Oklahoma Native American singer AJ Harvey readying to battle on 'The Voice' Season 25
Growing up attending powwows across Oklahoma, AJ Harvey wasn't especially drawn to the dancing as a child.
"I wanted to be around that drum. It's such an integral part of who we are as Native people. ... I used to compare it to seeing a band when I was younger: I didn't want to be in the crowd. I wanted to be on stage," Harvey said.
"There was something deeper about being on stage and playing the music — not for the attention, but just to be a part of the music. ... I've been like that since I can remember, so it definitely contributes to my musical contemporary side. They go hand in hand."
Whether he's playing his regular Thursday night residency at the Norman dive bar The Deli or covering a classic Bob Dylan ballad on the hit NBC series "The Voice," Harvey, 25, takes what he's learned gathering around the drum with him as a singer and musician.
With the blind auditions winding down and spots on the four coaches' teams getting scarce, Harvey played acoustic guitar and showed off his smooth baritone with a serene rendition of Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" on the March 11 episode of "The Voice." He got two of the Season 25 coaches — Chance the Rapper and country duo and coaching newcomers Dan + Shay — to turn their chairs, opting to join Team Dan + Shay for the competition.
"It's not just me on stage: That's something I thought about a lot during the blind audition was there's people that I wish could see this. And that comes from being around our arena, our circle. ... When we're out there dancing, you're not dancing for yourself; you're dancing for people who aren't there, and they're on stage with me," Harvey told The Oklahoman.
"I was thinking of my late Uncle Vernon Domebo, a Kiowa relative of mine, who's a big fan of Bob Dylan. ... So, that song had such an emotional connection for me. And to see it rewarded the way it has been — the way it's been received on social media, on the internet and in just face-to-face interaction — it's been a real blessing."
Who is 'The Voice' contestant AJ Harvey?
Harvey's "The Voice" introduction spotlighted his multi-tribal background. He hails from the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and the Northern Hidatsa people. About a month ago, he started a job as a guest services associate at OKC's First Americans Museum,
Although he is not Osage by blood, Harvey said he has been adopted by family into that tribe, which made it all the more meaningful when he landed a small part in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated Oklahoma-made movie "Killers of the Flower Moon"
Filmed in and around Osage County in 2021, Scorsese's historical drama is about the 1920s "Reign of Terror," a series of brutal murders of Osage Nation citizens by white people scheming to steal their oil wealth. Harvey played Charlie Whitehorn, an early victim of the Reign of Terror, in the movie.
"Even before filming started, everybody knew that that was going to be pretty monumental and historic, and so we all wanted to be a part of it, myself included," he said.
Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Harvey said he moved to Norman in 2021, using his COVID-19 stimulus money, so he could be part of the central Oklahoma music scene. Honing his stage chops by singing for almost two years with a Wichita cover band, he said he was ready to move on to more creative opportunities.
"I've always heard great things about Oklahoma City," Harvey said. "I just felt overjoyed with a sense of, 'This could be a whole new base for me,' along with having the family and friendships, accrued from over the years of coming down here for powwows."
He got a day job at Target and started seeking out open mics and jams at OKC spots like Mojo's and Katt's Cove. Harvey crossed paths with local musician Alex Reardon, who invited him to play with his band Biscuits and Groovy. The group snagged a weekly residency gig at The Deli, a Norman live music staple.
"We've really dialed into a core group of guys that are there once a week, and we've developed a crowd base," Harvey said. "It really gave me a chance to play with some excellent musicians and make a lot of good friends and good connections."
How did the Norman singer end up on 'The Voice?'
When "The Voice" casting department first contacted him via email, Harvey thought it was a scam. Eventually, he responded and went through the initial casting, interview and audition process.
"It's always been suggested, 'You should try out for these shows,' (like) 'American Idol,' 'The Voice' and 'America's Got Talent,' which are all great. ... But I just never saw myself doing that," Harvey said.
"I'm glad that I did it now at 25, and not when I was 19. While there's some wildly talented younger people on this season ... I know me as an artist and as a person. I really am glad that I've had the time to mature, because it is an intimidating feeling."
When he moved to Oklahoma, his mom suggested he seek out music he'd never heard before, and he came across the 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," which includes "Girl from the North Country."
"I've always seen myself as coming from and being rooted in blues music, and it's always been one guy and an acoustic guitar pouring his heart out," he said. "For the blind audition, I just felt like I was able to put on an old pair of shoes and clean them up a little bit and go and present my best version of it — and do it justice."
When both Chance the Rapper and Dan + Shay turned their chairs for his audition, Harvey had to pick his coach while the hitmakers argued passionately for him to join their teams. He said he chose Team Dan + Shay because he thought the duo would push him to a new level musically.
"They're such a sweet humans, and I've appreciated all the words that they've said to me on camera and off camera," he said.
How do 'The Voice' battles work and how is the Oklahoma singer preparing?
With the Season 25 blind auditions completed on the show's March 12 episode, "The Voice" moves to the next phase: the battles, which will air over the next couple of weeks at 7 p.m. Monday, March 18 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 on NBC.
Another Oklahoma contestant, OKC-based pop vocal trio OK3, also will be competing in the battles on John Legend's team.
With all four coaches having assembled a team of 10 artists through the blind auditions, the battles call on the coaches to pit two of their own team members against each other to sing the same song together. Both artists are mentored by their coach, but after each battle round, the team's coach must choose which artist will advance to the next round of competition, the knockouts.
During this season's battles, each coach will have one steal and one playoff pass. With their steal, coaches can take for their own team artists whose coach has declared them the loser in a battle.
The playoff pass will allow both artists in a battle round to advance: The playoff pass winner gets a big advantage by skipping the knockout rounds, advancing straight to the playoffs and getting one step closer to the live shows.
The coaches leave the battles with six artists per team, with one artist per team bypassing the knockouts with the playoff pass.
To prepare for the unique challenge of the battles, Harvey said he leaned on what he learned as a child harmonizing in church and hearing his dad perform with bluegrass groups.
"When you're covering a song ... your natural reaction, your instinct, is going to be to make it your own. And that's what exactly carried me through the battles. I was very, very lucky. I'm excited to see what the outcome is," he said.
"Music has always been a second job for me, because at the end of the day, I have a 9-to-5 (job). I have bills to pay. So, getting to put that first, this was really the first time I've gotten to do that. ... I have learned so much as far as working with technique, and a lot of vocal things, like thinking more about how I use my own voice onstage and offstage, as well as just to how to care for it."
Harvey said he has been overwhelmed by the positive response to his "The Voice" audition, especially from Native viewers.
"People I've never met in my life are emailing me and getting a hold of me and saying, 'Hey, we're proud of you.' I've got people from South Dakota and the Lakota nations who have reached out and said, 'We have your back in this, and we love to see you.' ... From New Mexico, I have some Navajo friends who have reached out, and a few of them didn't know I sang," he said.
"I know that this is only a beginning to a wide array of opportunities ... coming my way, and I can only be very appreciative of the support."
How to watch 'The Voice'
"The Voice" airs at 7 p.m. Mondays and 8 p.m. Tuesdays on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock on-demand. The streaming service offers full episodes from the show's previous 24 seasons, too.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Native American singer AJ readying for battle on 'The Voice'
