Blues rock singer and The Voice winner Huntley talks his latest single “Tell Me When It´s Over”, the trials and tribulations of his life and being a single dad on tour
By Katharina Moser
The characteristic long hair braided down his back, his two feet firmly on the ground, and eyes set thoughtfully on the yellow sunset going down over Nashville, full of longing, as if in the face of a new world about to be born around him and he knows just the place he owns in it – that is Huntley in the end of his latest music video. The song “Tell Me When It´s Over” is a masterpiece of songwriting and a demonstration of Huntley´s extraordinary talent as a songwriter – and most importantly, it is the final proof we needed that the singer, winner of the Voice 2023, has long proven wrong the image of a short-lived talent show winner and paved his way as a versatile artist with star potential.
“I wrote that song right after I left the Voice”, says Huntley, one sunny afternoon in Fredericksburg, Virginia, just before the release. “As an artist, I’m very passionate, and I love hard. At that time, I happened to go through a really rough breakup. And that reminded me how, while everything’s going right, stuff can still go wrong.” Just months ago, the American blues rock singer-songwriter has won season 24 of the American talent competition The Voice at the age of 33 and competed on the team coached by Niall Horan, giving Horan his second win as a coach on the show. “I had this amazing success, and for a second it felt like all my problems were solved, that I had made it, that everything is going to be better from now on. But then you wake up the next day, with this hollow feeling that you get when things come to an end. All the other contestants had left the hotel. And I was still there for a whole another week because I was invited to play at a halftime show in San Diego. So I was all alone, just me and my trophy”, Huntley reflects. “But then I had this moment of realization that things were not over, that I myself was the missing piece I had been looking for. To me, the song means shedding all the problems of the past, trying to become a better man and a better person. I had to talk about love at some point. It’s about conquering the demons that are inside”, he says. “The song reminds me that it´s never really over. Its´s an ongoing battle in life, and I´m just trying to figure out what this journey is going to hold.”
The win at the Voice may be one of his most public successes yet, but Huntley has been making music since he was a kid. “I´ve been singing since I can remember. And I definitely bring a special passion and intensity to singing.” When he was 14 years old, Huntley founded a band with his best friend, at first influenced by heavy metal sounds. “But that transitioned and I fell in love with the blues.” At college in Florida, Huntley began to engage with the engineering and production side of music. After graduating from college, the self-taught artist started travelling. “I was homeless in Nashville for two months, in Centennial Park. I was 19 years old, and I just had my guitar, my bag and my books. I didn’t know it would be that cold there”, Huntley reminisces with an amused smile. “I was freezing, just trying to make my way, and when I finally got my feet on the ground, the flood happened in Nashville. I woke up six feet under water. It was always like that – a lot of good things meet with trials and tribulations. With the good comes the bad, and with the bad comes the good. And that is one thing I´ve learned – there are these epic, really crazy, bad moments, but right around the corner there are really amazing opportunities.”
Huntley, in his life as an artist, has done countless covers of famous songs, always adding his own creativity, his own spirit, transforming them into new works of art. “I think that I’ve always kind of been a free spirit in the way I learn a song. I leave it open to interpretation. So when I take a song on, even if the song is about something that I’ve never been through myself, I try to relate it to something that I’m going through now. I try to find my mark and my feel. When I take on a song, I try to listen to it like when I heard it for the first time, and then just imagine how I would like it to sound in my own way.” More so, however, Huntley has also always written his own original music. Great raspy voices like Joe Cocker, Steven Tyler or Lenny Kravitz have been big influences on his style, as well as emo artists like Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects or All That Remains. Huntley´s latest release “Tell Me When It´s Over” was preempted by the single “Holding On” in 2022, another powerful ballade full of sorrow and hope.
His songs are a reflection of all the ups and downs, the struggles and hopes in Huntley’s personal pathway. Born in Tampa, Florida, the Huntley family moved to Virginia when he was 14. “I’m the youngest of three sisters and a brother, and at first, I grew up between two families. My mom and my dad were in two different marriages. By the time I was eight years old, my dad just disappeared from the family one day, and it was just me and my mother”, Huntley reveals. “It was a hard time trying to learn how to be a man from eight years old, and until now, I think I’m still learning. But I also think it’s made me a better father.” Huntley always loved music, but really started honing his skill when he moved to Virginia. “I would go down to the dock and sit there and just play by myself. All my worries would just melt away.” At the age of 33, Huntley almost gave up on the idea of succeeding as an artist – until one day, he was making spaghetti for his children and “The Voice” called. “They asked me to take part. I hadn’t even auditioned.”
What may seem like a lucky turn of fate, had also been the result of years of hard work and chances taken. Huntley had participated on The American Idol three times, without being shown on TV. He may not have gotten any airtime – but for sure one of the most inspiring encounters in his life. “It must have been my second time on American Idol, I had been sent at home in Hollywood week. It was really disheartening. I remember I came to LAX airport, and everybody was moping around and being sad. And I thought, forget about this sadness, I’m going to grab my guitar and cheer everybody up. And I started playing. And then this gentleman walks over, and he puts his hand on my shoulder. He happened to be Andy Grammer”, Huntley remembers enthusiastically. Grammer, a successful pop musician from California, is known for songs like “Honey, I´m good” or “Fresh Eyes”. “So we sat down and had a conversation. We were even on the same flight back to North Carolina from LAX. He told me that these shows don’t really matter. It’s about getting in the studio and writing. And he said to me, write that hit song. You know, these shows don’t really mean too much. It’s what happens after. And I think that that really made me just hone in on my writing even more.”
Of course, everything has changed since then, the Voice win being just the first stone in a monumental building. “It´s eight months later now, and it still doesn’t feel real. We just did an army tour, visited all these army bases and for communities, and it was 30,000 people every night.” What remains his top priority though, are his kids, a son and a daughter, who he raises as a single father. “Sometimes it is hard to navigate all of this. I also know that my kids are still learning to deal with this new situation. My daughter just turned eight years old, and I always ask her permission when somebody on the streets wants to take a photo with me”, Huntley explains. “I think that this opportunity that I’ve been given is a gift to show my family that the world is so much more than it seems to be. Dreams aren’t always going to provide for your family. It sounds like a sad joke, but you can make all your dreams come true and still be depressed, so just staying mentally aware of your boundaries and what in your realm you can control, is the one thing that I’ve learned, and that I´m grateful for.”
His kids inspire him daily. “They teach me a lot every day. Although I’m going to be honest, it is crazy sometimes. They’re downstairs right now, and I can hear them just destroying everything”, he laughs. “Being a single dad on tour and handling everything at once is challenging and beautiful at the same time. When I get back from concerts, I don´t have a break. I have my kids. It’s on to the next adventure.“ Huntley is grateful for his family and how his dream as a singer is working out. But the trials and tribulations inspiring his music have never ceded. “It’s not like cookies and rainbows over here all the time. I got a crying kid and a crying baby, and we have our hard times. Life isn’t always supposed to be happy. It’s all about the experience. And my kids, no matter how much up the wall they drive me, are literally the driving force of anything I do”, Huntley says. “Sometimes I get down and feel like I’m not where I thought I was supposed to be, I get too competitive with myself. But then, I remind myself that I got a beautiful daughter, I got a handsome son, I got two annoying cats that I love. Let´s not be too down about things.”
With that, Huntley also hopes to inspire other parents out there that may not be doing well financially but are still out there giving everything for their kids, like he did. “A year and a half ago just going to the park with my kids was a blast. I´m just grateful for this opportunity. And I just hope that other parents hear this and that they give themselves some grace, because their kids just love them for who they are. For nothing else. My daughter couldn’t care less that I was on The Voice. She just wants my time.”
What would be the most valuable advice to give his kids? “There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, and it all comes together. Just give yourself some grace and sit back and laugh about it sometimes, because it’s all just a part of the experience. I want my kids to know that the time with the people they love matters the most. Your path and your journey are yours to control, no matter what’s going on in your life”, Huntley says. “I want my kids to follow their dreams. I want my daughter to be adventurous and experience life. I don’t want to hold her back. I love my kids, but I want them to actually experience real life and not be afraid of the tribulations. Hard times are going to come, and I don’t want to keep that away from my kids. I definitely want to be there when they need me. But I want my kids to suffer. Not really, of course. But I want them to learn and build character.”
Looking at how far Huntley has come ever since he sang his first tunes, and all the unexpected success along the way, what would his younger version say if he could witness all this? “14-year-old me would say, I told you. 23-year-old me would say, man, I didn’t know if this was going to work out. 23-year-old was more doubtful and would say, thank God. 14-year-old was more confident about the future, playing in emo bands, rock shows, at high school, and everybody was really into it. You know, I started with a four-track player and a bass, sitting up there in my room recording songs, and now I’ve just had my first single release after winning the Voice. It’s surreal. The younger me definitely knew I could do it.”
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