NYCS Swag Spotlight: Kaleb Lee
Our Swag Spotlight this week is former The Voice contestant and talented singer-songwriter, Kaleb Lee. In our phone conversation with the rising artist, we discussed everything from his experience on The Voice reigniting his drive to chase his music dream to how growing up, he wanted to be “Garth Brooks #2.”
Originally, Lee hails from rural, western Kentucky, where he resided throughout his childhood and even a few years into his marriage. He credits his hometown and his upbringing for making him fall in love with country music, sharing, “My first concert was a Garth Brooks concert. That started the trajectory for me of wanting to be Garth Brooks #2. I started playing guitar when I was eight. I think it was shortly after that, we went to that concert. Growing up in rural western Kentucky, what we listened to was country music. It’s Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, George Strait, and all those guys.”
Lee grew up listening to country music legends; however, his home town also inspired his desire to play music for a living. “We went to high school jamming it in our lifted up little trucks that we got when we were sixteen,” he laughs, adding, “Country music is so much about the lifestyle of living, but it was how we lived and it was what we listened to.”
As he tried to make it in the industry, Lee often traveled back and forth from his hometown to Nashville, Tennessee, focusing on songwriting and playing gigs, but after years of hearing more “Nos” than “Yeses,” Lee and his wife made the decision to focus on their family. In 2009, the couple and their children subsequently moved to Florida, where Lee ventured into another career path and went back to school, putting music on the back-burner for five years.
As fate would have it, producers on The Voice reached out to the dad of 3, asking if he wanted to audition for the show. With encouragement from his wife, Lee admitted that he had to take the opportunity. Lee recounted the story in our conversation, sharing “When The Voice reached out, that was one of those things that I couldn’t say no to. It kinda happened so randomly and divinely. We made that decision and went and did the audition stuff,” adding, “When The Voice reached out it was kinda a rebirth if you will of being able to go back and pursue the hopes and dreams that you had ten years ago that you thought were gone.” Lee continued to reminisce about his experiences on the show, even stating that he would do it all over again if he had the opportunity.
Since his stint on the show, Lee continues to work with his coach, Kelly Clarkson. He shares that her support and genuine excitement for his success has been invaluable, as he navigates his career as an artist. Clarkson continues to champion his career, even after the show wrapped. She is an executive producer on his EP that is slated to come out later this year, as well as, sings with Lee on his next single to be released called, “I Dream In Southern.”
His newest single, “I Need A Drink,” premiered back in July; and, it is the perfect summer anthem that embodies how you want to feel. It follows his debut single, “Cooler Weather.” Lee tells us that the new track was written specifically with summer in mind, adding “the moral of the story is we just want people to have fun and let loose because I know that’s what people want to do. People have really gravitated to it [at live shows].”
To keep up with Kaleb Lee, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
“I Need A Drink” is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.
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