Team Blake Shelton’s Austin Allsup had been kicking around the music business for years before his The Voice audition. His age and experience helped to give him a philosophical attitude about his elimination from the competition–along with fellow teammate Courtney Harrell– earlier this week.
Austin spoke frankly with reporters on a conference call Wednesday about his struggle with illness, the reasons why Blake and production pushed him to sing the 80’s pop tune, Missing You (maybe against his better instincts) and NOT wanting to win The Voice.
How did you feel when Adam Levine asked America to vote for Aaron Gibson during the sing off?
Oh, did he?
He did, yes.
Well, it was probably because he was scared of what was going to happen to Josh Gallagher if I stayed on the show. So, you know, it is what it is. Aaron quit his day job to come out here and do this. This is my job. It’s just Twitter. And it’s crazy how it all came down to Twitter votes to keep you alive on the show. I don’t know. I haven’t really been thinking about it that much to tell you the truth.
Where you think The Voice experience will take you musically? What’s next in your music plans? What can fans expect from you?
I’ll be putting out my fifth record of all original music in the coming months. I just put my fourth full length record out in April before I came out here. One of my songs hit number 19 on the iTunes country chart while I was on The Voice. So that was kind of cool.
I’ve been doing this for a long time. And I’m sorry, I’m kind of sick. I was super sick Monday and Tuesday. So, you know, that’s – I’ve kind of been fighting that demon on the inside of knowing that I was at my absolute worst on Monday and Tuesday. But I still gave it a run for the money. After this, I’ve already got a lot of calls and meetings and all kinds of stuff set up. I plan on taking over the world if I can.
You were supposed to go overseas as part of the Texas Takeover Tour, but you were unable to because of The Voice.
I’m getting on a plane in about three hours to fly to London, England.
And you’ll be playing with Luke Wade (The Voice season 7) and who else?
Sean McConnell, who’s written songs for Aretha Franklin, Vince Gill, Plain White T’s, Jack Ingram, who’s also a number 1 Billboard artist. These are all friends of mine that I’ve known for a long time–I’ve been touring with.
This show was kind of just a good break from my reality and to let people know who I am out there. I didn’t do this for me. I did it for my wife and kids. And to be honest, I’m really glad it’s over and that I’m back to normal. I’m not a big fan of not being in control of what’s going on, you know, in my life. I’m not a real big fan of singing cover songs because I’m an original artist. And I’m not a big fan of being told how to sing them either. So I’m really glad that I get to do what I want again to tell you the truth.
Did The Voice help you grow as an artist?
Yes. I do believe it did. I haven’t gotten to think about myself or anything like that. I’ve been raising kids and trying to make a living at music. And when you’re trying to be a good dad and a good husband and a successful touring artist, you don’t really have a whole lot of time to think about who you are. You’re just kind of in the moment every day. It’s always a struggle.
So it was good to get out there for a few months and really be able to focus on who I am. I think there’s some moves I could have done better. I had never done that John Waite tune (Missing You). So I was already a little anxious going into the last week with a song that I didn’t know.
But, I felt like that helped me grow, too, and get out of my comfort zone a little bit. So, yes, hell, yes. It was an awesome experience and all the folks on The Voice are really awesome. All the people there, they’re always trying to build you up. And I made some of my best friends ever there. Courtney (Harrell) and Sundance (Head), I think will be lifelong friends.
I want to write some music with Courtney. And do whatever we can in the future together. I think that’s what it’s all about is relationships and expressing that love for one another and helping build each other up. The show was really a good way for me to go about doing that.
I feel like you went out on a limb this week by showing a different side of yourself, like a softer, vulnerable side by singing Missing You. Do you regret singing the song?
Part of me wants to say I went and shot myself in the foot. Another part of me wants to say that I grew and I learned something new about myself. It probably wasn’t the smartest move for me to do something that different at this time in the show.
But, to me music flags art. You do it, you put it out there, you move on, you do the next song, the next record, the next show, whatever it is. You don’t think about the bad brush lip on the canvas from your last painting. You just frickin’ paint a new painting.
That’s what it really is all about to me. I hate that I was so sick. I had an awful upper respiratory infection. I had fever and snot flying out of me every time I went to sing. For me to have barely gotten beat (the vote between Aaron and Austin was extremely tight) on my absolute worst day, I can’t feel too damn bad about that.
How did you arrive at your song choices? Were some of those song choices yours or were they mostly Blake’s, or did you work together and come up with a compromise?
All of the songs up to Missing You were all my choices. I tried to fight back a little bit on the Missing You, but when your coach and production is telling you one thing it alters your own way of thinking a little bit, where I was once real hesitant, maybe they kind of convinced me to do it. The song is freakin’ bad ass, too. So that was hard, too. It’s hard not to want to do a great song even though it’s not you.
What was the thinking behind the choice–was Blake trying to push you out of your box a little bit?
I don’t really know. The song choice isn’t just about the song and how well we like it or whatever it is. It’s how we can relate our story to it, you know? I think a lot of it had to do with that. They knew about me and my wife and me and my mother having such a crazy relationship. And me and my dad. You know, I haven’t even talked to my dad since he came out there for blind auditions.
I think they knew some of that. And we were just trying to get a good story along with the song so it played a part. But I’m so not here to sit here and say I could have done it better. I could have done this or that. I can’t wait to do what I’m going to do next.
How far did you expect to make it? Did you make it as far as you hoped?
No, I wanted to make it to the top 8 for sure. But I didn’t really want that until I got to the bottom 10. When I went out there for the blind audition, I just wanted to get on a team. I’ve never really had winning in mind. To be quite honest, I didn’t want to win it. I’ve got a lot of music out there. I’ve got a lot of things that have been going on in my own life involving songs. And they may cut certain songs of mine. I knew that if you won, you would have to succumb to the fine print of those contracts. So I’m really glad to be where I’m at right now to be quite honest with you.
