‘Voice’ winner Boyd to play Boathouse

Craig Wayne Boyd might have a magic number way beyond 200. Before and after winning the seventh season of NBC’s “The Voice,” in December, Boyd racks up close to performing 240 concerts in a year, and he’s right at home singing on the road.

Looking forward to some beach time on the Grand Strand, Boyd will play at 5 p.m. Sunday at The Boathouse Waterway Bar & Grill, along the Intracoastal Waterway, just west of Myrtle Beach, with Ricky Gunn opening.

Calling Friday from Painesville Township, Ohio, just northeast of Cleveland, hours before headlining the Lake County Fair for the night, the native Texan in his mid-30s sounded grounded and grateful to have taken his musical career up a big notch.

Question | How did your win on “The Voice” last fall usher in an extra special, early start to your Christmas?

Answer | It really came out of the blue, but I didn’t expect it to. Of course, I was giving my best on the show every single time I performed. I hoped to win, but didn’t expect it. It definitely started off the new year quite well.

Q. | What has this year allowed you as an artist to expand and grow with your music, and style on stage?

A. | It’s allowed me to do exactly what I set out to do: to take the music out to the people. Even before I was on “The Voice,” I was doing some 240 shows a year. Now, travel comes a lot easier, and a lot of people are showing up.

Q. | Are any of the great country songs you performed on your season on “The Voice” reprised in your concerts, or do you have any favorites in your sets?

A. | My version of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.”

Q. | Ever hear from some of the artists who recorded those songs you covered on “The Voice”?

A. | The Marshall Tucker Band ... asked me to play with them at the Ryman Auditorium, in Nashville, ... at the end of November.

Q. | What makes Blake Shelton's natural charm so magical with everything he does on TV, including his coaching on “The Voice” and co-hosting the Academy of Country Music Awards with Luke Bryan?

A. | It’s called being real. He is what you get.

Q. | What are the most valuable lessons you brought home from working with Shelton, for recording a number he produced, “My Baby’s Got a Smile on Her Face” as your debut single, and other things to use your whole life?

A. | To trust my instincts and don’t second guess myself.

Q. | Team Blake personnel have won exactly half of the eight seasons of “The Voice,” which returns Sept. 21 on NBC. Have you met or conversed with any of the other three winners from Team Blake through the years: Jermaine Paul, Cassadee Pope or Danielle Bradbery?

A. | I have not talked with them about winning, but we all have this in common, that with just one small event in someone’s career, even though it catapults into a career, the struggle is still real.

Q. | What has made these reality TV singing competition shows in the past decade such a magnet for new talent, and for fans in the throngs of viewers who also vote?

A. | It works great because of people’s short attention span. I mean that in a positive way; that’s why it works so well. ... It gives them a condensed view of you quickly, so they have the opportunity to like or not like you quickly. It’s the truth in my case, and it’s really worked, for them and me.

Q. | What else is in store for the rest of this year, and 2016, which will be here before we know it?

A. | Three days after winning “The Voice” and being on stage there, I was playing my first concert. It’s a lot of preparation, ... and starting to gear things up for the next level, for stage shows, performances and studios, and everything else. I have just a couple of finishing touches on the new album, which will come out in the fall.

Q. | What might the title of the new CD be?

A. | I haven’t decided on that yet. I’m tossing between two names.

This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 11:24 AM with the headline "‘Voice’ winner Boyd to play Boathouse."