Riley Green is having a big first season in a coach’s chair.
The country singer from Jacksonville, Alabama, has No. 1 hits like “There Was This Girl” from 2019. This fall he joined NBC’s “The Voice” as a new coach for Season 30, alongside Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and Queen Latifah. And one of the singers on Team Riley just had a night to remember.
His name is Joe Henley.
Joe is 19. He grew up singing in church, and he loves classic country. When he walked out for his blind audition, it was the very first gig of his life.
He sang “Anymore,” the song by country star Travis Tritt. Both Riley and Kelly Clarkson turned their chairs for him, and Joe picked Riley.
Watch this clip to see Riley get so caught up in the song that he can’t help singing along.
Joe’s very first gig, and Riley joins in
Fast forward to Cut Week, which aired Monday night.
Joe was the last singer up for Team Riley. Riley had a tough call to make about who would go on to the live shows, and Joe had one more chance to make his case.
His song was older than he is. Much older.
It was Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”
If you’re over 50, you probably know every word. Keith Whitley was a country singer from Kentucky, and that song was his first No. 1. Bob McDill wrote it, and it hit the top of Billboard’s country chart in August 1988. It ended up as Billboard’s No. 1 country single of the whole year. Whitley passed away in 1989, and in 2022 he joined the Country Music Hall of Fame.
So a 19-year-old walked out on national TV and sang it.
When he finished, all four coaches were on their feet.
Riley was full of praise. “You’re so naturally talented,” he told Joe. Then he joked about his fellow coach, Adam Levine. “If I could sing like you, I wouldn’t answer the phone when Adam called, I would be so rich and famous.”
Kelly Clarkson was just as impressed. “If you’re not in the finale, I would be mind blown,” she said.
Riley said Joe came through right when it counted. “Just when I thought I was making my mind up, Joe comes out and does exactly what I asked him to do.”
He made Joe the third and last of his picks for the live shows. “Joe, you crushed it, man,” Riley told him.
Here’s the whole performance, right through to the end, when all four coaches get up out of their chairs.
Joe sings “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and the coaches stand up
Nobody knows yet how far Joe will go on “The Voice.” But for a kid whose very first gig was his audition, he’s already done something pretty special. He took a song that topped the charts long before he was born and got four famous coaches out of their seats for it.
If you wore out that Keith Whitley record back in 1988, give Joe’s version a listen. Then go dig out the original.