My interview with country music singer, Jared Blake:

Q. “You grew up in a small, really small town in Arkansas. Growing up with music on your mind- how did you make that happen in a tiny town?”
A. “’Cause there was nothing else to do! There was absolutely nothing else to do! We could go hunting…we could go hunting and then there was always hunting! Ha ha ha ha! That’s all we had so I found a piano when I was 11 and that just started the whole thing. You live in the middle of the woods, there was nothing else to do so I would run around playing piano all the time!”

Q. “Kids have all kinds of obstacles to deal with and overcome while growing up. What obstacle did you have to overcome growing up?”
A. “I don’t think you really get through it, you just kind of muddle your way through. I guess the amazing thing that I see, is in my kids- a lot of the same characteristics. In fact, we had an 11 year old girl come up to Nashville, not too long ago and we are watching her and a lot of the same things , especially the more musical a child is or more artistic a child is, they are a little different than the rest of the crowd- that really make them stand out in life. Later on that’s the exact same thing that makes you cool, that you may think is wrong with you know- you know what I mean?”

Q. “When you were a kid - you won a lot of local competitions - did that sort of motivate you to do more?”
A. “Yeah, for me that was just…I think the first person to ever clap for me was good enough for me!” hahaha “That was the recognition I was looking for and I’ve been looking for it ever since.”

Q. “Getting to ’The Voice’ and competing - what was the biggest surprise for you?”
A. “I think I was equally really surprised when I got on The Voice as when I got off ‘The Voice!’ It was all pretty much of a shock! I don’t think you can put one shocking moment because the reality TV world is a totally different animal - a totally different beast!”

Q. “What do you think by being on ‘The Voice’ has done the most for you?”
A. It’s opened me up for fans - it’s given me a chance to play a lot of - as we call them “cover bands” like I would play 3 or 4 hour sets and it’s opened me up to play at any town from Florida to Washington and you never know what the turn out is going to be but what you do know is there are always your original fans there and the fact that they already know your songs before you even get to their town. Which is pretty amazing!”

Q. “While working around a lot of talented people on “The Voice’, what do you think is the best advice you got? And by who?”
A. “Reba McEntire. And she said just be yourself, you know I think a lot of people wished they have done things differently but if you’ve done things from your heart, then you don’t ever have that to fall back on. You know what I mean? It’s just, you can play guessing games all you want, but to try to find what the industry is looking for… but if you’re not doing what you love, you’re not happy.”

Q. Plans/ Events?
A. “Well, we just started filming the new single and we are pushing that, and the radio right now. We probably have a couple more weeks on that and then we are going to work on the album.”