Bryce Leatherwood stunned with an impressive cover of a fan-favorite Morgan Wallen hit during Monday evening’s (Nov. 28) episode of NBC’s The Voice.
The 22-year-old member of Team Blake delivered an exceptional cover of “Sand In My Boots,” a tune recorded by Morgan Wallen that appears on Wallen’s record-breaking sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album.
Joined by a four-piece band, Sans his signature cowboy hat and with his hair slicked back, Leatherwood belted out the lyrics to the chart-topping Wallen hit as he strummed his acoustic guitar.
“Yeah, but now I’m dodging potholes in my sunburnt Silverado / Like a heart-broke Desperado, headed right back to my roots / Somethin’ bout the way she kissed me tells me she’d love Eastern Tennessee / Yeah, but all I brought back with me was some sand in my boots,” Leatherwood sang on the chorus.
Watch Bryce Leatherwood’s performance below.
Following his performance, Leatherwood’s vocals were praised by The Voice coaches Blake Shelton, Camila Cabello, Gwen Stefani and John Legend.
“Bryce, I’ve said this a couple of times tonight only because it’s important to me. I feel like my favorite singers have just a tone of voice that I don’t get tired of,” Cabello said, before raving over his vocals. “Your tone of voice is just like butter. It’s pleasant… Salted butter. Your performance is like a nice piece of sourdough bread. I just want to eat it up!”
“I just feel like you’re so classic. You delivered the song with such confidence and smoothness,” Legend added. “Your voice sounds at home with these songs you’ve been singing. I think that’s a great song and you performed it so beautifully.”
“I believe we’re still going way forward with you in just the way you have ascended and people are buying into Bryce Leatherwood now in a big way,” Shelton shared. “I can speak for my hometown now in Oklahoma. They don’t care about me anymore. It’s all about Bryce, man.”
Last week, Leatherwood channeled his inner George Strait with a cover of “Amarillo By Morning” that earned praise from The Voice coaches.
“This might be the first time I’ve ever felt like a stage mom,” Shelton said of Leatherwood’s cover of the classic country hit. “I was singing every word and was thinking, ‘Here comes the modulation. Smile! Smile!’ I mean I was so into that. I love George Strait, and I love Bryce. Let me tell you something. The position you were in last week, I mean, who knows how it happens, but that’s how you fix it, man. That was a great song and performance!”
“Bryce. I’m no country expert as Blake will remind you often, but I gotta say, it sounded so perfect and so natural.” Legend said of Leatherwood, who has been a front-runner of Season 22 of The Voice. “A man named Bryce Leatherwood singing a George Strait song. You sounded like you were perfectly in your comfort zone. You sounded so confident. You look like a star up there. Your voice sounded pure and beautiful. It was a perfect execution of that song. Very well done.”
Bryce Leatherwood has continuously impressed The Voice coaches (Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, John Legend, Camila Cabello) since his blind audition, where he performed Conway Twitty’s “Goodbye Time” and blew away Blake Shelton with his vocal abilities.
“Well, well, well. Welcome to Team Blake,” Shelton said at the time. “I wanted to get my push in before you got to the chorus, because I could tell you already hit the two tough notes. I was blown away. And, what a great country name — Leatherwood.”
“You have an incredible voice,” Camila Cabello said after the Georgia native’s audition. “You are incredibly talented.”
“You sounded fantastic,” John Legend gushed. ”I heard the richness in your voice. No matter what genre you sing, it’s about the charisma you have as an artist. I didn’t want you to waste your experience on this show being on Team Blake. I would be a great coach for you.”
Shelton previously compared Leatherwood’s vocals to that of Strait during the Battle Rounds, where he performed a cover of Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road,” and advanced to the next round of the popular singing competition show.
“Bryce, you’re 22, and I don’t know how much experience you have onstage,” Shelton gushed. ”Seems like you’ve got about 40 years…. You’re one of those guys that’s like George Strait. You deliver and it’s solid.”
Since the show was a live playoff, Leatherwood needs America’s vote to move onto the next round of the competition (Semi-finals) and to earn a spot in the Top 8. The fate of Leatherwood’s future on the popular singing competition show will be revealed during Tuesday evening’s (Nov. 29) one-hour episode of The Voice on NBC.
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC.
