‘The Voice’ recap: Country singers shine on second night of blinds

Every season “The Voice” kicks off with blind auditions – so called, of course, because the coaches’ backs are turned to the vocalists and they’re unable to see the aspiring singers until they push their buttons and spin their chairs.

On Tuesday night, however, the show offered us, as contestant Joseph Bommersbach, a 32-year-old singer from Fargo, N.D., put it, a “truly blind audition.”

Bommersbach, who goes by the name “Blind Joe,” was born three months premature and deemed unlikely to survive. In fact, he thrived, with only one complication: His retinas failed to attach, and he was unable to see.

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Fully intact, however, was Blind Joe’s sense of humor. “Looking good, bro,” he said to “The Voice” host Carson Daly upon meeting him.

Also: his heart. “She is my angel,” he said of his wife, Liann, whom he calls his “seeing-eye wife.” “I thank God every day that he blessed me with someone as wonderful as her.”

You couldn’t help rooting for Joe, who was led to his spot onstage by a “Voice” crew member, and so it was gratifying when his rendition of “If It Hadn’t Been for Love” spun all four coaches.

“Blind Joe, you got a four-chair turnaround,” Blake Shelton informed him. And while the other coaches made solid plays for the singer, whose cowboy hat, as Adam Levine noted, foretold his choice, Shelton won him over, painting a picture of him jamming out after his win with country great Ronnie Milsap, who is also blind.

“You’ve overcome so much. It’s time to start reaping some rewards,” Shelton told Blind Joe. “I’d be honored to introduce you to Nashville.”

Still, Levine vowed to swipe a country singer from Shelton, and by the end of the evening, miraculously, he had.

Here’s who else made it through on the second night of the Season 9 blinds:

Ivonne Acero: This 17-year-old singer, who works with her family on a cantaloupe farm in Aguila, Ariz., returned to “The Voice” after failing to turn any chairs last season. This time around, she spun Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani straight away with her take on “Style.” “Blake, you said you’d turn for me,” she chastised Shelton, who told her she was not too young to learn that “men lie.” Williams, however, seemed altogether sincere when he told Acero he thought her voice was “amazing” and her look “special” and “super unique,” adding that he prided himself “as a producer on working with artists that don’t walk down the beaten path” and asking for her to join his team. She did, later saying she was won over by his “kind, humble” spirit.

Regina Love: At 51, this veteran vocalist has already seen success as both a singer – she recorded three gospel albums with a record label started by boxer Evander Holyfield before the label folded – and as a radio host. She came to “The Voice” hoping for a “second chance” at a music career, a la Team Blake’s Sisaundra Lewis from Season 6. Her earthy rendition of “Rock Steady” prompted Shelton and Levine to duke it out over her – and Williams proclaiming her to be “100% the real thing” and vowing to steal her if he had the chance. Shelton said he’d get out of the way and let her talent shine, but Love went instead for Levine’s declarations of love, saying she hoped he would take her “places where I’ve never gone before.”

Zach Seabaugh: This 16-year-old from Marietta, Ga., punted a spot on his high school football team to pursue his musical dreams. His take on “Take Your Time” spun Shelton, Williams and eventually Levine, but it was Stefani who couldn’t get over Seabaugh’s tender age. “Sixteen is ridiculous,” she exclaimed. “You look like a man!” Levine tried to scare Seabaugh away from Shelton’s team, telling him he’d get lost among the other country singers, and strangely, wondered if the strong-jawed teen might be Superman. But it didn’t work: The young aspiring country singer stayed the course and picked Shelton as his coach.

Evan McKeel: This sweet-faced, church-raised 20-year-old from Richmond, Va., turned all four chairs with his rendition of “Typical” and then followed it up, at Williams’ request, with a Stevie Wonder song that moved Stefani to tears and brought all four coaches to their feet. While Williams nabbed the hotly contested contestant for his team, Shelton got in the best line, telling McKeel it was “awesome and studly” that he had opted to wear two jackets at the same time: “Can’t decide? Screw it! I’m wearing both of them!” Too bad he couldn’t pick more than one coach, too.

Emily Ann Roberts: But don’t cry for Shelton; he picked up this beautiful cowboy-boot-wearing Knoxville, Tenn., 16-year-old singer with an “old soul,” beating out Levine, who also turned for Roberts’ “I Hope You Dance,” without breaking a sweat. “Think about who you’ve heard on country radio in recent years,” he told her, as Levine sputtered about his passion. “You’ve heard Cassadee Pope … Danielle Bradberry.” Coming to the team that launched both those singers, he said, would simply be “common sense.” “Don’t mess around with this,” Shelton warned. Roberts heard the message loud and clear. “I just had to go with Blake,” she later said.

Ellie Lawrence: This 26-year-old singer from a small town in Georgia, who favors blue hair and indie music and is trying to break out of her older brother’s musical shadow, spun Levine, Stefani and Williams with her gravelly “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.” She made no secret of her love for Stefani, and, in fact, chose her as her coach. “This is the best moment in my life so far,” she later said, giddily. Then she suddenly remembered her fiancé, who was standing at her side, and hastily added, “besides being engaged to you. They’re tied!” Nice save.

James Dupre: At 30, this singer, originally from Louisiana, already has four adorable sons, a divorce, a career as a paramedic, an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and an aborted record deal to his credit. All four coaches turned for his “Let Her Cry.” Yet while it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Dupre, a country singer, would pick Shelton, Levine managed to find a crack and wedge it open. He told Dupre there was more to him than country music, that he heard some James Taylor in his voice. He begged him to take a risk, and it worked. Levine finally managed to swipe a country singer away from Shelton, prompting Williams and Stefani to celebrate, too. “You just destroyed that guy’s life,” Shelton told Levine. And you just had to hope he wasn’t right.

By the end of the evening, Gwen had also picked up three singers whose auditions we barely got a glimpse of: Berklee College of Music student Noah Jackson, indie-pop singer Tim Atlas and Hanna Ashbrook, a singer-songwriter.

A handful of other singers -- Gage Navarro, Bryan Bautista and Natalie Yacovazzi – failed to turn any chairs. Perhaps they’ll return to sing another season.