Kirk Jay’s ‘Bless The Broken Road’ Cover Earns Four-Chair Turn On ‘Voice’ Season 15
on Oct 09, 2018 • Updated Mar 31, 2023
For those who compete during the blind auditions on The Voice, every second that all four of the coaches’ chairs are left facing the crowd must feel like an eternity.
That’s how it had to have felt for Voice hopeful Kirk Jay, whose cover of “Bless the Broken Road” was met with four unturned chairs for the majority of his performance.
It’s not that Jay chose a poor or unfamiliar song. “Bless the Broken Road” has been recorded by country artists for decades, dating all the way back to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s original recording in 1994.
The song’s most famous rendition was released by trio Rascal Flatts in 2004, which has since sold millions of copies in the U.S.
Because of its popularity, “Bless the Broken Road” has been a go-to song for past Voice contestants. This could be why the coaches didn’t turn their chairs right away. They wanted to hear his unique take on the song.
Or it could be as simple as this…they just wanted to enjoy his performance. All coaches were visibly impressed with what they heard, with Jennifer Hudson even appearing to have tears in her eyes as the camera zoomed in on her.
Still, Jay was near the end of his performance before he got his first chair to turn, and that turn came from none other than the show’s resident country music man, Blake Shelton.
Adam Levine followed quick on Shelton’s heels, but Hudson and Kelly Clarkson did not. Just when it seemed like a two-chair turn was all Jay was going to get, Clarkson and Hudson turned their chairs for him at the last second.
As the coaches started fighting with one another over whose team Jay should join, Clarkson clarified why she and Hudson waited so long to turn around. They really were just listening to and enjoying his performance!
Levine dismissed them, saying that Jay’s only true choice was between him and Shelton since Clarkson and Hudson waited so long. But all four coaches put up some solid arguments, leaving Jay with a tough choice to make.
So who did he choose as his coach? Watch his full audition below to find out!
