Kayleigh Matthews delivered one of the biggest country moments of The Voice Season 30 when her powerful take on Vince Gill’s “When I Call Your Name” convinced all four coaches to turn their chairs.
The 31-year-old singer, who has worked as a tour guide at the Grand Ole Opry, stepped onto the Blind Audition stage with a song that comes with enormous expectations.
Riley Green immediately recognized just how difficult the choice was, describing Vince Gill as one of country music’s greatest vocalists and telling Kayleigh that she had taken on some very big shoes.
But Kayleigh’s traditional country tone and emotional delivery quickly won over the entire panel.
Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, Riley and Queen Latifah all turned, giving Kayleigh a four-chair turn and setting off one of the most competitive coach battles of the night.
Adam immediately told Kayleigh he planned to fight hard for her, calling her a “magnificent talent” and arguing that joining his team could give her a unique position because he had been searching for the right country singer.
Riley took a more personal approach.
He said the performance reminded him of the country music he grew up listening to in Alabama and admitted that when he closed his eyes, Kayleigh’s voice briefly made him feel as though he were back home.
Then Kelly Clarkson made two comparisons that immediately stood out.
Kelly told Kayleigh that parts of her tone reminded her of Patty Loveless, particularly the way she stretched and shaped certain notes.
She also said she heard a little LeAnn Rimes in Kayleigh’s voice, describing her sound as a combination of several female country singers she has long admired.
But Queen Latifah may have summed up the performance most memorably.
Queen told Kayleigh that the audition was “absolutely gorgeous” and said, “You took me to church.”
She explained that the performance eventually became almost spiritual for her and said she believed she could help Kayleigh choose songs that would continue bringing out the emotional beauty in her voice.
The fight for Kayleigh soon became one of the funniest coach battles of the Blind Auditions.
Riley even brought out a duck blind to jokingly block Adam from continuing his pitch, while Adam eventually admitted that the two men may have gotten so distracted competing with each other that they had damaged their own chances.
As it turned out, he was right.
Kayleigh surprised both country coach Riley and an extremely determined Adam by announcing that she wanted to work with Queen Latifah.
She explained that she needed to follow her “heart and gut,” saying she believed Queen was not only an accomplished performer but also someone she genuinely wanted to learn from.
Queen was visibly surprised by the decision, but she also made it clear that she doesn’t intend to limit Kayleigh to one musical lane.
Although Kayleigh’s roots are firmly in country music, Queen pointed out that country also contains elements of soul, rhythm and blues and said she was excited to discover how far Kayleigh’s voice could go.
For a singer whose career has kept her close to country music through the Grand Ole Opry, taking on a Vince Gill classic was already a bold Blind Audition choice.
But earning four chairs, comparisons to Patty Loveless and LeAnn Rimes, and a reaction Queen Latifah described as spiritual made Kayleigh Matthews’ audition one of the standout country performances of Season 30 so far.
