Season 28 of The Voice premiered Monday night (September 22) and one performance had returning coach, Reba McEntire in tears.
There appears to be no shortage of country artists on the new season of The Voice, likely due to the Queen of Country, Reba McEntire’s return to the coach’s chair. Throughout Monday’s two-hour premiere episode, several country artists took the stage. One in particular moved Reba to tears, something Coach Niall said was “the biggest compliment.”
Manny Costello, a 28-year-old proud girl dad, earned a two-chair turn with an emotional cover of Craig Morgan‘s “Almost Home.” Reba was the first to turn, followed by Snoop Dogg. It was the second time that the two coaches found themselves going after the same singer. The first time Coach Snoop used his only block to secure country artist Mindy Miller. This time, Reba and Snoop had to battle it out in hope they would be chosen.
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Manny Costello’s performance drew an emotional reaction from coach Reba.
When Costello finished his performance and introduced himself to the coaches, Reba got choked up and admitted that his song made her “homesick.”
“It took me back to all the greats I’ve been so fortunate to be able to listen to in my life,” Reba told him. “You’ve gotten qualities from George Jones and Haggard, and there’s a little Randy in there. It’s just a great combination.”
Reba was overcome with emotion as she tried to continue speaking. “Gosh dang, why do I get so emotional?” she said.
“It’s tears of joy because I feel very blessed to have been in the country music business all these years. So you just triggered something that needed to come out and say, ‘Happy to be here.'”
Snoop Dogg tried to persuade Manny to join his team by sharing that his performance reminding him of a time he shared bonding with two country music legends.
“Your voice remind me of the time I was hanging out with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson and we was working on a song called ‘Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die,'” Snoop joked. “It triggered that emotion in me to make me wanna go to my green room … but we gotta finish the show.”
Even though Coach Niall didn’t turn his chair for Costello, he praised his performance saying, “That’s the biggest compliment that Reba can give you. I mean, you moved the Queen of Country Music to tears. That’s amazing.”
When the time came for Manny to choose his coach, he didn’t take long to decide to join Team Reba.
Watch Manny Costello’s cover of Craig Morgan’s “Almost Home” in the video below.