out with back at home,” Zach said.
To read more of Melissa’s Q&A with The Swon Brothers, click here.
“The Voice” continues at 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC, with the show’s famed blind auditions drawing to a close.
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Video: Muskogee’s The Swon Brothers perform “American Girl,” make Team Blake on “The Voice”
As previously reported, The Swon Brothers of Muskogee successfully auditioned for “The Voice” on Monday’s episode of the hit NBC reality series.
Zach and Colton Swon opened Monday’s episode performing Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” They got three of the hit reality show’s celebrity coaches to swivel their chairs: Usher, Shakira and Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton.
The Swon Brothers stuck with a fellow Okie and opted to join Team Blake.
Blake now has two sets of siblings on his growing team – The Swon Brothers and The Morgan Twins – which could be interesting as the Battle Rounds get started.
“The Voice” continues at 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
Check out the video of The Swon Brothers’ rendition of “American Girl” below, and look for my excellent colleague Melissa Hayer’s feature on Zach and Colton Friday in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman and on NewsOK.
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Muskogee’s The Swon Brothers choose Blake Shelton’s team on “The Voice”
The second week of blind auditions kicked off on “The Voice” tonight with a pair of voices familiar to Oklahomans: The Swon Brothers of Muskogee.
Zach and Colton Swon opened tonight’s episode performing Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” They got three of the hit reality show’s celebrity coaches to swivel their chairs: Usher, Shakira and Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton.
The Swon Brothers stuck with a fellow Okie and opted to join Team Blake.
Blake now has two sets of siblings on his growing team – The Swon Brothers and The Morgan Twins – which could be interesting as the Battle Rounds get started.
“The Voice” continues at 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
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Album review: Blake Shelton “Based on a True Story …”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Country
Blake Shelton “Based on a True Story …” (Warner Bros.)
Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton handily serves multiple masters on his seventh studio album “Based on a True Story …”
As much as it might pain his longtime fans, especially Oklahomans who have followed the Ada native’s career since the 1990s, Shelton is no longer just a likeable country boy with a big voice and even bigger personality. Still, he continues to leverage those assets with affable ease, delivering songs that will appeal to both venerable devotees and newfound fans the Tishomingo resident has gained as a coach on the smash reality TV show “The Voice.”
Despite its rushed feel, Shelton, 36, manages to equalize his expanding sonic horizons and his enduring — although recently questioned — affection for old-school country music with “Based on a True Story …,” his first album since he truly broke out as a crossover superstar.
The follow-up to his 2011 Grammy-nominated effort “Red River Blue,” which debuted just after Season 1 of “The Voice,” “Based on a True Story …” also balances his gift as a balladeer with his reputation as a swaggering smart aleck.
The album’s chart-topping first single, “Sure Be Cool if You Did,” made it clear that the laidback country singer would be exploring a more pop-infused sound. The experimentation isn’t limited to the lead-off single: Shelton’s new “Story” opens with the freewheeling hip-hop beat of “Boys ‘Round Here,” which features his wife Miranda Lambert and her Pistol Annies bandmates contributing harmony vocals and sassy catcalls.
The three-time Country Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year clearly doesn’t need AutoTune, but the high-tech trickery is used for effect on the autobiographical Southern rocker “Small Town Big Time,” which expresses his homesickness for small-town living during his Hollywood residencies for “The Voice.”
The say-anything bravado that has earned Shelton so many admirers is given full rein on the brash “I Still Got a Finger,” which is sure to draw comparisons to David Allan Coe and Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It.” He also channels his Countrypolitan hero Conway Twitty on the seductive “Lay Low,” while “Granddaddy’s Gun,” previously covered by rock/country crossover artist Aaron Lewis, has all the hallmarks of a classic country story-song.
But the ballads are the best parts of Shelton’s “Story,” particularly the weeper “Mine Would Be You” and the sultry “My Eyes.” The newlywed bliss that flowed on “Red River Blue” seeps in with the good-natured “Doin’ What She Likes” and the earnest “Ten Times Crazier.”
Shelton will bring his “Ten Times Crazier Tour” to Tulsa’s BOK Center on Oct 4. For more information, go to www.bokcenter.com.
— BAM
Video: Blake Shelton talks about his new album “Based on a True Story …”
In this video, Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton talks about naming his new album “Based on a True Story …,” which was released Tuesday.
Although the busy celebrity coach on the hit reality show “The Voice” didn’t write or co-write any of the album’s 12 tracks, he says in the video the record had a very autobiographical feel when he finished it, inspiring the title.
As previously reported, the Tishomingo resident began Tuesday a run of media dates throughout the next two weeks, culminating with a performance at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at 7 p.m. April 7 on CBS.
He will is performing tonight on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” which airs at 11:37 p.m. weekdays on NBC.
In addition, Shelton will perform at a special private acoustic album release concert in Chicago on Friday as part of US99.5’s Live Country Series at Joe’s Bar.
Next week, fans can tune in Tuesday for more performances from Shelton on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” at 10:35 p.m. and on April 3 on CBS’ “The Talk” at 1 p.m. He wraps up his appearances with his good friend Chelsea Handler to perform on E!’s “Chelsea Lately” on at 10 p.m. April 3 during the talk show’s hourlong milestone 1081st episode celebration. This marks their first performance on the show.
ACM Awards co-host, Country Music Association Awards’ Entertainer of the Year and three-peat Male Vocalist of the Year, Shelton, is one of the “most versatile of contemporary country singers,” according to The New York Times.
With eight consecutive No. 1 singles (and 13 overall), Shelton’s infectious multi-week No.1 hit “Honey Bee” holds the record for the fastest-selling digital platinum single for a male country solo artist. Shelton’s passion for country music and his commitment to mentoring his teammates from “The Voice” make him an incredible ambassador for country music, particularly with Season 4 airing Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
Starting July 19 in Virginia Beach, Va., fans can catch Shelton live on his “Ten Times Crazier Tour,” which will feature special guests Mercury Recording artist Easton Corbin and Academy of Country Music New Female Vocalist of the Year Jana Kramer. Shelton will bring his tour to Tulsa’s BOK Center on Oct 4. For more information, go to www.bokcenter.com.
Look for my review of Shelton’s “Based on a True Story …” Friday in the Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman, on NewsOK.com and here at BAM’s Blog.
-BAM
