Tony Lucca Announces ‘Whole World Watching’ Tour

The Voice - Season 2

Tony Lucca announced on Monday a slate of new tour dates that will have the talented singer-songwriter on the road from late July to mid-August.

Lucca, who was the finalist for Team Adam on season two of NBC’s The Voice, subsequently signed with coach Adam Levine’s 222 Records and is currently preparing his first post-show album.

It’s not the first big move for Lucca, who’s been working hard since his time on national TV ended. He previously embarked upon the nationwide “Chapter Two” tour last fall, released a new music video for his song “Like Love” in November, and returned to The Voice as a spectator in December.

Here’s the complete list of shows for Lucca’s new “Whole World Watching” tour:

7/29 – Spring Lake, MI @ Seven Steps Up
7/30 – Chicago, IL @ City Winery
7/31 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Rathskeller
8/1 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
8/2 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Blue Door
8/4 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues/Cambridge Room
8/6 – Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter
8/8 – Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
8/9 – Decatur, GA @ Eddie’s Attic
8/10 – Tampa, FL @ Jaeb Theater
8/11 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
8/14 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin Java (early and late shows)
8/15 – New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 (early and late shows)
8/16 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
8/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
8/18 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café (early and late shows)

Lucca will be joined by the band Honor by August for select dates. You can view the official video announcement with this article, and for more information, visit Lucca’s website at tonylucca.com.

For more on The Voice and its artists, you can visit BFTV’s dedicated The Voice blog, Big Red Chairs.

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.

Blake Shelton & 6 Other ‘The Voice’ Artists With New Releases

Blake Shelton

The Voice coach Blake Shelton releases his new album Based on a True Story today (and if you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can do so here), but he’s not the only one from the show who’s put new music out recently. Here are a half-dozen other artists you know from the show who have turned out fresh albums or EP’s in the last few months.

Tje Austin, Dreamin’ Big (get it HERE): A member of Team Cee Lo in Season 1, this soulful singer returns with a CD he’s been working on for some time, and that extra time and effort shows in a pleasant R&B collection that ranges from the heartbreakingly touching (earlier single “Right For You”) to the more uptempo (“Not A Thug”) and the slow jams (“Back 2 Me”). He’s not necessarily upending the genre, but he doesn’t need to; he’s got a voice that practically melts in your ears. For those of you who need something smooth to relax with, this is the album you want to add to your collection.

Tim Mahoney Band, Shine Through (get it HERE): Tim Mahoney was responsible for one of The Voice‘s first-ever memorable moments, when coach Adam Levine mistook him for a woman during his blind audition in Season 1. His unique voice didn’t get the appreciation it deserved on the show, but Tim has continued to deliver solid, enjoyable rock ever since, and this new album is more of the same. Whether it’s the earnest title track or the simple and painful “It’s Over,” his album is perfect for those who love a good singer-songwriter without a lot of fanfare. This album also includes his Voice-inspired single, “Hey Adam Levine.”

Nakia, Drown in the Crimson Tide (get it HERE): The semifinalist for Team Cee Lo during Season 1 (who competed with Tje Austin during the battle rounds), Nakia is more than doing his part to keep the blues genre in the public music consciousness. Whether it’s the uplifting “Dream Big” or something like “Pieces and Castles,” this six-song EP from the Texan has plenty of soul and a certain funky element to top it all off. This is music from an artist who’s secure in his sound, and while it may not be for everyone, those who want something different than the usual pop and rock will enjoy this one.

Pip, No Formalities (get it HERE): A fan favorite during Season 2, Pip has definitely found his groove with this six-song EP, which comes off confident and catchy. Danceable beats mix with memorable choruses and Pip’s refreshingly clear vocals to create songs that will roll around in your head for hours afterward. This is a wonderful debut release that’s purely good, clean fun, and establishes exactly what sound fans can expect from Pip in the future. It includes his first post-Voice single, “Who Cares.” If there’s any issue with No Formalities, it’s that it leaves you wanting more. Of all the recent releases from Voice artists, this is the strongest.

Casey Weston, Find the Moon (get it HERE): Team Adam’s Season 1 semifinalist has put out her first new material since appearing on the show, and while you’d probably still call her a country artist, there’s a surprising amount of range on this new CD. This is the Casey Weston album we’ve all been waiting for. The distinct twang to Casey’s voice is put to good use across the board, but it’s the songs that change, with tracks like “Into Your Heart” having more of a pop-rock edge while others such as “Like You” stay closer to country. What’s most remarkable about Find the Moon is that you can hear the added maturity, both in Casey’s voice and in her lyrics, compared to her self-titled release from two years ago. You can also read the BFTV interview with Casey Weston here.

Kim Yarbrough, Brand New Day (get it HERE): The Team Adam singer with the powerful voice from Season 2 has mostly been busy on stage and screen (did you see her on TNT’s Southland earlier this month?), but has just released her new CD-single. If you didn’t figure it out from her performances on the show, Kim can blow the doors off with the strength of her voice, and “Brand New Day” is an anthem reminiscent of power-pop singers like Kristine W. The original version runs a bit long, and it’s a little bummer that the album is comprised of remixes of one tune, but that one tune proves that a full album from Kim will definitely be intriguing.

The Voice continues tonight at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.

For more on The Voice and its artists, you can visit BFTV’s dedicated The Voice blog, Big Red Chairs.

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.

‘The Voice’ Season 4 Premiere Red Carpet Photos

NBC hosted a premiere for The Voice Season 4 in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and pretty much everyone from the past three seasons joined the coaches on the red carpet. Scroll down to see pictures of familiar faces, from coaches Blake Shelton and Usher to Dia Frampton, Terry McDermott and Pip, just to name a few!

Countdown to ‘The Voice’ Season 4: What Have You Missed?

The Voice - Season 3We’re just shy of a month from a brand-new season of NBC’s The Voice, and only about two months removed from America crowning Team Blake’s Cassadee Pope the winner of the show’s third cycle. What’s been happening with the show and its artists since Cassadee won the title?

As has been heavily publicized, Season 4 will be the first with new coaches Shakira and Usher, who were introduced in the fall. You can read some of their early thoughts on joining The Voice here. This may also be the only season for the new arrivals, as previous coaches Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green – who are on a break this time around – have expressed interest in returning for Season 5 this fall. However, it’s worth noting that nothing has been finalized yet beyond Season 4.

The guest mentors this year will be Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum (Team Adam), Sheryl Crow (Team Blake), Joel Madden (Team Shakira) and Pharrell Williams (Team Usher).

Season 3 winner Cassadee Pope officially signed her recording deal with Universal and has been hard at work writing and recording ever since, according to her Facebook. Universal released a CD version of her Voice performances here. Cassadee posted a video update on her progress here.

Runner-up Terry McDermott hasn’t slowed down since leaving the show, either. In fact, he recently released a new single “Pictures” via SoundCloud, which he co-wrote with Dave Burman. His performance of “Baby, I Love Your Way” with Peter Frampton from the Voice finale was retroactively released on iTunes here.

Here’s a short list of major developments with other Voice artists, past and present.

Team Adam: Season 3′s Amanda Brown appears on the soundtrack to the recent Universal release Identity Thief, starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. Her teammate Bryan Keith brought some new music to his live show at the Gramercy Theater; you can watch the video here. Season 2′s Pip released his EP No Formalities; you can get it here. Tony Lucca is hard at work on his new album, and performing some new originals on the road, like “Reckless Love.” Kim Yarbrough is preparing for the release of her single “Brand New Day” (here’s a teaser video), guested on CBS’s Vegas, appears in the March 6 episode of TNT’s Southland, and her Nickelodeon project has been ordered to series. Katrina Parker is working on new music of her own after the successful funding of her Kickstarter project. Season 1′s Tim Mahoney released his next CD, Shine Through, which includes his Voice-related tune “Hey Adam Levine.” Casey Weston has a new album on the way; you can pre-order it here and stay tuned for an upcoming interview.

Team Blake: Season 3′s Suzanna Choffel released her new single “Guardians.” Season 2′s winner, Jermaine Paul, postponed the release of his post-show album Finally until sometime later this year; you can pre-order it at Amazon, although there’s no specific street date listed there. Season 2 alum Jordis Unga is in the home stretch of putting together her new album, and also won a Grammy this year for her work on Jimmy Cliff’s Rebirth, which took the trophy for Best Reggae Album. Erin Willett has recently posted a new cover.

Team Cee Lo: Season 3′s MacKenzie Bourg has dropped his debut single. Season 1′s Nakia is releasing his next EP, Drown In The Crimson Tide, and is playing a few tour dates in his home state of Texas. His battle round partner Tje Austin put out his new CD, Dreamin’ Big. Also, Paste Magazine wants to help you make your own Cee Lo Green.

Team Christina: Season 3′s Devyn DeLoera released a music video with Ready Revolution that you can find here, along with several covers on her Facebook page. She has new music coming your way on March 4. The busiest Voice alum by far is Season 2′s Chris Mann, who recently taped Chris Mann in Concert for PBS to be aired in March. Also next month, Chris will be announcing tour dates, one of which is New York’s Highline Ballroom. Lindsey Pavao put out her new single “No Revelation.” Moses Stone released new music; you can find “Beautiful Nightmare” here.

Season 4 of The Voice begins March 25. For the latest on all things related to NBC’s hit singing competition, you can visit Big Red Chairs.

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick. Appears at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.

January News Roundup

Howdy, The Voice fans! You might have noticed things got a little quiet around here in January, and for that I apologize. As some of you know, I work as a full-time TV reporter, which means I had to go off and cover all the new shows coming out this month. On top of that, I got sick. So, I’ve condensed all the news from January into this one handy post.

Here’s some of the important stuff that happened this month:

  • We learned who some of the mentors are for Season 4 of The Voice. Team Blake has Sheryl Crow (good choice, but will she be as funny as Michael Buble?!). Team Shakira has Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden (who is also a coach on The Voice Australia). Team Usher has Pharrell Williams. Team Adam, we’re looking in your direction…
  • Season 3 winner Cassadee Pope officially signed her record deal with Universal, and gave us a video update on what she’s been doing – find that here.
  • Blake Shelton put out a new single, “Sure Be Cool If You Did,” and announced spring tour dates. Go here for all your Blake info.
  • Pip‘s EP No Formalities is now available on iTunes, and Tje Austin has released his new album, Dreamin’ Big. Still to come is Tim Mahoney‘s new album, Shine Through. Stay tuned for reviews of all three coming this weekend!
  • Mathai is working on her new EP, tentatively set to release in February. Stay tuned…
  • Terry McDermott posted a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and some of his original music on SoundCloud.
  • Adam Levine hosted Saturday Night Live. You can find links to almost all the sketches Adam was in, over here.
  • Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera took home some People’s Choice Awards.
  • Katrina Parker launched a Kickstarter effort to fund her next release – go here for that.
  • Kim Yarbrough is busy acting: she’s got a guest spot on the upcoming season of TNT’s Southland and her Nickelodeon pilot was just picked up to series! Congrats, Kim!
  • Lots and lots of tour dates. Be sure to check out the tour calendar to see if your favorite artist is back on the road in January or February.
  • And congratulations to new coach Shakira on the birth of her son Milan!

Is there anything that I missed over the last month? Shoot me a comment and I’ll get it added to the site!

Juliet Simms, Chris Mann and Raelynn Are Coming Back to ‘The Voice’

Three artists from Season 2 of The Voice – runner-up Juliet Simms, fourth-place finisher Chris Mann, and Team Blake’s Raelynn – will return to the show to perform their new music on December 11, the network announced via press release on Thursday. The trio are just some of the musical guests that will appear on The Voice as it nears its December 18 season finale.

Simms will perform her new single which was revealed November 20 via SoundCloud, “Wild Child,” while Mann will sing the title track from his recently released album Roads, and Raelynn will perform her new song “Boyfriend.”

The move is somewhat similar to one the network made in Season 2, when all four Season 1 finalists were invited back as guest performers.

Season 2 champion Jermaine Paul previously returned to The Voice earlier this season with his single “I Believe In This Life.” He has since announced via Facebook that the release of his next album has been pushed from December 18 to sometime in 2013.

The other Season 2 finalist, Team Adam’s Tony Lucca, has not been formally announced for a guest appearance. However, he told Big Red Chairs in October that he might return: “I think I’ll be coming out to LA for the finals of Season 3. They’ve got us slated for that,” he said. The press release noted that more guests will be confirmed as the season continues.

The other announced guests are Ne-Yo and Matchbox Twenty (on December 4) and this season’s Team Blake advisor Michael Buble (on December 10). All will be joined by as yet unspecified artists from Season 3 of The Voice for their performances.

Previous musical guests this season have included 50 Cent, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and the Muppets.

The Voice continues Monday at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.

For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).

(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.

Team Cee Lo’s Juliet Simms Releases New Single

Juliet Simms, the runner-up from Season 2 of NBC’s The Voice, released her first post-show single on Tuesday. Entitled “Wild Child,” it can be heard via SoundCloud.

The SoundCloud page itself also possibly provides more information to Voice fans looking for hints on Juliet’s post-show plans. It indicates the single is “released by Universal Republic” with a given date of December 11, 2012, suggesting that may be the date it will be available for download via services such as iTunes and Amazon MP3.

Furthermore, the use of the Universal Republic name would seem to confirm earlier speculation that Juliet struck a record deal with the label affiliated with The Voice. If this is true, it would make her the third finalist and fourth artist from Season 2 to be picked up by Universal, following winner Jermaine Paul, fourth-place finisher Chris Mann, and Team Blake’s Raelynn.

An email to Universal Republic seeking confirmation was not immediately returned.

Previously, Juliet’s Voice coach, Cee Lo Green, told reporters that he had inked her to a management contract. Her website currently displays the logo of Primary Wave Talent Management, which also lists Cee Lo on their roster.

The fourth finalist from Season 2, Team Adam’s Tony Lucca, previously signed with coach Adam Levine’s 222 Records.

To compare, Universal Republic signed three finalists and one semifinalist from Season 1 of the singing competition – winner Javier Colon, runner-up Dia Frampton, finalist Vicci Martinez, and Team Blake’s Xenia.

While Frampton and Martinez are still with Universal, Colon has since departed the label, and Xenia appears to have been dropped from their roster, as her most recent single “Hiding Places” came out last month without any mention of a label attached to it.

The Voice continues Monday at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.

For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).

(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.

Erin Willett’s New Single, Moses Stone’s New Mixtape, and Tony Lucca’s New Music Video

As previously mentioned, November 13 was a big day for The Voice artists. In addition to coach Christina Aguilera releasing her new album Lotus, Team Blake’s Erin Willett released the first single off her forthcoming EP on YouTube. Check it out below:

In addition, Team Christina’s Moses Stone released his mixtape Resilient, which includes a single featuring Team Christina’s Lisa Scinta. That can now be downloaded across various platforms, including Soundcloud.

Did you spot Team Adam’s Tony Lucca in the Kia commercial during Tuesday’s show? If you followed the URL in the promo, you’d have gotten to check out Tony’s new music video for his song “Like Love,” which appeared on his 2010 album Rendezvous with the Angels. If you missed it, click here to check out the vid on NBC.com.

And in other news, coach Cee Lo Green and Team Christina’s Chris Mann are two of the artists who will be performing in NBC’s Christmas at Rockefeller Center special this year. You’ll recall that Season 1 champ Javier Colon was part of the same show last year. It will air Wednesday, November 28 on NBC.

For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).  

(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.

Team Christina’s Moses Stone and Lisa Scinta Team For New Single

Christina Aguilera would be proud: two members of The Voice‘s Team Christina have collaborated on a new single. Season 3′s Lisa Scinta lends her voice to “Young & Invincible,” the first single off Moses Stone‘s forthcoming mixtape Resilient. Moses was a member of Team Christina in Season 2.

You can listen to “Young & Invincible” on SoundCloud now and check out the Aaron Conney-designed cover to the right. Resilient is scheduled to release on November 13, the same day as Aguilera’s new album, Lotus.

In addition to appearing on the single, Lisa has less than two days left on a Kickstarter project to fund her post-The Voice recording. For more information and to contribute, you can visit her Kickstarter page.

In other post-The Voice news, Team Adam’s Adanna Duru has launched her own Kickstarter effort, and Team Adam’s Pip announced recently that his EP No Formalities will no longer be released on November 13; the album is being pushed back, but we’re assured it’s for good reasons, and not anything negative affecting the album.

The Voice Season 3 live shows continue tonight at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.

For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).  

(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.

Album Review: Justin Hopkins, ‘This Could Happen Anywhere’

Justin Hopkins never quite got his due on Season 2 of The Voice. His duet battle with fellow Team Cee Lo member Tony Vincent was as good as the much-discussed match between Jesse Campbell and Anthony Evans, but Justin largely flew under the radar during his brief tenure. Now Voice fans have a second chance to discover him with his live acoustic album, This Could Happen Anywhere.

The choice to go acoustic is a perfect one for Justin, because it strips away anything that might distract from his vocals. Listeners can appreciate the grit and sincerity in his voice, particularly on the earnest “Someday.” Another standout track is “Here Goes Nothing,” which sounds entirely different than the version that first appeared on the Justin Hopkins & The Guilt album of the same name in 2007, but still retains the song’s catchiness.

The songs on this album are some of Justin’s lesser known or even previously unheard, so it should cater to both newer fans and existing ones alike. When taken as a whole, there’s enough variety here to show almost the full range of what he can do; he also happens to be pretty handy with a piano, but that’s for the next one, perhaps.

It’s also important not to overlook Justin’s ability to write interesting, often amusing lyrics, which are front and center on the well-recorded album. These are not a dozen songs about the same thing. They contain all sorts of different lines, like the entire first part of “The Times,” which references dirty cops and drug addicts, and every one of them can be heard clearly on this CD. Justin is hilarious, down to earth, and unafraid to tell it like it is, and his personality comes through in his songwriting.

Those are also the qualities that make This Could Happen Anywhere so appealing. In a landscape of music that can be overhyped, overproduced, and just generally too much, there’s something to be said for an album that’s comprised of just a guy and his guitar – yet still has just as much heart and soul as any standard release. Its old-school feeling – it was recorded to tape – only adds to the release’s charm.

If there’s any flaw in this album at all, it can be chalked up to personal preference; it’s missing one of Justin’s best songs, “Why Would God Come To LA,” but thankfully you can download that track at his ReverbNation page.

A collection of good music without anything else to get in the way, This Could Happen Anywhere is an outstanding album from an underappreciated artist. Hopefully with its release, more people will hear what The Voice missed out on.

You can download This Could Happen Anywhere on iTunes here. It’s also available on Amazon MP3, Spotify, and more. For more about the record, check out my Anthology interview with Justin Hopkins.

For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).  

(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.