Catching his breath

His run on the reality TV singing competition began three months ago, with Davis´ performance of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” in a blind audition on the show’s Feb. 23 debut. Davis narrowly escaped elimination on April 21’s results show, but he safely sailed through the next three rounds en route to the show’s final round.

City Pulse caught up with the singer at his Traverse City home Thursday afternoon, just two days after the final episode. He discussed his experiences on “The Voice,” his friendship with Fredericks, his relationship with celebrity coach Adam Levine and his future plans.

You posted on Facebook earlier today that it feels like you are waking up from a dream. Was there any one point during your time on “The Voice” that was particularly unbelievable?

Really, the whole thing. And it kept getting weirder and weirder as the whole thing went on. But then again, just being there for so long, it got to be like, “This is what we’re doing.” Now you’re going to sing a duet with Sheryl Crow. OK, cool. But it’s still amazing. The whole thing was so bizarre that I still can’t believe that it happened. And I think it takes me a little while to process things — I’m kind of slow in that way — so it will be interesting to see how this all catches up with me. It’s such a crazy experience. Non-stop. To be able to step back now and have a little perspective from it, it’s going to be interesting to see how it all comes together.

It seems like you developed a great friendship with Fredericks. How did that develop?

When I went out (to Los Angeles) and met him for the first time, we immediately hit it off. And then shortly after he came to me and asked, “Are you the Joshua Davis that plays on Seth Bernard and May Erlewine’s records?” And I said, “Yeah. How do you know those guys?” He had known them from a friend of a friend who had lived in Michigan and brought some of their albums out (to New York), and he was a huge fan of theirs. You know, he would fit in really well with the Earthwork Music crowd. They live on a farm, they have the same kind of ethics we do — very community based, all about having positive messages in their music. He’s a very sweet kid, and I still feel very protective of him. I wasn’t seeing my kids that much, so to be around him, and fulfill a little bit of that dad role that I have, it was great to get to know him.

You and Levine come from very different genres of music, but you seemed to have a good working relationship. What was it like working with him?

It was interesting. We do play very different kinds of music. He’s very involved in the mainstream pop realm, and I’m not, but we both love very similar kinds of music. He grew up on the same stuff that I grew up on. He loves roots music, he loves folk rock, he loves the songwriters of the ‘60s and ‘70s. We share a common love, so connecting with him was really easy. He’s really curious about music. If he likes something, he wants to know why he likes it, he wants to know where that artist came from, who their influences are. And that’s me 100 percent. I’m a person that digs in, in a big way. So we connected over that.

And he’s got this relentless energy. He’s constantly pushing, constantly working, constantly looking for the next thing. He’s a fun person to be around, and he’s kind of wild to be around. But we connected very easily, it was fun to work with him.

We only get a glimpse into the behind the scenes work that goes into “The Voice.” What is your daily schedule like?

The last couple weeks, I was pulling 18-hour days. I was more exhausted than I’ve ever been, and I have two kids. It was incredible, but it was really crazy. There would be days when I’d gotten three hours of sleep, and I’m pulling an 18-hour day, and then I get four hours of sleep … I pulled a 26-hour day at one point. It’s totally wild.

We had two minors in the final four, so they had regulations where they could only work a certain amount of time. They have to have certain days off, and they have to have a lot of breaks. We had to work around that, so we always got stuck with the really strange hours, the all-night shifts. It was intense, but it was good. Once I get a couple days of sleep, I’m going to look back on it with a lot of fond memories.

Is there any one thing about your time on the show that you are particularly proud of?

One of the things I’m really thankful about is that they allowed me to do one of my songs on the show. I think that’s something they have never done before, and I had to fight really hard to get them to agree to it. I pushed it and pushed it until, at the last minute, they caved. It was a battle, and I feel like it really paid off. And hopefully it will be really good for the show — and good for me. It’s something that I’m really proud of. That’s a big win for me.

“The Voice” just ended a few days ago, but have you started to think about your next steps?

I’m going to cook some dinner here at the house. Have a couple beers, maybe. Take a nap at some point. (laughs)

We’re planning some big shows for Michigan for the summer. And then I’m working on putting together a team, a booking agency at least, because I’m inundated with offers — which is lovely, but kind of overwhelming.

There’s a lot writing that I need to do that’s kind of on the tip of my tongue, a lot of stuff I’ve written over the course of this. There will be new songs coming out, and a new album, eventually. I’m really excited for what the future holds, and I’m also really excited to use this exposure to shine a light on what we have going on here in the Michigan music scene. I don’t know what the future is going to hold, and that’s exciting.