Joshua Davis After The Voice

The national TV buzz has ebbed, and weekly trips to L.A. are done, but the momentum (and life of dad and husband) goes on for singer-songwriter Joshua Davis.

- Jacob Wheeler

It was nearly a year after Joshua Davis sang on live television in front of 14 million Americans, fought NBC executives for the right to bring his own roots music to the stage, and surfed the wave of Hollywood stardom while trying to avoid the undertow sucking him and his family down. Now, he and his wife, Ann DelMariani, stand with cleaning supplies in the empty kitchen of their new home near Lake Leelanau, discussing whether or not to remove the living room carpet.

They had purchased their Northern Michigan home in March with the help of the payout from The Voice, the music reality show that turned Davis—already well known in this region—into a national star.

Now, with the glitz of Los Angeles and the competitive pressure of the show behind them, Davis and DelMariani faced more mundane challenges, like when to rent the moving truck, which walls to paint, and how to get internet access in notoriously low-bandwidth Leelanau County. Suddenly a text message alerts Davis that he has to go pick up their kids, Tahlia (who turns 11 at the end of this summer; she was 9 while on the show) and Theo (born December 22, 2014), from their babysitter in Traverse City.

For months after The Voice, Davis was approached, high-fived, hugged and asked for autographs and photographs whenever he went out in public. The attention was mostly welcome. Davis already had a large following throughout the mitten state from his years touring with the band Steppin’ In It. His brush with Hollywood fame sent his name recognition soaring. Davis was grateful to his fan base for fueling his run to the finals of the show in May 2015. The Voice is a social media–driven virtual popularity contest; its contestants advance based on how many Twitter votes they get or how many of their cover songs are purchased on iTunes.