Houston Kelly Talks ‘The Voice: Battle of Champions,’ And New Album ‘Right Here, Right Now’

Houston Kelly had a great run on The Voice: Battle of Champions as part of Team Kelly. Starting off on the Blinds with a standout performance of Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis,” Kelly went on to the Battles with Tia Durant and advanced to the Knockouts with JW Griffin. Kelly, a Memphis native and current student at University of Tennesse at Martin, talked to Deepest Dream about his time on the show and he also discussed his album Right Here, Right Now.

Kelly Clarkson described Houston Kelly as a “solid country singer” and John Legend complimented the natural “power” behind Kelly’s voice. Though Kelly has received his share of love thanks to his performances, he remains steady through it all.

“One of the things that I learned and I realized – my worth is not grounded in what I do on a stage,” said Kelly. “I follow Jesus and my worth comes from him and what he’s done for me, not any singing ability that I have or anything like that.”

“That’s been one of the things that after my Blind (audition) aired on TV, there was a momentary high and it was really cool,” added Kelly. “And I was surrounded by friends and family. But then life was regular. Nothing changed. I’m still Houston. Nothing’s different. That was one of the things I didn’t expect, but in a way I knew it was coming. So in reflection of what was happening there, it really made me think about what do I put my identity in and how am I gonna portray that identity as I move forward.”

For a deeper insight into Kelly’s musicianship and songwriting, check out his debut album Right Here, Right Now which he discussed in detail during the interview.

“I’m really proud of (Right Here, Right Now),” said Kelly. “Part of the reason I wanted to go ahead and release that was because I knew of some upcoming opportunities and I said if people are gonna have opportunity to maybe hear me, I want ’em to hear something fresh,” said Kelly. “And I want ’em to be able to hear something that I’m proud of. Something that I wanna play at shows. And so the band and I – we got together and some of the songs are co-written.”

“One of my good friends, Ella Gibson, she wrote with me on a few of them. I will vomit words out when it comes to songwriting. And that’s something that she sat down and I remember her telling me,” said Kelly. “She said, ‘Houston, does rhyme scheme mean anything to you?’ And we all busted out laughing and because she was right. So I’ve learned a lot from her.

Listen to “Messages in Heaven,” a song Kelly wrote in tribute to his late grandfather:

Full interview Houston Kelly:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Houston Kelly (@houstonkelly_)