Voice hopefuls are always under a wealth of pressure whenever they step on stage for their blind auditions. But that pressure becomes even more intense if they decide to sing one of the coach’s songs.
That’s exactly what Zach Bridges did when he appeared on Season 17 of The Voice. He chose a song recorded by six-time-winner Blake Shelton.
And not just any song, he picked what Shelton considers to be his signature track…”Ol’ Red.”
Shelton was not the first artist to record “Ol’ Red,” though his Top 20 rendition was the most successful. Kenny Rogers recorded the song before him, and George Jones recorded the song before Rogers.
Now there are many versions of “Ol’ Red” out there, but Shelton’s remains the most well-known. He even named his “Ole Red” restaurants after the song.
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So when Bridges hit the Voice stage and started singing “Ol’ Red,” it was clear he was hoping that Shelton would turn his chair around. And much to his relief, he did.
Shelton’s girlfriend, Gwen Stefani, also turned her chair, and prepared to battle with Shelton to secure Bridges for her team. She spoke about how she doesn’t need to be a country singer to understand country music, saying she could look up songs and then help Bridges connect to them.
When Shelton got the chance to speak, he explained they would need to do no such thing if Bridges picked him as his coach. “You don’t have to hope that I’ll get on Google and type in the word ‘country songs’ and try to help you connect with a genre,” he said.
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Shelton then went into a speech about how he came to Nashville and discovered “Ol’ Red” not long after. He said back then he had no idea that the song would change his life and go on to be his signature piece.
“You do a great job of it man,” Shelton praised Bridges.
After that, it was clear who Bridges was going to choose as his coach, and sure enough, he chose Shelton! Watch his “Ol’ Red” audition in the clip below.