Justin Kilgore Has Decided to Give Music a Second Chance

After breaking up with music two years ago, Justin Kilgore is ready give music a second chance. Kilgore impressed all four coaches with his Blind Audition, the talented artists ended choosing new Voice Coach Kelly Clarkson.

Unlike a lot of artists Kilgore did not grow up knowing he wanted to e a country artist. Growing up Kilgore always enjoyed singing along with the radio, but he never knew he possessed the voice that could be on country radio. It wasn’t until college that Kilgore realized he could have a career in music.

“So I had a friend of mine when I was in college that was a music major and she caught me singing in my dorm room which I’ve done since I was a kid. My parents got a divorce when I was young and when they were arguing or having adult conversations they would send us to our room and tell us to put our radios on and I would sit and listen to the radio station and just sing to every song on the radio. It kind of became a habit,” said Kilgore.

“So I did that consistently all the way up until college. She caught me singing and she cried and she said what are you doing? Why aren’t you pursuing that? I just had never been told I was any good I guess. I just thought I was jamming out to my radio. From then on I’ve been looking for something that I really gravitated towards. I’ve always loved music and I’ve been involved in music since high school, in dance and choir and everything else, but I just never had anyone tell me I was any good and after that point I started pursuing it full time. I ended up moving out to Austin and found some opportunities to do some demo work and started writing with Grammy nominated songwriters. I just got way more involved in music and it just kind of took over my life and I fell in love,” continued Kilgore.

Kilgore hit The Voice stage after being away from the music industry for two years. The talented singer who had come to The Voice at the insistence of a coworker sang Chris Young’s “Tomorrow”. Kilgore would have gotten a four chair turn if not for the show’s new feature allowing the coaches a block to keep each other from turning for an artist. Country superstar Blake Shelton was blocked from turning his chair. Kilgore's success on The Voice so far has come to a shock for the talented artist.

“You know I had given up music a couple of years ago. I’ve been out in my private life since I was 19, however when I started doing country music I was told by a lot of people; family, friends, and business associates the gave me some advice and told me it’s a very conservative crowd that listens to country music and it’s probably something you don’t want to let people know about right away or right now and keep that to yourself. So I did for a while, but people kind of figured it out anyway. I would go into meetings with publishers and labels. The meeting would go great and then they would ask my manager is he gay? We didn’t know how to answer that. So I got a lot of doors closed. I stoped hearing music completely about two years ago,” said Kilgore.

“I just kind of gave up on myself, I lost my belief. I was very depressed. I took the radio out of my car . I didn’t even want to listen to music anymore. I was just heartbroken that I couldn’t pursue this because of who I was. A friend of mine at work… is a huge fan of The Voice and she said you need to go out and try out for The Voice. I said you know I’ve kind of been through that already and I don’t want another no. I’ve already had that break up and I'm good. She was like what do you have to lose and I said I guess noting, I have nothing to lose. She said well go this time, and be yourself. Tell your story and sing what you want to sing. If you want to do country music then you do country music and you bee Justin. I did I went to an open call and…made it to the blind auditionsI'm just shocked, it was just the time that it was meant to happen I guess,” continued Kilgore.

Kilgore would end up choosing Clarkson to be his coach, but if Shelton was able to turn his chair Kilgore would have chosen him. Kilgore would have gone with Shelton because of his connection with country music and his success on the show.

“You know I heard the coaches were Kelly and Blake and Alicia [Keys] and Adam [Levine], and I was so torn up. I didn’t know who I would have chosen if Kelly and Blake had turned around. I was leaning heavily on Blake Shelton. He’s super big in country music and I'm a huge fan of his stuff. He’s won The Voice so much that I was like it’s probably a good bet to go with Blake. I was definitely feeling if I had the choice I would have gone with Blake, but Kelly was a very very very close tie with him. But yeah I probably would have went with Blake,” said Kilgore.

Of course Kilgore would love to win The Voice, but his main goal on The Voice is to inspire people. Kilgore would like to inspire those who see his performances to be themselves no matter what.

“You know there’s already so much that’s happened, that’s changed my life and brought a fire back to my life that I haven’t had in a while. My hopes for The Voice I would love to get to the live shows. I would love to be in the top four. I would love to win the entire thing,” said Kilgore.

“More than anything my hope is that I hope I can inspire people to be who they are and they can pursue their dreams. For the longest time I didn’t think I could do that and I know other people feel the same way. You know if you’re full figured, or you’re skinny, or you’re tall, you’re black, white or hispanic, you’re gay or straight, if you love something and it’s a part of you that much you should be able to pursue it no matter what. It shouldn’t matter who you are, and who you’re sleeping with, and what your preferences are in anything. I wish I had that growing up. If I’d had that when I was a kid that would have changed things for me… So I just hope it inspires people…it’s all a blessing,” said Kilgore.

Kilgore now moves on to the Battle Rounds where he will face off against a fellow teammate. To learn more about Kilgore like him on Facebook (@JustinKilgoreMusic), and follow him on Twitter (@JustinTXKilgore) and Instagram (@justinkilgoremusic).