Twenty-eight seasons in, “The Voice” has yet to crown a Louisiana winner. But the state keeps sending singers deep into the competition — and turning national exposure into momentum long after the cameras stop rolling.
The 29th season of „The Voice“ premieres 8 p.m. Monday on NBC with judges John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. The show streams on Peacock the day after airing.
Meghan Linsey came oh-so-close to winning „The Voice“ in 2015, finishing as runner-up. It was a banner Season 8 for four other fellow Louisianans who also fared well in the competition, among them New Orleans’ Tonya Boyd-Cannon.
Fast forward to Season 25, when Louisiana’s Karen Waldrup placed fifth and Zoe Levert reached the top 12.
Last season, Acadiana’s Dustin Dale Gaspard brought something new to „The Voice,“ wowing the judges in his blind audition by singing Sam Cooke’s „Bring It On Home To Me“ in both English and Cajun French. He made it to the knockouts round before being eliminated.
Louisiana Cajun swamp pop singer Dustin Dale Gaspard, as seen on NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday on the patio at Prejean’s, Broussard, and also at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at The Ruins Lounge, Lafayette.
Here, we catch up with Boyd-Cannon, Levert and Gaspard, and give a glimpse of what those five Louisianans from Season 8 have done post-„The Voice.“
‘She is unafraid and she’s bold.’
When someone tells Tonya Boyd-Cannon she’s a busy woman, she’ll quickly correct with, „No, I’m blessed.“
According to the Mississippi-born-and-Louisiana-raised Boyd-Cannon, 46, the blessings have only multiplied since her 2015 appearance on „The Voice.“ The NBC singing competition wasn’t her first stop on the road to national TV. She had pursued „Star Search,“ „Showtime at the Apollo“ and „American Idol.“ She was turned away from the last one not because she lacked an impressive voice, but for being „too gospel.“
However, Boyd-Cannon, who grew up in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, had early success on „The Voice“ with soul, pop, rock, gospel and rhythm-and-blues performances. She advanced to the live playoffs, when contestants were trimmed from 20 to 12, before being eliminated.
At one point, her coach, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, had this to say: „She is unafraid and she’s bold. The No. 1 one thing I try to tell everybody else on my team, do what Tonya does.“
„That makes me feel amazing, to know that someone, that he saw me in that light, because it’s such a great opportunity to be able to do what I love to do, be bold and just to take a chance,“ she said.
Nevertheless, Boyd-Cannon needed time to heal post-„The Voice,“ leaning on the words of another of the show’s four coaches.
„I recalled something Pharrell (Williams, singer, songwriter and record producer) told me on that same day (of her elimination). He said, ‘Tonya, this is your springboard. Don’t let nobody take this moment from you,'“ she said. „And so I left remembering that.“
Following that pause, her music picked back up in a big way. Since 2015, Boyd-Cannon has toured around the globe, released multiple singles and albums. She also teaches voice in the Black American music program at Tulane University as an adjunct professor, at an after- school program at the Leah Chase School, and at a vocal workshop at the Jazz and Heritage Center.
She described her most recent record, 2025’s „The Cluster,“ as „a Dear Tonya letter.“ Her latest single, the lively, fun „Everywhere Else It’s Tuesday,“ dropped just before Mardi Gras.
She currently has 21,000 followers on Facebook and 27,100 on Instagram.
Levert makes her move
Things have been moving quickly for folk/pop/contemporary Christian artist Levert since her move to Nashville, Tennessee, last year.
The New Orleans native and former Baton Rouge resident, 23, has signed with By Design music company and WME, a talent and booking agency. She’s writing and releasing songs, scoping out gigs and mapping her future in Music City.
Reflecting on Season 25 of „The Voice,“ where she reached the top 12 in 2024, Levert calls the experience „incredible.“
Louisiana native Zoe Levert, 20, is a contestant on Season 25 of ‘The Voice,’ competing on John Legend’s team.
The then-20 year old, in what was essentially her stage debut, impressed the judges and the voting viewers at home with her spins on songs like „Cowboy Take Me Away“ by The Chicks, Little Big Town’s „Better Man“ and „Iris“ by the Goo Goo Dolls.
„It was my first time really performing on a stage like that. I had to learn how to perform and how to be captivating on stage,“ she said.
With John Legend as her coach, Levert says the many vocal coaches and choreographers put her through what she calls „artist bootcamp.“ She had a crash course in the facets of the music industry, building a brand and becoming an artist.
Levert adds that she feels like she thrived the most on the singing competition series when she started being herself — requesting songs that she loved and talking about her faith.
„I definitely carry that into my career now; just trying to be who I am and who God designed me to be and tell stories that I’m passionate about,“ she said.
Those stories surface in the three singles Levert has dropped in the last five months, including this month’s breakup song, „sharing Jesus with an ex.“ Now happily married to fellow musician Ryan Turner, she reached into her past for inspiration.
Former Louisiana ‘The Voice’ contestants Karen Waldrup, left, and Zoe Levert duet on the Chris Stapleton ballad ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ during Waldrup’s Saturday night show at the Manship Theatre in Baton Rouge.
„I remember, when I was younger, going through a really bad breakup and having this temporary thought of, ‘I feel like Jesus would be on my side in this breakup,’ which isn’t exactly fair to the guy that I ended the relationship with,“ she explained. „The song is kind of a sarcastic, funny way to deal with that feeling of wishing Jesus would only take your side, especially when it’s a guy that didn’t treat you super well.“
Levert initially posted the song on TikTok, attracting millions of views. With the amount of people who were relating to the story, she decided to release the song with her label.
The singer-songwriter’s other two recent singles are „Custody,“ released in October — a song about who gets custody of coffee shops and friend groups after a breakup — and „Dear Carpenter,“ released in December.
„In the Bible when we talk about how Jesus was a carpenter and a craftsman, … there’s gotta be something there with him being a carpenter and him fixing things and how the love of Jesus can fix and heal us,“ Levert said. „Instead of saying, ‘Dear God,’ I say ‘Dear Carpenter,’ and I use the language of fixing and refining and rebuilding.“
Plans for an album from Levert in the near future are still fluid. For now, she and her team are focused on producing one song at a time.
Levert currently has 1,000 followers on Facebook and 26,200 on Instagram.
THE VOICE — „The Blind Auditions Part 5“ Episode 2805 — Pictured: Dustin Dale Gaspard — (Photo by: Griffin Nagel/NBC)
Gaspard on the road again
Acadiana’s Gaspard can sum up the difference in his music career since competing on „The Voice“ last fall in one word: volume.
„Nothing has changed except the volume, you know? Everyone is finally paying attention, so I have opportunities that I’ve never had before,“ Gaspard, 33, said by phone on Monday. „And the frequency of which those doors open is a little more often, but besides that, I’m still performing as much as I can, playing as often wherever I can to wherever people will have me.“
On Lundi Gras, that „wherever“ was the 20th annual Swamp Pop Reunion Show in Ville Platte. The Cow Island native performed three songs: Rod Bernard’s „Allons Danser Colinda,“ Van Broussard’s „Feed the Flame“ and a reprisal of „Bring It On Home To Me.“
Soon, he’ll do 10 days of shows on Prince Edward Island, off Nova Scotia. Gaspard will follow that with a four-week tour across British Columbia.
Audiences at these above-the-border performances aren’t like back home, Gaspard has observed.
„Oh, far off rowdy. I hate to use the word respectful, but it’s just a different environment,“ he said. „People are there to consume music, not to be entertained by it. It’s not like a background feature of the culture or atmosphere. It’s actually the feature that you’re going to witness, you know? That’s the biggest difference.“
Likewise, song choices vary greatly while in Canada from Lafayette on Saturday night.
„When I’m there, I’m doing folk music and telling stories. When we’re playing somewhere here out on Saturday night, we’re trying to keep the people on the dance floor,“ said Gaspard.
Gaspard says he „had one of the best times of my life“ while working with the coaches on „The Voice.“ The main lesson he took away from the experience is that all artists, no matter where they are, have the same passion, sacrifice and humility to share their craft with the world.
Gaspard, who’s released a few singles, also hopes to make an album happen.
Meanwhile, his fan base has grown exponentially since his global exposure on „The Voice.“ Tens of thousands of followers on every platform, videos viewed by millions of people across the world and many requests to perform and produce new music.
„And I’m hoping to find a way to keep them all satisfied because it feels like a lot of pressure,“ he said. „And it’s hard to keep up with when there’s so many people that you care about because they care about you.“
Gaspard currently has 51,000 followers on Facebook and 21,000 on Instagram.
Tonya Boyd-Cannon, left, sings as she is joined on stage by Troy „Trombone Shorty“ Andrews, center, and the New Orleans Gospel Soul Children, right, at Mayor Helena Moreno’s inauguration at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
The Louisiana 5
In Season 8, five Louisianans made it deep into the season. These days, four of the five are still in the music world — while one has become an attorney in Texas. Another is also dabbling in the world of real estate.
Besides Boyd-Cannon, filling out the 2015 five are:
Photo provided by Max Zoghbi — Lafayette native and LSU alumnus Travis Ewing plays a handful of shows each month at bars and restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina. He balances his music career and full-time profession at a marketing firm.
Travis Ewing: In 2015, Lafayette native Ewing moved to Charleston, South Carolina, just before auditioning for „The Voice.“ He was originally on Pharrell Williams’ team, but was stolen by Blake Shelton. After Ewing advanced to the top 32, he was eliminated in the knockouts round. He originally said „The Voice“ experience gave him the confidence to pursue music as a full-time career.
He pursued music in South Carolina for a while but has since earned a juris doctorate, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2020. He was admitted to the Texas Bar. Previously, he earned a bachelor of science in marketing from LSU.
He currently has 1,900 friends on Facebook and 2,303 followers on Instagram.
NBC photo by TYLER GOLDEN — Koryn Hawthorne, left, and Kelly Clarkson share the stage on ‘The Voice’ finale.
Koryn Hawthorne: This Abbeville native competed on „The Voice“ in 2015 and won fourth place on Pharrell Williams’ team. Abbeville’s mayor proclaimed May 6, 2015, as Koryn Hawthorne Day. Her debut studio album, „Unstoppable,“ was released July 13, 2018, and earned her multiple awards nominations, including two Grammy nods.
She released her most recent album, „On God,“ in 2024. These days, she’s still performing, but also self-contracting residential buildings, including a decked-out barndominium in Acadiana.
She currently has 505,000 followers on Facebook and 509,000 followers on Instagram.
Meghan Linsey: In April 2015, the Ponchatoula native and four other Louisiana contestants made it up the ranks in Season 8 of „The Voice.“ She finished in the runner-up spot behind Sawyer Fredericks, and rose to fame as one half of the country music duo Steel Magnolia with her then-boyfriend, Joshua Scott Jones.
In 2023, she reworked the theme song for „Queer Eye“ when the then-fab five filmed in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Most recently, she released „Blue“ on Feb. 13. Nashville Noise described Linsey’s newest song: „After nearly a decade between full-length albums, Meghan Linsey is stepping back into the spotlight with ‘Blue,’ a retro-tinged, emotionally rich ballad that leans into heartbreak’s quieter, more lingering aftermath.“
She currently has 75,000 followers on Facebook and 68,000 on Instagram.
NBC photo by PAUL DRINKWATER — Rob Taylor
Rob Taylor: Hailing from Donaldsonville, Taylor was 22 when he auditioned for Season 8 of „The Voice.“ Coach Christina Aguilera was so impressed, she rushed the stage to hug him. Guess which team Taylor joined? He made it to the show’s Top 10. His Top 12 night performance of “I Put a Spell on You” reached No. 1 on the iTunes R&B/Soul singles chart.
In 2020, he decided to give the television singing-competition world another go and auditioned for „American Idol.“ He made it through round 3 and went to Hawaii where he was eliminated before making the Top 20.
He currently has 5,300 followers on Facebook.
As a new season of “The Voice” begins 8 p.m. Monday on NBC, Louisiana will once again be watching — and waiting — to see whether one of its own can finally claim the title.
