We always try to introduce you to new music on 99.5 WKDQ, but we can’t put everybody on air. So, I decided to start spotlighting some of my favorite artists just for you! New artists, old artists, in between artists, local artists, TEXAS artists, I’ve got them all!

I had the chance to speak with Curtis Grimes on Tuesday, which just so happened to be the day his first big album Our Side of the Fence dropped, so that in itself was exciting enough! Curtis is a pure Texas boy, and there is absolutely no denying that after our conversation! He’s got that southern charm and twang to him which you can hear not only in the new album, but in our full interview at the bottom of this page.

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If his name sounds familiar, it might be because you’re a fan of The Voice on NBC. You can check out his casting interview for that show here! Curtis scored himself a spot on Team Cee Lo on the very first season in 2011 at the age of 25 by performing Blake Shelton’s song “Hillbilly Bone”. He proceeded to beat out Emily Valentine in the battles singing Lady A’s “Need You Now” before he was eliminated. The Voice gave Curtis primetime exposure that he never would have gotten anywhere else.

With this being the first season, Curtis really didn’t know what to expect. His manager asked him if he would be interested in auditioning for this show being presented on primetime television, and the answer was obviously “um, YEAH!” Curtis already had a show scheduled the day of his audition which was 5 hours away, so they let him come in at 9 AM that morning. He did his audition, drove to his show, and got a callback later that night. He returned for the callback the following day and then hadn’t heard anything for three weeks! Could you imagine having to wait three weeks to hear back about an opportunity like that!? Finally Curtis got the phone call telling him to pack a bag, he was heading to Hollywood! A small town Texas boy heading to Hollywood? That had to have been pretty overwhelming. It’s difficult for Curtis to keep up with the show now because of his busy schedule, but surprisingly enough, the show isn’t what Curtis credits as the highlight of his career so far.

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Curtis grew up playing baseball and didn’t even really get into music until his freshman year of college. Once in music he played small bars and clubs acoustically for a while before creating a small band in 2008. Well, on a whim, Curtis and his band decided to enter a radio contest for the chance to open up for Kenny Chesney. This band had only been together for about three months when they submitted this entry, so surely they wouldn’t win, right? WRONG! Out of all of the entries submitted, Curtis and his band won! That experience for Curtis was completely surreal. Kenny even called him on stage for the last song and all Curtis can remember is waving at his mom… LOVE IT! If you skip to 2:55 in the video below, you can watch!

I warned Curtis that I might throw him some “off the wall” questions, and I think I made him a little nervous ;) For example, I asked him if he ever gets any weird gifts from his fans out at shows or events. He couldn’t think of any off of the top of his head, but he did admit to signing some weird stuff. All I needed to hear were the words “body parts” and I was good to move on! Oh! He’s also been asked to sign a shotgun shell. Now if that’s not a true country fan I don’t know what is! As far as what he would like to be given, he’s not picky! To quote Curtis, “Oh I’ll take anything, gifts are a nice gesture!”

If you want to stay connect with Curtis, you can find him on Facebook, but he’s more into Twitter. He can handle 140 characters and pictures and videos, but Facebook changes on him too much! If you ever plan a trip out to Texas to get out of our terrible weather, make sure to check him out! Until then, you can download his new album, check out the audio from my interview and the video below he sent just for us :)

 NOTE: Artist Spotlights are formatted specifically for our website content. While we appreciate your calls, requests for this music on-air may not be honored.

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