From their homes across the Mountain State, West Virginians tuned into Monday night's season premiere of “The Voice,” delighted to find one of their own turning heads of all four celebrity coaches. 

 

Singing the George Jones classic, “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Beckley’s Cody Wickline owned his blind audition. The 2012 Woodrow Wilson High School graduate - who taught himself guitar at age 16 and subsequently performed at venues including the West Virginia State Fair - is certainly in awe of what is happening.

“I was telling my mother the other day that I still have a hard time believing all this is going on,” he said. “I walk through Walmart now and 100 people stop me to take pictures. It’s crazy that in just one night, my life changed that quickly.”

 

Prior to the summer of 2014, Wickline’s life was working part-time at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, attending Bluefield State College pursuing nursing, playing local venues and loving life with his mom Beverly, dad Joe and 13-year-old brother Caleb.

 

In high school, he was a wrestler, a kickboxing student and a karate black belt before he ever picked up a guitar.

 

“I got interested in music because my buddy played guitar,” said Wickline, adding that their first gig together was in Spanish class – for extra credit. “They wanted us to sing a Christmas song in Spanish. I sang ‘Feliz Navidad’ in front of the class and it kind of spiked my interest.”

 

He went on to perform at the Braxton County Fair, the West Virginia State Fair and various other venues.

 

“I opened for John Michael Montgomery in August when he was at the (Beckley-Raleigh County) Convention Center. That was probably one of the coolest things I got to do,” he said. “I also played twice at Jamboree in the Hills and that was also a really cool experience. A lot of different legends have played there.”

 

In June, at age 20, Wickline auditioned for “The Voice” in Washington, DC. For a couple of years, his coworkers – and people around town - had been encouraging him to audition for a national talent search.

 

“I’ve had so many people wanting me to do it. I even had a woman offer to pay my travel expenses if I would try out for a show like ‘The Voice,’” he said.

 

With southern West Virginia charm and an accent to match, Wickline told her:

 

“I really appreciate it, Ma’am. You don’t know how much that means to me, but I can’t accept something like that.”

 

The next thing he knew, he received a message from the casting crew of “The Voice.”

 

“They send out messages to musicians, encouraging them to audition,” Wickline said. “I kind of felt like everything was pointing toward ‘The Voice’ and I said I might as well go ahead and do it."

From the get-go, it’s been a very positive experience and Wickline is confident he made the right decision insofar as pursuing an audition for this particular talent search.

 

“They had some casting people there and basically, if they like you, they give you a call in a couple weeks,” he said. “What I like about ‘The Voice’ is they are really big on making sure they don’t humiliate anybody. They make sure it’s the best singers who go on and they make sure they are supplied with warm-up exercises and vocal coaches so they can be at their best before even being seen on TV. They really want artists to have equal opportunity to get a chair to turn.”

 

As he stood on that LA stage before celebrity coaches Christina Aguilera, Pharrell Williams, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, he hoped he had made the right song choice.

 

“I grew up on George Jones, as well as Hank (Williams) Sr., Waylon Jennings and those guys. I came to love it. That’s just my passion – traditional country,” Wickline said. “But I had to decide between two songs and I was also considering ‘Simple Man,’ which showed my range and the higher notes I could hit. But ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ shows who I want to be as an artist and that’s the reason I went with it.”

 

Before Wickline got a note out, Shelton commented that he believed the tune was probably the most important country song recorded in the past 60 years.

 

“With that being said, I felt like I was going to do really good and excel really far – or I was making a really horrible mistake,” Wickline said.

 

The former scenario proved to be true when all four celebrities turned their chairs upon hearing Wickline's rendition of the country classic. 

 

“I almost broke down on stage,” he said. “I could not believe it. As a singer, you go through so much and have so many people tell you can do something. To get the opportunity to get out there in front of somebody who can really help you with your career is an opportunity in itself. It was amazing. And when all four turned around and said they would fight for me and said the things they did, it was really an emotional experience. It’s the moment I waited for my whole life.”

 

Wickline chose Shelton as his coach and though that seems like a likely choice, it wasn’t his sole consideration.

 

“I had been planning on Blake, but Pharrell said some things that really inspired me. He said if you want Nashville, go with Blake, but if you want the world, come with me,” Wickline said. “It really opened my eyes and he was so humble about it. Then Pharrell said to go with my heart and to make a decision based on how I felt and I felt that a country artist better understood my vocals and would know the songs I wanted to do. That’s the reason I went with Blake.”

 

Wickline said much more conversation went on between him and the celebrity coaches than the episode indicated. Much was edited out. He said all four coaches made their best pitch to enlist him and they were all very good at making their argument.

 

Wickline said he’s been a Blake Shelton fan for some time. He’s even performed some of his tunes – “Ol’ Red,” “The Baby” and “Austin” – at some of his shows.

 

“And he’s such a cool guy. On TV, he seems really down to earth – and he really is. Even off-camera, he jokes around,” Wickline said. “And it’s crazy, especially since he’s kind of an intimidating guy. He stands about 6’ 6” or  7” and I look up to him. He’ll come and grab me and give me a big hug."

 

Shelton has given Wickline some good ideas with regard to his musical delivery. He said he wishes he could fill his supporters in on more of his experience on “The Voice.”

 

“There’s a lot I’m not allowed to share, but I will say that Blake is very good at what he does and he knows his stuff,” Wickline said. “I guess that’s really why he’s won so many times.”

For the time being, Wickline has taken a break from his studies at Bluefield State. He may or may not continue pursuit of a nursing – a career he was drawn to because he liked the idea of helping people and he felt he would always have job security. The grandson of a West Virginia coal miner, Wickline said he's not afraid of work. 

 

For  now, he’ll be working to take his music to the next level.

 

“I want to play my music on stage and tour across America – and maybe even outside of America,” he said. “Pharrell asked what my goal was with my music. And you know, I said that fortune and fame was ok, but I just want to be able to share my music with the world and for people to enjoy it. That’s my main goal right now; just to be able to get on the platform where I can do that and let the world hear me.”

 

Tune into “The Voice” to see how Wickline does. The show airs on NBC, Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. Millions around the world tuned into Monday night's Season 8 premiere. 

 

Editor's Note: See Wickline's blind audition, which has hit over 770,000 views on YouTube - below. 

 

Pictured just above is Wickline with Dave Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash. He just happened to run into him while in LA and said he was pretty pumped about it.

 

Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200 Ext. 2, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter.