Casey Weston doesn’t mind getting voted off “The Voice.” She’s in Nashville, Tenn., now, living out her musical dream.
The Naples singer-songwriter moved to Music City six months ago, soon after leaving the hit NBC reality TV show and touring the country with her fellow “Voice” contestants. Weston was a semifinalist on the singing competition last year.
“It was such a cool experience,” says Weston, 18, who returns home this weekend to headline the Bayshore Festival of the Arts. “But I still have so much to do and so much to learn.
“I never dwell (on getting voted off the show). I’m always moving forward.”
That forward momentum includes living in a Nashville apartment, performing at area clubs and writing songs for an upcoming album. She’s also been co-writing with professional Nashville songwriters.
“I’ve been writing songs like crazy,” Weston says. “I just wrote a great song last night.
“Anytime I write a song with somebody else, it’s like I’m in class. I’m learning, and I’m taking things from them. It’s almost like an independent school.”
Weston says she’s not sure what she’ll perform Saturday at the Bayshore Festival. The annual event is a fundraiser for the planned Bayshore Cultural and Performing Arts Center. The two-day festival features more than 250 Southwest Florida musicians and performers.
Weston plans to play some of her own folk-pop songs, of course. But she also might throw in a song that she sang on “The Voice,” such as “Leather and Lace” or “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.”
Weston made it into the semifinals on “The Voice,” but she got booted off the show in June. Her coach — singer Adam Levine of Maroon 5 — called it a tough decision, but he said he ultimately wanted to see Weston’s teammate, Javier Colon, make it to the finals (Colon ended up winning the entire show). Levine added that he was confident Weston would go on to have a huge musical career — with or without the finals.
Weston said those words encouraged her, and that she always thought the popular Colon would win the show.
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“It’s not that I didn’t do my best,” she says. “But Javier was highlighted from the very beginning. People were really rooting for him. And I think that’s great.”
“The Voice” cast performed in a small concert tour last year, traveling to Los Angeles, Boston, New York City and other cities (none in Florida). Weston said she had fun getting to know all the contestants better.
“It was really great to see everybody again,” she says. “It was just one more reunion before we all went off to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
The Gulf Coast High graduate says she’s looking forward to seeing her friends and family in Naples this weekend, plus many of the fans who voted for her on the competiton. It’s the first time she’s performed in Southwest Florida since “The Voice.”
“I love it,” she says. “I love it that everybody was rooting for me and supporting me. People have come up to me and said, ‘You know, Adam should have picked you.’ And I say, ‘I agree!’”
Weston isn’t sure where she’ll be in the next five or 10 years. All she knows is she wants to keep singing and writing songs.
“I know what I want, and I know I can do it,” she says. “I’m a religious person, and I know God has a plan for me. I don’t know what that is yet. I just know it will be music.”
