The Voice Season 23 kicked off with a bang as Neil Salsich earned an impressive four-chair turn with a performance of Hank Williams’ “Honky Tonk Blues.”
Blake Shelton was the first coach to turn his chair and the other coaches, including Kelly Clarkson, Niall Horan, and Chance The Rapper, quickly followed.
Clarkson, however, was removed from the running when Shelton used a block on his longtime frenemy.
Following his performance of the Hank Williams classic, the coaches tried their best to coerce Salsich to join their respective teams.
“Your vibe is so cool, man. It’s like old school country,” Clarkson gushed. ”Your falsetto is incredible, but you also maintain this like throaty like raspiness. That’s really cool. Just remember that block or Blake Block head, Blake stole the opportunity away from us.”
Shelton was quick to interject: “First of all, there is no proof that I blocked her whatsoever.”
All signs pointed to Shelton making the block because Chance The Rapper and Niall Horan denied using it.
“That’s a four chair turn, I don’t remember doing it,” Shelton said, referring to the block. “I mean, that’s the Hank William Sr. song, but I hear you kind of doing a yodel thing and it is incredible. Do you gig a lot in St. Louis?”
“Yeah, I’m a full-time musician,” Salsich told Shelton, before sharing that he often sings blues, folk, rock n’ roll and country songs. “So country is very special to me, but I like to say that’s just one of the musical wells that I drink from.
“I drink from a lot of wells too man. I’ll be honored for you to be on the last team Blake,” Shelton exclaimed.
Chance admitted he wasn’t very familiar with the country music genre, but went on to compliment the texture of Salsich’s voice as well as the tone.
“This could be interesting,” Chance pointed out. “It’s TV. Anything could happen. Why not a rapper and a country singer together? And it’d be really cool if I stole a country off [of Shelton]. This guy is the definition of cool. I’m really cool. We can make something happen.”
Clarkson chimed in, “My God. Chance is my favorite person right now.”
“I’m not as cool as either of them, to be honest with you. But I all have that hat and I have that shirt and I have the same name as you,” Horan added. “Job well done. When I was growing up, Garth Brooks was big in Ireland and that was it. I started coming to America 12 [or] 13 years ago for work, spending time across the south, gigging, going into bars, hearing all these great singers. Straight away your voice perked up to me because I feel like you’re a seasoned veteran. Country Storytelling. It’s my thing. These guys can’t tell you a story at all.”
“You’re all making a great case,” Salsich admitted of the coaches’ arguments.
After the coaches bantered back and forth, Neil Salsich ultimately decided to join Team Blake Shelton.
The Voice airs every Monday (8/7c) and Tuesday (9/8c) on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
