Local singer-songwriter Joshua Davis, who's now competing on NBC's The Voice TV show, tells The Ticker he's "proud to bring Michigan music to a wider audience" and more in a conversation from Hollywood late yesterday.

Each Voice season starts with "blind auditions," when performers sing to the backs of four chairs that hide coaches Adam Levine (Maroon 5), country star Blake Shelton, singer-producer Pharrell Williams, and diva Christina Aguilera. The contestant's goal? To sing so well that the coaches hit a button to spin their chair around, facing the contestant and thereby offering them a spot on their Voice team.

With his soulful rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," Davis secured his place, and northern Michigan is waiting to see how far he'll advance.

Ticker: What inspired you to go on The Voice?
Josh Davis: I got a call from the casting people on the show. They were the ones who asked me to audition.

Ticker: How did they find out about you?
Davis: They'd seen a couple of my videos online, although I hadn't seen the show. But I got caught up on it, and found I actually liked it. I'm not a fan of reality shows at all, but I was surprised by the positivity of The Voice, so I thought I'd try it.

Ticker: How did the audition process work?
Davis: I went from being selected right out to Los Angeles, to tape the blind auditions for TV. But by the time we'd taped, we'd already spent a month getting ready. You work with the Voice band and vocal coach, you meet the other contestants, you form a real little community. I'm used to playing a couple of shows a week, two sets a night, so putting all of this effort into just one song was kind of crazy.

Ticker: During your blind audition, Adam and Blake turned around almost immediately. That must have been a relief, knowing you'd already made it past the first round?
Davis: It was! That definitely took the pressure off.

Ticker: And then how did you pick your coach?
Davis: I had already decided that if Blake turned I'd want to work with him. As a songwriter, I like the way he speaks to a song, and he's got that whole Nashville-connection thing. It was tough because Adam was really selling it – they edited a lot of what he said out, but he went on and on. But Blake – I know he's going to be great on the songwriting end of things, and that's what I'm all about. I'm excited to be on Team Blake.

Ticker: Is being on the show itself how you envisioned it?
Davis: It's been a trip. I'm really grassroots, so seeing the inside of the music industry from such a different perspective, within this massive framework – it's a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. It's a lot of time spent for what ends up being a very small amount of TV time. But there are so many incredible people working on this show – it looks all positive on TV, and that's because it really is. Everyone works so well together.

Ticker: You've already taped future segments and you can't talk about those. But whether you move forward on The Voice or not, what do you hope you'll get from being on the show?
Davis: That's a great question. I think I've been incredibly fortunate so far in my career – it's so cooperative in Michigan, and I've been successful because of that community. So now I get to bring Michigan music to a wider audience, to emphasize collaboration over competition. I'm so excited to be representing Michigan, and there's been a real outpouring of support – I'm so grateful.

The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday nights on NBC.  Photo credit NBC/Universal.