Carson Peters, a 17-year-old from Tennessee, impressed on the season 21 premiere of NBC’s The Voice with a cover of a popular country hit.
Influenced by bluegrass music and Ricky Skaggs, an artist who he says he was “lucky enough to get to play with him.” Peters began his musical career at a young age, playing the fiddle and singing. Peters also admits that bluegrass is still his “main thing.”
Sporting a button-up shirt and jeans, Peters earned a four-chair turn and a standing ovation from coaches John Legend, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande with his impressive cover of Don Williams’ chart-topping country hit, “Tulsa Time.”
Following his epic performance of the classic country tune, Legend, Shelton, Clarkson and Grande praised his talents.
“I heard a lot of Oklahoma references in that song,” Legend said. “And I know you might have an interest in being with a coach from that lovely state.”
“Or the better one below it,” Clarkson chimed in, referencing her home state of Texas.
“My name is John Legend, I turned [my chair] for you before any of these coaches did,” Legend added. “I love that lower part of your voice in the beginning of the song, but when you started to hit those big notes with such confidence, it just looked like you were having fun up there.”
“I love your voice, I think it’s authentically country,” Clarkson gushed. “I took country singers to take trophies home, just so you know.”
“I just appreciated your talent so much,” Grande exclaimed. “And I heard some runs in there that really excited me, and the whole performance was just so enjoyable. You’re amazing!”
“Carson, very impressed,” Shelton said, before adding, “What I would caution you with the other three [coaches] is you can say ‘man, you’re a bluegrass and country, I like that too.’ Or you can understand that there’s popular bluegrass music and then there’s what you hear on country radio. I’m thinking, if Ricky Skaggs is your man, you want to rewind time 30 years or more.”
Shelton continued, “There’s a lot of paths that you can take, what we’ve got to figure out is which one best represents who you are. Let’s not mess around with what this opportunity is for you. Let’s do this right, Carson.”
Tune in on Monday, September 27 at 8/7c on NBC to find out who Peters chose as his coach.
