Michigan country singer Evan James made a strong first impression on The Voice Season 30, earning a simultaneous three-chair turn with his smooth cover of Morgan Wallen’s Wasted on You before surprising the coaches with his choice.
The 22-year-old Highland, Michigan, native took the stage during the Blind Auditions and quickly caught the attention of Kelly Clarkson, Riley Green and Adam Levine. All three coaches turned their chairs nearly at the same time, while Queen Latifah was the only coach who chose not to turn.
James grew up on his family’s Christmas tree farm, a property his family has operated for 177 years. He has spent much of his life around music as well, performing in musical theater, high school choir competitions and his church’s worship band. He also played at school and around his hometown before taking his talents to The Voice.
A graduate of Hartland High School, James is currently studying public relations at Michigan State University. He was also one of two singers selected to perform the national anthem at his high school graduation.
For his Blind Audition, James chose Wallen’s Wasted on You, a song that already carried plenty of history with The Voice. Wallen competed on the show more than 12 years ago and was eventually stolen by Levine during his run.
James put his own spin on the country hit, adding an R&B touch to his deep, smooth vocal. Clarkson compared his version to the sound of Rascal Flatts singer Gary LeVox covering a Morgan Wallen song and praised James for making the performance feel like his own.
“You actually made it Evan’s,” Clarkson told him, pointing out how difficult that can be with such a well-known song.
Green also praised James’ voice and said he had fully owned the performance. Levine, meanwhile, urged the young singer to think strategically, noting that Clarkson and Green already had several country artists on their teams. He suggested that James could stand out by joining Team Adam.
James ultimately took that advice and made the surprising choice to join Levine.
“I think I’m going to take a leap of faith. I’m going to take Adam,” he said.
The decision immediately gave Levine another country singer for his team, and it also gave James a chance to take a different path than the other country artists competing this season.
James has already built an audience before The Voice, with more than 22,000 followers on TikTok and a collection of popular covers of songs by artists including Chris Stapleton and Zach Bryan. He has described himself as an up-and-coming Nashville recording artist and hopes The Voice will help him take the next step in his music career.
His ambitions are already bigger than simply making it through the competition. Before appearing on the show, James said he hoped his career could eventually follow a path similar to Wallen’s after The Voice. “I hope my career goes in the same direction as Morgan Wallen’s after The Voice. A man can only dream, am I right?” he said.
And now, after turning three chairs with a Wallen song of his own, James has already given fans plenty of reasons to keep watching his journey on Team Adam.