The Man Behind the Mic: The Voice Season 24 Finalist- Ephraim Owens

everything we do in life there's some type of competitive notion right I feel like a steampunk Amish Samurai that's I got a for chair turn when some people only had one spot left what do you hope people feel when they hear your music from South bin to Evansville and everywhere in between this is get in the show focused on the hooer state and the incredible stories happening here today I'm Nate spangle founder of G Indiana and I will be your host for today's conversation today I'm joined by Ephraim Owens a singer originally from Indianapolis Indiana and was a contestant on season 24 of the voice

Ephraim was surrounded by music from an early age when his grandmother uh she sang backup for icons like Marvin Gay and Al Green and his father serving as the minister of music now Owen's powerful performance on The Voice earned him a legendary for chair turn and now he's back in carel with his wife and three children and he recently saying the national anthem at the Brickyard 400 and an Indianapolis Indians game in which I was uh I was present there throwing out the first pitch So today we're going to be covering the journey through the voice and all the great I mean amazing things that

happened there a little bit about grit and Glamour and then family and farm life so Ephraim welcome to get in hey it's a pleasure to be here thank you for having me I'm super stoked about this I've been watching uh your podcast and and covering this city that I love and so once any connection was made I'm all for it and uh let's make Indie great yes yes sir absolutely we just get to highlight like all the cool stuff going on and I will say I do think when I think about what Indie is missing is like a Pham musical artist well we're going after

it that's like Louisville gets Jack harlo and like I don't really know honestly like who is the biggest musical artist out of Indianapolis um me yeah oh yeah of course after we'll get to I I don't know if you would say Indianapolis I would probably say Indiana like your two biggest icons that that Indiana is going to claim is is definitely Michael Jackson and then people don't talk about him but definitely melon Camp yeah oh for sure Seymour baby down south he still lives on on Lake Monroe in Bloomington I did not know that yeah he still like putes around down there the problem is

which which I am I can respect it so I'm not throwing any shade but people they they pursue this music career they have to be transplant or they they believe at one point you had to be close to this major label you had to be in these meccas so people leave right and then they forget their Roots like that is crazy to me like that aspect is because at least for me Indiana like if you remove Indiana from me I'm not the same person at all heck yeah you know well what do you think like the this is just like we're going to get right

into it it's like what do you think the like around Indie coolest show or stage cuz usually it's like okay someone plays I I don't know like tin rof for Egyptian Room or something and they're like great and next month I'm moving to Nashville and like I got to get out of here I I I get caught in it too like as I'm trying to really pursue music and and really put myself in the best position like the reality is you can if you go to Nashville you can walk down the street in Nashville and you're going to run into maybe 10 of the best

musicians you've ever met three of the best producers that you've ever met and you just instantly feel like oh if I want to do it this is where I have to be but the reality is is there's a lot of fantastic people everywhere and you have the ability especially with just technology and everything else to really do stuff at home like Billy ish her first album was in her room with her brother dude and the thing about Nashville I love Nashville I have a great time there uh but the thing about it is is like everyone's good everyone everyone like it is I do think

there's the opportunity especially if you can capture like the digital like you know way to like really grow of like standing out 100% like everyone like and you end up singing on Broadway Off Broad and all a sudden you're just singing cover tunes at freaking Kid Rock's third floor bar and you're like what the hell I came down here to like like to make a career out of this and I'm just singing Friends in Low Places on repeat yeah Network like the reality is and I think the riddled streets of dead or Starving Artists in various you know whether it's Nashville New York La um

is many of them think that if I go to that place and I'm just all these my platinum album is just going to fall out of the sky and someone's going to discover me yes and you're a million Tik Tok followers yeah exactly and the reality is it really is about networking and truly you know being at the right place at the right time and for myself um even as I got the opportunity to be on the voice and be amongst peak of it when we first got out there um one many people don't realize that the process starts way before I yeah okay well

let's just start there take me back to like when you first got into music and like the journey that brought you to like you know maybe I should pursue something like the voice so where to begin all right where where to begin so with the battle him of the Republic right yes so my grandmother um she went to a church uh downtown uh slightly West Side uh called Christ Missionary Baptist Church and she was a legend amongst vocalists and and everything and so um my first opportunity my we were doing a special my dad is a mu musician and minister of music for my whole

life and uh so we were doing a special and we got to sing battle hmer Republic I was 3 years old and I had my little solo just crushed it I crushed it yes sir I crushed it I was 3 years old and I crushed it uh I was on key in tone and I was like he was hooked I was hooked one day there's going to be a show and I'm going to get on it one day and so I I I really got into I was I really didn't have a choice not to be like into music um but for me I like

love it and I feel like this is what I was made to do um I'm one of seven um all of us are involved in music um my oldest brother he was a minister of music and now he's a pastor in in in off of 86 in centrally as a church City of Lights um and my other brother my baby brother actually David Owens he was on season 16 of the voice well he was on it before you were oh yeah no way oh see I'm this is the thing we'll go into like combat we'll go into all these different things that I but the

overarching thing is like I am Uber competitive and like how so David gets on David gets on so we go I my first time I ever went out was like 2000 what do you say go out like don't quit first give us the the process how does the process of getting on The Voice work so preco you used to basically go they used to have it like in like five or seven major cities right this is like the old school like American Idol thing like you line up like hour long hour long hour long so they had one in Chicago so me and my then

girlfriend now wife uh went out to Chicago and set all all day to then get into this room with you and like 12 other people for a assistant U producer you sing you know 30 seconds of a song If you get that I mean they'll straight up raise their hand and you just stop and then you sit down and then after that wait what oh bro so you just start singing and they're like two yeah it's a no for me dog and then they they'll say you're they'll go through everybody right so you don't get so there's 12 potential contestants in the room sitting in

a room it's your turn you stand up you sing and they let you keep going or they you sit down no words no nothing just coldhearted boom and at that time you've also already been there waiting for like seven hours at least at least at least my mindset you fill out with this time slot I'm going to audition from this time no you're going to get in line at that time right so the first time I went Chicago after everyone did their uh their segment sang their part portion of their song um at the end they'll say your people's names and they say all right

come get your call back form and then that means you get to prepare three you know songs with a company M the next day to see if you so you stay in Chicago you would stay in Chicago I did not no no so I sing my part they go all right we're not gonna keep anybody from this group like dang so now I gotta drive all the way back home pissed oh I was I was I was angry because like I'm super competitive but I also love to learn so I I wish I could have got like feedback right um I didn't get that so

then years go and I'm what year was that the first time you tried that was like 2012 okay and your brother what what season would that have been that was he was 16 so it was three years later they had auditions here in Indie so me uh and three of my brothers so me my brother John he's older than me my brother Judah he's uh in the line how many brothers do you have there's there's seven of us I have four brothers two sisters heck yeah yes four of us went two of us made it to call back so myself and my baby brother David

made it to callbacks damn that had to be a good Thanksgiving ah yes yes it it was even better this past one because he goes through the process and the process is like it's strenuous like from the moment that you get to go get a call back and that was preco that was more in-person stuff postco was my process and so there's a lot more digital um and sending off stuff so you both get the call back that means you get three songs with the company me the next day yeah so the next day like they tell you it was it was funny moment cuz

like my little brother I mean he he's younger and he does some little brother stuff he's a very uh great person he's amazing but he's still a little brother right and there's certain things that he just does nonchalantly I don't know if it's just his generation but he's just like you know he graduates from IU and we we're like oh you got to dress up and get a clean cut for your interview and he's like I mean my resume speaks for itself you're like come on bro like come on dude so we we go down there and we you know he'll tell us that we

all convinced him to go but like as the producer in the room she's like but you still came like so you had to want to do well cuz she's like giving us pointers like you need three songs you need this this she's like and dressed to impress and uh she's like looks at my little brother she goes all right look at him and see how he's dressed what are you doing and he's like he's like she goes he goes I I kind of am and she goes you have a hole in your shirt and he's like he's like oh I mean but they convince me

so I really wasn't prepared she goes but you showed up so you had to actually want to move forward okay wait wait so brief B so you two are in the room and she's gapping on your brother right now and then you out there and sing so we go out the next day and we're on a Mad Dash because like you want to pick songs that represent you and you want to do them well because it's the next tier so now it's not a you know everyone's stretch thin trying to go through like I think there was like 11,000 people that came came to for

calls for no for the open call downtown at uh at Banker life for whatever it is now yeah yeah yeah and so we now it's like you walk in a room and there's 10 people 15 people that are evaluating you oh okay what did you sing for the day one what did you sing actually what did you sing the first time in Chicago I might have sing broken road by by Rascal flat by Rascal flat cuz I was wanted to throw a curveball like yeah they're like oh wasn't expecting that it wasn't a curveball enough was curve like that like that you say no they

like chill with their ass Flats next time okay and then then round two and then round two I sang um king of my heart it's a worship song um and move moved on heyy there you go praise be had that extra anointing and then uh so then callbacks you get three I get three so then I went in that vein right I'm like okay so they likeed I sang this worship song at the time I was a worship leader I'm like okay so they like that so let me keep doing that path man I open my mouth to sing the first song and one I

was very unlucky because m Michelle MCN is over the casting company so how it works is there's a casting company that basically uh accumulates and gathers and goes finds the talent and then they Pres present it to the producers of the show right so they split there was two call back rooms and I was in the room that Michelle was in and she was running it right David got in with another room and I will say that I think he got lucky being in that room but also I think that um I was ready to present myself in a way that I thought they wanted

to like pitch me as cuz you you start reading hints of every part of the process and so I'm like all right they like this song so let me prepare this so you did three worship songs yes oh and she was like well I didn't I didn't I didn't do three cuz she stopped me at the first one she was like listen you sound fantastic like you sound awesome she goes and she goes but you're about to take me into like worship and I I don't want that and she's like this is a reality she goes we've had lots of people people that go on

The Voice and they're worship leaders and that's what their past is but we're not this isn't voice worship leader Edition so then she started like putting me in this vein right she's like you are I was like okay she's like you are gorgeous you're attractive she was like you need to be singing like this bumping grind I'm like R&B I'm like okay all right she's like so sing you know any of this so I'm like kitchen songs like oh love XY by Luke James and so she's like all right sing it you know like so there's aspect where she really wanted me to move on

so but this is this is where I know I why I didn't is BEC in that in that phase is because at that time they did did all these City ones and then they would after all of them they would basically create highlight reels of all the contestants and then amongst their team would essentially vote right I'm like I don't have I don't have good enough tape you know I felt like a football player like you know are you going to leave early you know I'm like I need more tape I need more tape and I I didn't have it um My Brother David did

what did he sing do you remember I I couldn't tell you I he's in the other room he's in the other room and he comes out and after that right you you there's still and that call back there's still a moving phase like so after you do your vocal singing then you if you do well there then you go to an interview and they interview you and get that on tape and same day or a different day same same day so he did well and he got called to the interview and you didn't no I did oh you got interview too so I was like

all right there's still hope right there's still the duo the brothers yeah and then and then they're like uh interviewing us like oh man you guys are great this is so fun awesome I'm like all right well then time went and I didn't get a phone call and and how long I mean it was probably 2 or 3 months because they had to go through all the cities yeah they had to go through all the cities for the and I I ended up getting the call and you know one of the aspects is at that time they at least call you and say why they

didn't choose you yeah and it was it was tape and then the other aspect is like they did not necessarily at that time they didn't have groups and so they like group all um it was only individuals like now I want to say season 16 or 17 they had started introducing groups of three and so they were like we don't know if we want two brothers competing against each other and I was like I was like you don't you don't know our family though like we want to convenience each other and then they said but we want David yeah but we want David so he

got on so he got on um and so this will tell just the process so he got on he had to go out like a few more times for or um inperson like evaluation how many how many people make it to that phase probably 400 500 people holy from that phase but then I nonchalantly like once you're in the like kind of the tank uh and getting emails and just different stuff like they start doing more virtual auditions so they're like hey I get an email we're doing a virtual auditions fill out for a slot I'm like all right cool I'll just fill out for

a slot it's virtual you know I'll just do it at home and one night my wife's like hey what are you doing I'm like I'm going just go do this Voice audition real quick in the in my I have like a she shed or a man shed and I'm like I'm just going to go back here and do this audition she's like what like yeah it's just a slot I'll go and I do it in probably an hour and a half later I get an email that says hey you're moving forward to call backs I'm like what yes I didn't even have to drive to

Chicago for this or wait 6 hours like's you what' you sing that time that song I sang nervous uh by John Legend oh they're like oh I do okay all right and so you know I had to I had to Pivot right I had to Pivot I didn't I didn't go down to like the the jodic and D'Angelo you know Sexual Chocolate uh R&B side but I brought I brought more more more feel to it so you get callbacks then you got three songs with accompanyment is that virtual or in person that's all that postco it's all uh virtual so um do you feel like

the speakers really like in the mic like really capture what you're able to do virtually no not me hey enough enough I guess to get you a call back yeah and but like yes yes I think I think that it can give them enough to see like all right what what this person's working with um and it it leaves enough uh for excitement when you can get in the room with the person so I did my three videos there that process like it happens pretty fast and then they give you like stipulations like they want it shot a certain way you know and they say

some stuff that you don't think you ever have to say and I think it's one of those you know they say stuff like you know make sure there's not laundry in the back of your shot and you're like you have to say that they're like yeah you actually do because they didn't and there was people that were like do sending these their laundry room yeah like or just not caring about the environment Shir yeah David just they they give you all these different stipulations and um you you submit your your songs and then shortly after I want to say for that phase maybe it was

like well actually probably 24 hours I got hey you know all these other two cuz you're more working like with a specific production assistant at that time how I I don't know this as fact but how the the feeling that I got from it was essentially like everything we live we do in life there's some type of competitive notion right and so I think that in this Casting Company every assistant basically is going through this process and picking their Champions and they all want to be able to take and be like this is I pick winners yeah I draft winners yeah exactly like man so

30 people got selected and 25 of them were this person this assistant he's like yeah you know I know what I'm doing yeah so I sent uh my three videos off and like in 20 24 48 Hours uh I got an email I like hey all these are great but like maybe let's adjust this one this way and then I'm like all right cool no problem that's good feedback like yeah awesome like yeah no problem I get it they're like when you think you it be a few hours you know what are you doing full time during this point full time right now I work

at custom cast stone up in uh Westfield Indiana and we make cast stone which basically looks like Indiana's one of Indiana's natural resources you're working full-time working in stone oh yeah I'm the whole way through whole way through and if they've been like yo you when you're doing you know an appearance or whatever they're's like yeah go go play yeah yeah I mean they're they're understanding plus I have a little bit of flex because I'm the only person that that runs this this type of machine there's only two machines like this in existence uh one's in Mexico and one's here and I run it and

the there's only been one other person that ran it prior to me and he retired after 28 years um and he's enjoying fishing so they're like even when you want to go sing man just go just come back to work yeah just please come back they're like when your album drops they're going to be like yo come on like yeah the owner's brother after my first episode aired he's like I hope you got somebody training under him he's about to be out okay so let's talk about that first episode right you get called out there like how long are you out in is it La

where you at yeah so I'm out in La undisclosed location um I'm out in LA and I go out there and I'm there for almost nine weeks before I nine weeks yeah before like anything like how this this so there this is crazy I won't go to all the details but that the one thing that does to me set the voice process apart from and I don't know this from I know this from people's accounts that were on The Voice with me um Idol any of these other like they happen so fast like the earlier stages the first recordings the auditions are like within the

week the people go out there um and the voice like they really want to position people to be able to put their best foot forward so that aspect was the coolest the coolest thing I've ever done what are you doing for nine weeks you are meeting with vocal coaches you're doing wardrobe um oh yeah dude you're for your battle the seamstress the k bro the SE my my my mother did not like the outfit but I was like with the hat yeah I love the hat I I have the whole whole wardrobe still the only thing was my pants like the original pants to go

with that outfit they didn't they didn't work they didn't fit so they were like o how about these and they were like Ephraim like it's a little avang guard how you willing to push it I'm like yeah let's go and it's got like a dress type looking stuff right yeah yeah it's like I mean put a picture of it I'm like it's like if this is a I felt like a a steampunk Samurai like yes very Samurai yes I was like I feel like a steam like a steampunk Amish Samurai that's yeah that's fair that's respectable I'm like all right but whatever like we're going

to go after it and that was probably the only thing in the whole process that like you know I did wardrobe you figure out different stuff and different looks and all that stuff and and that I left and I just didn't feel great about it um but then I go I ask and they're willing to like work but then you know there's also another person that's like listen The Producers have seen your outfit they freaking love it we can change it if you want and I'm like uh-uh n they love it they love it let's let's keep that one um I don't hate it that

bad um so but you're out there you're doing all these different things and that part is just super super cool because again at this at this point I it's just you know I'm a dad a husband I have two kids is your family there or here no they're they're here so my wife is I did not know at the time but my wife is here with the two kids pregnant and I'm out and now her perspective is like I'm just eating bon bons and and just on vacation having a good over two months yeah yeah and you guys didn't see each other one time no

no nine weeks n weeks bro other nine weeks and then so doing all this stuff which is for a person who is like went into the next phase of Life as a husband a dad a provider all this stuff to be in a in a place where like every day my number one priority was essentially doing what I love and taking care of my voice and and sharpening my craft which I don't get those opportunities dad gets a little rest and relaxation you know I don't get and so that aspect was awesome and if someone was like what would you know your life look like

if if it was up to you I'm like I would basically be doing that with my family that would be the best right yeah um and so doing all these different things vocal coaches staging the band is the best band that you could ever imagine in your life they've played with everybody um done everything um even even the whole production team is fantastic like uh I stay in contact with many of them just cuz they were like you bond with these people these people interview you countless amounts of times you have everybody kind of has a producer for the show that they work with very

closely um because they want to portray you and learn your story and get to know you to best essentially sell you or pitch you to America um so you just it's a very very cool experience now the other side it's also extremely stressful because one you're isolated you're way from your family you from a standpoint not saying that everyone follows it but you really can't go anywhere or do anything you're in a hotel this whole time I'm thankful I had there was like four people that were on my season that were on the previous season because same thing happened to my brother is they have

X amount of spots for teams right and so they don't know if coaches are going to say yes to the first 20 or no to the first 20 so they have to have enough contestants to be able to play that out so for my brother's season like when he he was originally for season 15 and the last spot got filled right before he walked on stage oh so they say teams are filled go home I know you've been here for eight weeks and you don't even get a shot stop so then he left they B they were like hey you're going to go within that

first day you come back for season 16 give a try so he did that so there were some people that did that similar process my season but then they had they were still in covid restrictions for That season so for them they even had producers that had to drop food off at the doors and like they had like 15 minutes of like wreck time like jail dude what it was for real so I'm so thankful that I didn't have those restrictions but it's like extremely intense like because you know every day everything you're doing is an evaluation every everything and there are people rip that

you know you don't see on a roster the next day and they got cut they're just gone they're just gone you know um I had my one of my good friends who was across the hall from me um Huntley he woned my season and that's one thing he was talking to me you know that final week is like to go from they were doing two season at the same time so to go from like getting down there and there's like 200 vocalists and we're pretty much just living and taking over this hotel and there's Jam sessions and you're hanging at the pool and you're collaborating

people brought their whole setups and stuff and some people that were local had their friend bring their mixer and all that stuff like you have this like super Music Camp Vibe at the beginning to when it comes to lives and there's you know 20 people then one week there's 10 people to one how far did you make it so I lost in my battle I lost and that was that was exponential bummer um because again I'm competitive but I like coaching and dude we didn't get we didn't get feedback like in no the feedback all we watched the clip it's like they were both really

good bro but I'm talking like the whole week like vocal stage stuff like we have a stage rehearsal like choreographer and the vocal head vocal coach she was like listen I'm I trying to have favorites she said this to me and DJ U my partner my battle partner or my battle opponent however you look at it she's like but if this was a class I call both of y'all up to the front and tell everybody to do what y'all do dude it's so good and I'm River so so I'm like I'm like all right and they every person in this process they're job is to

literally shoot straight to you and we go to rehearsals band rehearsals where people come back to the hotel and they crying because so and so said you know this this this basically they sucked or get it together you know and so for us me and DJ we literally be talking to each other every night like every time we get like oh my gosh you guys are amazing you guys are crushing it oh you're absolutely going to get stolen or you're actually this like it's amazing even to what they didn't show was like we go we we audition or we do our battle and they tell

us they didn't Heir that but they tell us y'all are the best of the night you're the best of the night and I go home and so I'm literally on the side like what and at the moment did you think like okay someone's gonna someone's gonna Ste someone Ste but then did you actually say did you actually say like John you're my favorite coach yes damn you should have just like like Rea you're my favorite listen I I I watch that clip over and over again and I have friends that I didn't know how theirs I knew how theirs unfolded but I didn't know the

process like and you know that people they lost their battle and they pinched pitched thems and you know I probably should have pitched myself more I should have been like yo y'all need to do this this I was so freaking shocked of what has happened dude cuz they were both so good you and DJ were both so good DJ is my guy to this day and and we went to that process and it's it's kind of like you know roommates you know everyone has that horror roommate story you know I was lucky like me and him we worked well together we we I think we

complimented each other well and that was our minds our mindset was that one somebody has to win but the other one's going to get stolen because of the performance that we give and in the whole process my you know feather in my cap is that like I there literally a feather in his cap yes literally literally is that I I did everything I could I did not it was not vacation for me like I did my vocal exercises I had my humidifiers in my room I was drinking my tea I was doing everything I was supposed to do and I left I I could leave

regardless of the outcome and be like I did everything I could dude and like to not to just get right to the point where you got cut but like before that you give an insane performance like the first round and beneath you're beautiful and like all four judges turn around like how did that how did that feel take me to the highs well that that was incredible because again you it's so highly anticipated right and what's not aired or the are all to me I think they should air more of it is the drama of it because there is drama on the fact that like

we get not ranked but you get a schedule every day so you get people that go before you so like my audition as it was on the like first week or first episode of auditions I actually auditioned on the fourth day so most of these teams were already filled so that's one of my other bragging rights is I got a Ford chare turn when some people only had one spot left versus like this wasn't day one where everyone had the spot people were willing to give their last spot to me you know um and how the do you get to pick then when they all

turn you get yeah and you pick John yeah so I picked John so we we we go and again it's every night you see all right I'm not auditioning this day I'm not doing this my wife is and my wife and daughter are in town but they're at a different location so I didn't even get to see them until like the day before my audition so they were there for 4 days and I couldn't even see them and I'm like I'm going to like production I'm like please can I see my wife I haven't seen her forever you know um so no and I get

to audition they just say no they're like no uh I get to audition and I body it absolutely absolute body this audition and I get to do what like even in Chicago when I audition even here when I audition I'm like if I get in front of the right people and I get to perform like I'm a competitor I'm a passionate performer I will handle this all the way from like the songs you did on The Voice to like you know ripping the national anthem dude like you are he's a performer yeah and thank you thank you and like so I I get this opportunity

and it's just all this ACC culmination of again the rejections before the in Chicago and Indi Indiana and here and and then to go out there have my wife there that I haven't seen in a minute have my daughter there um and then to get my daughter to come up on the stage with me yeah like and then to you talk about turn on the Waterworks turn on the Waterworks you know and like even through this whole thing like the clip that I watch the most as a dad and this is like sappy you know girl Dad Dad gang stuff but like is that clip

you know to see my little my little girl be able to walk up on the stage she we get to sing a little portion of the song that started th this process because nervous was my first audition song when I in in the shed that I sent off to then be able to sing it right in front of John Legend who me myself grew up you know listening to as far as vocalists and and I love all the coaches that were on on my season they're all fantastic people and I have nothing uh but fantastic things to say but John out of all of them

was the person that like I grew up idolizing as a vocalist and so to be able to sing his song on that stage after all that time getting you know my mindset was all I need is one to turn one and once you see the first one go are you like oh I'm good like I'm roll the first time if you like listen to my clip you can tell that once the first one I just leveled up I was like all right you're like bet I'm bet mission accomplished now I can just go for it like I don't have the whole nothing back freaking it's

like it's like then you like squeak or something and they flip their chair back around like a yeah yeah exactly I'm like I'm like let's get after it and then you know the ending like they they were they're like who is this guy you know he's acting like he's you know just won the championship of some game I'm like yeah cuz I'm a I'm a gamer I'm competitive like I'm I'm not in some aspects because of all my different hobbies and my upbringing I'm not like what some people would be like the stereotypical artistic type but like I'm a competitor and I'm passionate well uh

and your wife she like loved Rea right oh she does she still give you some smoke for uh not picking her oh yeah she she absolutely does you know there there's like the the Comfort the comfort and competitive side I come back home you know and I'm like you know I don't understand why she's like I mean baby you did your best but maybe should have picked re but I'm like a come on come on I love it dude okay so biggest thing you learned from your time on The Voice biggest thing I learned was that I can do this you go through this journey

of life and it's something that music's always been around and it's always been something that I like I was made to do but also like there's also reality you know and to be a dad and be a husband like those are number one for me so that aspect of music or pursuing music to where I'm now uh been projected and really ignite it to do was like buried in dead quick pause in the action to introduce you to VAR keep vodka the cleanest tasting vodka ever Straight From the Heart of Indiana now this isn't just any vodka it uses an Innovative pressure filter in process

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a bottle of barkeep vodka from your local grocery or liquor store and impress your friends with the cleanest vodka ever made for more info visit barkeep vodka.com how did your life change from like being on The Voice um a lot of cool opportunities I mean one some people might not not might not think it's a big thing but again Indie is my home I love it so I've been able to do a lot of um different hooer you know Indiana thing so I've got to sing the national anthem at many iconic uh locations here in Indie and to do the Brickyard to do uh the

swimming trials the Indians game I've done fever Mad Ants um have you done the Pacer or have you done Pacers or or I've done the Colts yeah on Salute to service day where they had the bald eagle fly that was pretty pretty epic that's pretty dope um I would say right now the number one from like just the full experience was the Indians game the Indians game was dope like and then to like sit in the stands after and watch the fireworks with my kid like to seeing God Bless America on Fourth of July at a baseball game you know that's that he doesn't get

much more America than that that's super American okay um what about like professionally though like like what op what doors have been opened for you to go pursue music yeah so I've met with a few different um few different labels um what I've learned or what I'm committ it to is that I want to make the music that I want to make I don't want to necessarily sell the rights of myself or or like where they're going to give you a bunch of songs you got to sing or something yeah yeah and I've met with some that they're like all right we want you to

do prior to the voice a lot of my music professionalism was working with churches and being a worship leader and stuff like that so I've met some that are with labels that are like we just want you to do that I'm like all right well my faith is a huge part of my life so I understand that but it's going to be outpouring that's going to be outpouring and part of my music but it's not going to be the soul like because once you do that and you get labeled as like he's a gospel artist like you can't go make it's a w yeah that's

what you are which is not there's nothing wrong with's nothing wrong with yeah but it's like you can't like you're not going to go number one on the billboard if you're no offense to gospel artist like I'm Pro gospel artist yes but again I don't want to I don't want to be labeled like what do you want to make so I I want to make music that's authentic realistic and genre oh man honestly this is going to blow people's mind but like because it's my background like R&B and gospel does does affect like my tone and some of the not note selections that I make

however like it's really kind of like this Soul Americana oh so like who would you obviously No One Compares to you but like who like what kind I mean I would say like there's people the people that I've been like really vibing to like yba I really love yba I love Tory Kelly I like Teddy swim okay Teddy swim I know Teddy swim um I like Allan Stone I love cplay I love mford Mumford is who I like where I reconnected with my now wife after many years at a Mumford show Y where at it was Clips at the time so dear Creek at dear

Creek R off Yes dear um magical night in the lawn um so many magical so many magical nights that is Indie to me like when we talk about music and concerts in Indie is there's no place better until you have to get out of there then it's the worst but like but like if you could just stay in the lawn forever oh Chef's kid man Chef's kid I went through a few concerts that the perfect formula is like the the opener gets there and it's dark outside like you can't you can't have an O if even if you're in the it's summertime like the open

it can't come out and it's still bright outside that's why like the fall shows there and it's like it gets dark and sometimes you only rip like two of them and you're like this is money yes um okay so then so music yeah I'm I'm I've been I've been writing I've been um and actually getting things out of my composition notebook out of my voice memos yeah so like you meet those labels and they're like we want you to be a go singer and you're like no I'm cool like I'm like I'm cool I'm cool so no to being a musical you could stop working

on the stone and you could be a musical artist full-time but you're like that's not for me right now yes yes and no cuz I mean there's still work to be done when you join a label like you like do you get like a salary like how does that work like do you get some money you I mean all those things there's money involved but a lot of times it's on the it varies like backend sales based on how like your just different stuff and I that just wasn't that's not what I wanted to do um and I really want because the fun thing where

I'm at is I'm grown like I have a life I have a career so I don't have to like just jump on the first thing that sounds intriguing and be like yes let me do that gospel CD yeah let me do that Hallelujah yeah exactly I'm like if if it was what I felt like I was supposed to do and needed to do I would have done it but I don't have do that you're the stage of your life where you go be like the the starved artist where you're sleeping on couches just trying to make it it's like dude like if your life is

good like the way it is which it is it seems like it is I can pick the right place the right time do the right music that I want to do and that's that's where I'm at and that's what I'm excited about that's why I'm excited about all the music that I'm writing not that everything I'm doing is like a platinum hit I would like to think that that it you know became that but what I'm excited about is like I'm writing real songs about real things that I'm going through I don't have to do what's trendy or catchy um and that's what I want

I want people to listen to my music and it to with you know the lyrical choices that I make with the tones the tempos that I make and it be able to teleport people to what I'm singing about where they can visually see and be like a movie or they can connect to it and feel that right that's those songs that like give you like the Goosebumps yes I don't want and you know every person I ever talk to as I'm reaching out with other you know local artists trying to network and connect with people like I could care less if if a bunch of

people were like oh my gosh it's so catchy and trendy oh my gosh I love it it goes viral on Tik Tok yeah I'm like I want people to be like yo I listen to that song and I remember that exact feeling you know so if you don't sign with a label then like how does getting a record out look like like for the music industry it's like the best time and the worst time because everything's saturated if I wanted to produce everything in my house right now I could you know cuz you can there's the right softwares the right mics these are great mics

the sm7 sm7b you know hey if you want to come in and record like we kind of keep being here let's go you know uh so write a song connect with a producer connect with different um musicians and you could do everything and then once you do that you have to go through some different copyright stuff but you can put your music out really at the Press of a button like on Spotify or whatever yeah Spotify like that's not going to if you just put it out today what would happen like just like see if people listen to it I mean you you would use

your your influence you know whether it's social media or whatever um to to grow that and to get it out there um hopefully reach out to different people strategically to to get your music out there um which is what you do right and what what I'm sure that you have to with certain different things with your platform is when you're going to do something you have to hit the algorithm right and tell people you're going to do it tell people you're going to do it tell people going to do it do it and then tell them you did it I did it I did it

go watch it I need your support share keep retweeting re sharing re put posting the same thing the same thing a little tweak a little tweak and just build the hype um and that's really what you have to do so like yes you need to you know produce a good quality you know song you need to care about the production you need to do all this but then there's also this new phase which is again it's awesome um but you have to Pro promo it and you have to promote it and you have to anyone who thinks it's like you could be the best you

could have the best voice ever yeah you just put it on Spotify no one's going to listen yeah 100% like you have to like find the right channel like it's like if you send it to the right people have the right strings to pull it's like you get on like a release radar like a pop rising or like something like that like you those Spotify playlist and then it's like okay now we got one song that has like 100,000 streams and then maybe they find some other stuff and and like it's a game like it's like a it's a full process and hey I I

understand it and that's why like the there's even a as strategic aspect of like when people are like you know some people don't want to do the national anthem like some some people don't want to cuz one the national anthem as we've seen some people who are National Record I fail horribly at it oh my gosh yeah like uh who Fergie was the was the OG of it but then that chick then she had to go to rehab afterwards she said she was like drunk I I don't want to stir up controversy but I fact check that I want I need to talk to one

of her counselors I think she just put that out there because she was not good and someone was like you have to say something about this yeah oh my gosh wait what was her name oh my gosh I'm looking it up it was the Home Run Derby yes Home Run Derby it was not good oh ingred Andres bro that was a tough one it was unless you listen to this podcast and then of course we love you yes but it was but I don't think she does yeah no listen even I I hope that she has enough self-awareness that she can look at that and

be like yeah that was not good but the thing about the national anthem the national anthem you as any vocalist is a very difficult song to sing it it goes over many a large range like you have to have a very nice range to be able to sing that song and sing it well but then the other thing is like everyone knows that song so like if you sing like any song in the world you can maybe flub on a word and if as long as you don't go like oh gosh crap like as long as you keep it going like you can finesse it

right everyone at least believes that they know the national anthem right and just the rockets red stare and they're like wait what what like what what the hell did you say well that used to be American you yeah exactly not anymore and then all yeah you go viral like yeah ex star of The Voice doesn't know lyrics to national anthem you want to talk about go viral that would have happened immediately you know I'm like man maybe I should no but like it there is an aspect where absolutely like getting phone calls or getting Instagram messages or emails where people are asking me to do

these different national anthems all over Indianapolis like I as a local like love that like that is very exciting for me why cuz I grew up on 21st in Delaware and I used to see you know all the things going on downtown I I remember when Victory fi the the newer you know Victory Field was put there you know I remembered riding my bicycle down the monan I remember you know the boom baby days where people you know Delaware is a main street to leave Indianapolis so I remember after Pacer games people riding down and we sit stand on the street and wave our boom

baby flags and you know like so anytime I get to do anything like that in my city I'm super super super excited but then also when else right now am I going to be able to get in front of 70,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 120,000 people and hear my name introduced to put that in people's mind to be like Oh e from ons so then eventually one I do get follows from that right and then one day when I start putting stuff out people like oh I remember him he was at the Indians game he was at the Brickyard he was at the Colts game okay

so when when can we expect to see some music hit the Spotify the feed so right now I'm planning to put stuff in January 4th well you already have a date J what's what's special about January 4th the week is that no it's just I want to release it at the beginning of the year and so as all all the timelines and everything happens January 4th is going to be my first single that I put out I'm super super super excited about where's the release party what are we doing we got to blow this you I got to figure out I got to figure out

I might we might have to do a tailgate and get you in the truck out you know I mean I'm in oh my gosh release party we could do it at the Vogue right across the street we could like we need to make that happen but like I'm I'm super excited about this music I'm I just I'm excited to introduce myself as an artist to people I've I've been able to do uh have the great opportunity to do the voice I've had a great opportunity to be able to sing the national anthem at different places I had a great opportunity to sing and Lead worship

at churches for the last you know almost 20 years in this city and this is like the first time I'm able to like really put music that like I wrote I bled and sweat through the stories and I'm now going to be able to share that with people what do you hope feel when they hear your music moved vulnerability and like light at the end of the tunnel heck yeah dude I love it like I'm so jazzed up January 4th come on let's go January 4 well dude it's been fun like learning your story and learning a little bit about you know from an indie

to you going out spending nine weeks in La get be on the voice and compete and like for those of you that if you haven't gone and check out there's like two really really good YouTube videos like a little he absolutely crushes them thank you thank like I Lov it uh in my my research my prep like I'm I'll say I didn't like I don't watch The Voice like on an ongoing basis but it's like I see all the clips and see all stuff and like I got to ass dude Indiana's also getting some love right now for America's Got Talent boy Richard Richard how

do we get you guys on a Duo bro we need to Richard holler at me cuz we need to do something because the other thing is you're out here in M no ter hope ter hope ter ho Tera ho T ho and we just need to make something make something pop and I got a whole lot of respect for you bro you over here crush it and you back out here just being in your community bro he goes back and like going back to work as a janitor yeah like cuz I I don't know what the payment schedule or whatever it is but it's like

yeah I'll just go back to work yeah but the the other reality too is I'm I'm sure that there's a component I was home for like three months before my episode aired oh you're just so like has he been just there for I I I would assume he's been back and I know there's lives so I'm sure he came back in Windows cuz I had to come like after my blind audition I came back for two weeks and I went back to work you know I come back when I got cut and I go back to work you know people that my sister-in-law my sister-in-law

got married I wasn't there I was in LA at my sister-in-law got married and I was not at the wedding wait your sister-in-law oh your wife my wife's sister got married and I wasn't at the wedding my wife was getting text like hey is everything okay with you and eph from [Music] everything is great everything is fantastic everything's but can't talk about it so I'm sure that there's an aspect where he's probably had Windows where he just had to return but also like dude bro you have to be grounded you have to be grounded hear me out if anyone from Vogue yeah from HiFi yeah

from White River from anywhere here's this episode we want to do Richard Ephraim we're going to do a concert yes let's go and I'll be the hype man I'll get you guys on stage and we'll just bring like Indiana's got freaking the voice of talent the voice of talent yes yo cuz we we have we have hitters we have hitters here man like again everyone wants to think that they have to like leave and flood and go to LA or go to Nashville there's lots of great opportunities in those places I won't I'm not you know Throwing Shade but you can do it here like

you can do it at home dude here's what I'm going to this is like my 5 to 10 year plan all right I'm going to open a honky tonk in Indie like a like a broad like a national I'm calling it Call It The hooer Honky T and it's going to be it's going to be right downtown and it's going to be legendary and we'll get you uh opening night we'll have you there it'll be great I need it I need that spot conception we're talking about it I need that spot come on all right well hey we're we're going to wrap it up with

some fun questions here so uh if you could play any venue where would it be Creek shortly after Deer Creek Clips Ru off however you want to call it I will always know it as Deer Creek yeah yeah probably Red Rock bro dude yes Red Rock yes like that I again I love nature I love being outside like that to be like in this naturally formed you know somewhat naturally formed uh Amphitheater like it'd be crazy all right what's the best concert you've ever been to mord Sun's Eclipse where he met his where he rekindled his wife rekindled my love my wife yes I love

that uh if you could sing the national anthem before any event what would it be the Indie 500 I have Doug blls coming on the show soon let's go Doug we got to connect this we got to make it happen let's make it happen oh man what's the song on repeat right now Lighthouse by Gallum Scott yeah Lighthouse Gallum Scott that's I don't even know that is it a jam oh it's a jam it like to me I feel like if you go listen to that song you''ll be like all right I get you from if okay if you could either have a feature on

someone's song or have someone feature on your song who would it be Tory Kelly why cuz she is vocally so freaking talented and I like Harmon harmonizing and I think like to me there's something when you have like a great duet like that's just epic to me like cool you have another guy or like this and this like awesome but like to have have a fantastic like powerful duet I feel like it it moves you what's like an alltime duet like what's like one that's like iconic Civil War wine Bo to Men One Sweet Day okay so that's the song repeat best duet Eminem and

is it Rihanna that dude Love the Way You Lie fire fire like that song gets me going no matter what time of day it is I love it car uh no air Chris Brown and Jordan Sparks that is an alltime Duo and oh man that one's hard to beat yeah got a couple more questions here all right we had so much fun have I punched someone in the face before yes you have tell me about that many of times many of times for in regards I mean you had six brothers right or five brothers but I also I Four Brothers I did MMA for a

short period of my life and so I was a welterweight 170 and uh yeah I fought for the belt and and what belt it was the combat combat night belt it was in a region of Florida Georgia Louisiana that region and I fought for a belt I was uh I lost did you win the belt I lost in the last 13 seconds what happened I propped wrong he had me against the fence and I propped propped wrong against the fence he swept my leg and threw punches and uh they stopped it TKO yeah techn yes yes I told him I was like yo for the

for if this this a title fight so make this dude put me to sleep in the future with there's 13 seconds left just let him let let him punch me in the face let him let him body me let earn it let him earn it don't don't stop it early so you went from MMA like amateur fighter like yeah yeah but like I'm a I'm a competitor so like I first did it like from a fitness standpoint like staying in shape and and doing that and then I'm like went from training like once a week to training three times you know a week to four

times a week to six days a week and then it's like all right I'm training with all these dudes that are fighting my my head uh coach and owner Josh San he was you know going through the process he did The Ultimate Fighter and uh like let's let's go let's do do a fight so I took a fight and I won uh decision and the second fight I chok the guy out put him in a guillotine my SEC third fight won by a guillotine choke and uh like all right I really like this so I did it and then when I mov back home it's

really hard to like find I'm going to get shadeed for this but is is very hard to find the level of competition and level of teammates that I had in Florida um and so then I started like feeling like it was my identity and I'm like that's not it was a fun thing that I got opportunity to do but it wasn't who I was so it got to a point where like I didn't have a fight or I was waiting to to take a fight or there's different like little contracts with different promotions and I'm like people are like hey wi's your next fight I'm

like oh my gosh wait this is also interesting to think about you're not only a singer musical artist who also works in with rocks yeah who is a fighter who also leads worship yeah now that's like five different lives that's wild yeah nowadays like nowadays you have kids that play sports in high school and they right out of high school or even before high school in middle school they have to be very Niche specialist they're specialist right I'm quitting so I'm a wrestling coach at Shard it's like I'm quitting I'm quitting wrestling to focus on football it's like sir you're seventh grade like chill out

seventh grade also also there are things that you're going to learn in wrestling yeah that are don't get me going yeah bro when I first moved back here um shortly after I was coaching at North Central so I coached football at North Central uh for Seven Seasons oh no High School Ys uh Varsity for defensive backs with my guy coach Dean and then uh with freshman I was uh de coordinator and defensive backs linebackers heck yeah and so coached there um rip Paul Logan you're the greatest ad in the city uh or were and you still your legacy lives on so love you love the

whole family uh the did you go to North Central I went to Lawrence Central oh let's go Bears I went to all the schools that most mostly despised where I live now um as yeah right and now he lives in gal like oh you got brand new huh yeah oh dude good to think the good to see the voice change you really changed you like h i mean I've done some articles my wife's going to hate that I said this cuz like there'd be some articles like post The Voice or whatever that they're like caramel local and I'm like I don't know about that Mar's

like what what's so bad about that I'm like I I mean do love love where I live I love my community but like south of 465 there's a different grit a little bit of grit little bit of grit that we had we had to ride out and develop so I understand like the specialist aspect now but there used to be a season and and prior right where if you were athlete in in school you just you played everything that you could right because you're a competitor you're a competitor go compete go compete so that's where I find myself is I love to learn and I

love love to compete at stuff so like if there is an itch that needs to be scratching I'm like all right let me do MMA let me do this let me do this let me do this I want to be excellent at all of them and I want to give my all at all of them that's that's it I love it dude you know I love it okay so this question is brought to you by our friends at or Fellowship they're great organization here in Indiana that's helping develop young Business Leaders across the state Ephraim what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self you

are sufficient right now we all try to find out what's so special or unique about us and the only thing that we have to do is look at the mirror because there truly is only one you so you're already special like right now so like lean into what makes you uh who makes you tick develop that grow that don't you don't have to be you know arrogant and fool of yourself like this is who I am I don't got to change but like look who you are and refine and Define who you are but you're good enough you're good enough kid heck yeah you you

out there you are good enough yes I love it dude okay what's something the world needs to know about Indiana there's more than corn in Indiana stop telling me hey there are people there is it just cornfields and and Farms no yeah we do have that absolutely and we're really really good at it however there is a lot of awesome stuff in this city whether it's like to me right I went to Lawrence Central Lawrence Central at the time I thought it was like the most truly most diverse School in this whole city we had everything from you know people that lived in Guist and

fancy homes to to people on uh 38th Street in the neighborhood and everything else in between like we have a robust Variety in this city and we're we we are about something like we all grind work at various levels but we are all trying to build something and city is the City Indianapolis Indiana like there's a place for you here in Indiana so find your spot and make it make it make it fantastic all right this's big pressure right here oh gosh what is a Hidden Gem in Indiana Mr Dan what is Mr Dan man it's a burger joint the one of the Mr Dan's

Hamburgers yes like the OG at least that I know as the OG is off of mass Massachusetts it's like 30 34th in Massachusetts Mr Dan Burgers fantastic oh is that like okay wait the one that I see on here is 46th in like Allisonville wow what do they have there well they have fantastic hamburgers they got a good like a good uh Chili Dog Coney Dog but yes they're the Mr Dan Burger a Mr Dan Burger is just this big old juicy I mean I would say juicy somebody would say greasy but I some would say I would say love and flavor oh it looks

pretty fire I mean it looks uh yeah a lot of love and flavor on that I'm here for it I'm here for that all right I haven't had that one before Mr Dan Mr Dan cuz you be going to all the like little hidden gems and spots I seen that you had that fat Tinder loin dude bro edinberg that place is crazy edinberg Diner right yeah you want to know what's nuts about it too what dude they told me so the edinberg diner has what I believe to be is the biggest tenderloin there are people in the comments like there's a bigger one I don't

even want to see it needs a zip coat it was delicious like one it's really good but what I found out is the owner's mother doesn't really speak that good of English but sits in the back and just like pounds these puppies out like she's hand him or whatever and I was like I was talking to my waitress and she was like she was like okay so it was owned by her and her husband and then her husband passed away son took it over son's mom is back there just like pounding these puppers out and like first of all you can't keep saying that this

dude's mom is pounding this meat out so not that way not that way but yeah dude she's a I like and I like look back in the back and I like give her a thumbs up and she just like gives me a little smile but like no English live in her best maybe almost know English dut I don't know what where she's from she just showed up in America and started busting out like how long around I think it 1989 if I had to guess 1989 I mean this article says 1889 but I don't think I think they I think they spelled that wrong I

don't think it's actually there's no chance there BR tend in 1889 uh well if anyone out there knows let us know how how old the edinberg diner is for real um cool dude final question who's a hoer we need to keep on our radar someone who's doing big things me January 4th January 4th Let's Do It um so HiFi Vogue whoever we're going to make this make the release party the single release party single release single release party don't worry if you have to follow if you have girlfriend boyfriend wives you can also come you don't have to be single to come to the EP

release party no no please come Family Affair I love it dude my little ones will be there for sure yeah dude you're crushing it I'm like this conversation was awesome it's fun to like learn a little bit more about your journey and and what's on the radio what's coming down the pipe for you and you know release of the single so release of the single then after that like I I'm going to start I'll start booking shows and and growing that um and we'll see where that goes but that in the immediate future it's just all hands on deck like putting this music out there

hey if you're if you live in Indie and you're a a vocal artist or you're a producer definitely the production side like reach out to me eph from Owens official Instagram reach out I love working with people I love collaborating um and just I think a m music and anything you do like accountability is a huge thing and so I'm all for that collaborative uh accountability so moving forward doing that so that's the the immediate is music music music yes sir I love it man hey keep up the good work we'll uh we'll have to check back in after the single drops yes sir boom

boom boom thank you for listening to this episode of get in if you liked what you heard make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast this show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater whether you're trying to start your own podcast or looking to take your show to the next level make sure you check out sweetwater.com for all your creator needs if you want exclusive behind the-scenes content on all things Indiana make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok @nate spangle thank you for being part of what makes the hooer state so amazing we'll see you next

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