As a man based out of a small town, the city of Gilmer in East Texas, Curtis Grimes humbly sat in RadioUTD’s studio Sunday morning for the Red Dirt Radio show after performing at Delta Zeta’s Boot Scootin’ BBQ Saturday afternoon in support of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Wearing his signature Cinch baseball cap embroidered with “Curtis Grimes” along the side, he grinned as he strummed out acoustic versions of his songs “Irresponsible”, “Bottom of the Fifth”, and “Our Side of the Fence”. His down-to-Earth personable attitude brought cheery smiles to small-town co-hosts Brooke Lopez and Josh Baltzell as they peppered him with questions ranging from his experience on NBC’s hit show The Voice to backstage stories of his earliest performances.
Curtis was a contestant on The Voice in 2011 when the show first premiered with original judges Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, and his personal singing coach Cee-Lo Green. Unbeknownsty to the general public, he detailed the process beginning with 2 preliminary rounds, an LA travel round, and then a final audition round before being casted to appear on television for the “blind audition” round. He originally requested to perform a more Red Dirt based song resonating with his passion for George Strait and the Zac Brown Band but instead was required to perform Hillbilly Bone by Blake Shelton. This sparked an identification that Grimes remained overly-confident. As he continued into the battle rounds of the show, the country up-and-comer began to realize the structural format for eliminations as he was assigned the 1980’s chart topper “Addicted to Love” while his opponent was handed a hit pop song of the year. Although Grimes didn’t take home the champion title, his name became a regular household reference as a successful Texas Red Dirt artist.
In contrast to an exuberant amount of mainstream artists from all genres, Grimes continuously provided true stories to our hosts in the light of humor and interest. Grimes finished his in-studio acoustic set with “Irresponsible” where mid song he says “I’ve got a story about this” referring to real-life performances at the Blind Pig Pub and Saturday night hangouts with close friends. His stories rang true to the “fiddler playing on the floor” at the renowned pub located on 6th Street in Austin, TX after his band took advantage of one-too-many drinks on the house. He even described his experience opening for Kenny Chesney at the Best in Texas musical showcase in his earliest years where he stood alongside his country idol in the final song. As real as can be, Grimes gave insight into his life as opposed to his career.
With his official music video for his newest hit “Bottom of the Fifth” premiering April 4th off of his most recent EP album, Curtis Grimes holds a tight grasp on the hearts of Texas country music fans. Make sure you check out Nash Country Weekly’s front page premiere of his music video here to celebrate your Texas Ranger’s opening day game. We would like to thank Curtis Grimes and his management for joining RadioUTD and Delta Zeta this weekend.