In 2022, Bryce Leatherwood won The Voice's 22nd season, making him the final Team Blake member to finish first. Instead of loading a U-Haul and heading straight to Nashville, the now 23-year-old country singer returned to Statesboro, Ga., home of Georgia Southern University.
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"I'm planning on the move right now, just got to figure out everything with my home scenario. [I've got to] save my money," Leatherwood told Music Mayhem in Feb.2023. "I'm still a broke college kid. I don't care what prize money that they threw my way. I'm not even going to see that. That's going to go in into some investments. So I just got to stay young, stay broke and stay hungry because thriving off a little, you can grow a lot more than thriving off a lot. So, I'm just very excited to pursue my career."
In short, he's working toward stardom still, and when he gets to that point, he'll have one hell of a music business internship on his resume thanks to time spent learning from Shelton.
Blind Audition
On Sept. 20, 2022, Leatherwood earned three chair turns with his blind audition version of "Goodbye Time," a song first heard as a 1988 Conway Twitty single. It was taken back to the Top 10 in 2005 by Shelton.
Fittingly, Leatherwood's rendition of Shelton's version landed him a spot on Team Blake, following chair turns by not just his coach-to-be but also John Legend and Gwen Stefani.
"You sounded fantastic," Legend said. "I heard the richness in your voice. And no matter what genre we sing, it's about that charisma you have as an artist."
"What I like about you is your character," the leader of Team Gwen added. "We're here for the voices, but also here for the personality. I think that's important even though I'm not country. I'm into country. I'm a part-time Oklahoma girl now and a good coach."
Camila Cabello offered high praise, as well, stating: "You have an incredible voice. There's just, you have better coaches than me. I know if I'm like, 'Hey! Sing a Bad Bunny song,' you're going to wanna kill me. But, you are incredibly talented."
Yet Shelton won out in the end.
"I wanted to get my push in before you got to the chorus, because I could tell you already hit the two tough notes," Shelton said. "I was blown away. And, what a great country name — Leatherwood."
Winning The Voice
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From there, Leatherwood moved through the competition, mostly with covers of country legends (George Strait, Keith Whitley) and contemporary stars (Zac Brown Band, Justin Moore, Morgan Wallen). As part of his triumphant finale, he filled Trace Adkins' boots by dueting "Hillbilly Bone" with Shelton.
As The Voice champion, Leatherwood won $100,000 plus a deal with Universal Music Group.
Growing as a Songwriter
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Leatherwood told Music Mayhem that sharpening his songwriting skills is a priority ahead of his future move to Music City.
"I'm not the best verse writer, but I've been working on it because I mean, I think as an artist you have to be a writer too because I mean you have to truly be able to have input on other songs and on songs that you wanna sing that are yours," he explained. "And I hope to become a better songwriter as I move to Nashville, as I've started writing with more people and I'm just super excited for what's to come."
Building Off Connections From the Show
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Since winning the show, Leatherwood has continued to utilize connections made on set. Most obviously, Shelton's sustained interest in Leatherwood has landed the country star hopeful on the stages of Shelton's Ole Red venues in Tishomingo, Okla., Orlando, Fla. and Gatlinburg, Tenn. Leatherwood has also collaborated musically with Morgan Myles, a fellow Season 22 finalist with a bright future.
