{"id":50843,"date":"2020-10-22T19:13:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T01:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catching-up-with-voice-winner-chevel-shepherd\/"},"modified":"2020-10-23T01:13:47","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T01:13:47","slug":"catching-up-with-voice-winner-chevel-shepherd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/catching-up-with-voice-winner-chevel-shepherd\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up with \u2018Voice\u2019 winner Chevel Shepherd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image naviga-align-left alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=706e8dbb-3d4a-4efb-9d4d-6287bd9c5507&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"3001\" alt=\"Farmington country music singer Chevel Shepherd, who won television\u2019s \u201cThe Voice\u201d singing competition in 2018, is continuing to evolve as a musician.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Farmington country music singer Chevel Shepherd, who won television\u2019s \u201cThe Voice\u201d singing competition in 2018, is continuing to evolve as a musician.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Like the rest of us, country music singer Chevel Shepherd hadn\u2019t planned on the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing springtime quarantine.<\/p>\n<p>The Farmington teenager \u2013 and Season 15 winner of television\u2019s \u201cThe Voice\u201dsinging competition \u2013 found that when everything began shutting down in March because of the virus, a year\u2019s worth of projects she had planned were postponed.<\/p>\n<p>Those plans included playing a drive-in concert this weekend in Albuquerque, but the show was canceled because of safety concerns amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, Shepherd said, the idea of quarantine sounded kind of relaxing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that at first, like two weeks, I was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m getting a little break during the quarantine and it\u2019s going to be nice,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then it carried on and I started hating it because I wanted to go out and perform and sing in front of people. But I understand why they did it to keep everybody safe, but I had a lot planned this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h1kvOzH18r8\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When the coronavirus first started to become a thing in the Four Corners, the Shepherd family was celebrating Chevel\u2019s father\u2019s birthday in Florida. When the pandemic really started taking off, the family packed up to head home to Farmington.<\/p>\n<p>They found they had to make a few pit stops for essentials on the way back to New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe ended up leaving \u2013 I was supposed to be filming a movie and they canceled that because of coronavirus, and so my family and I left Florida early and started heading back,\u201d she said. \u201cOn our way back, we were like, \u2018We don\u2019t have any toilet paper at home and everyone\u2019s taking all the toilet paper at the stores!\u2019 So we had to stop in different states and find some. Once we got home, that\u2019s when everything shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd said that she actually got a lot of work done during the shutdown \u2013 she and her band performed a virtual concert and she filmed a video for her song \u201cThe Letter,\u201d (try to watch it without getting a lump in your throat), which is a single off her upcoming album.<\/p>\n<p>When Shepherd won \u201cThe Voice\u201d \u2013 a singing competition where contestants are chosen by judges from a \u201cblind\u201d audition and then get to train with one of the judges (in Shepherd\u2019s case, it was singer Kelly Clarkson) \u2013 it was 2018 and she was a 16-year-old high school junior. As she gets older and works at her craft, she said her music continues to evolve.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=11b5f3cb-dd1b-4311-bf9c-04936a5371d2&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"&amp;#x201c;The Voice&amp;#x201d; finalist &amp;#x2013; and ultimately, the winner &amp;#x2013; Farmington native Chevel Shepherd performs during Season 15 in 2018.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">&amp;#x201c;The Voice&amp;#x201d; finalist &amp;#x2013; and ultimately, the winner &amp;#x2013; Farmington native Chevel Shepherd performs during Season 15 in 2018.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Trae Patton\/NBC via AP, file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>\u201cEvery time I practice, I think my band and I get better together,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, of course, music changes as the years and days go by. But, my music, the style \u2026 I haven\u2019t changed because I love that; I love the classic country music. But as an artist, growing and getting better every day, yes, I do grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shepherd\u2019s love for the classic-style of country comes through in her songs \u2013 her vintage sound is almost a genre all its own within country music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m wanting to bring the classic sound and style \u2013 I\u2019m wanting to incorporate that in my own version,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker sound \u2013 I love that music and I\u2019m trying to incorporate that within my own style and bring back that classic sound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the postponements and cancellations, Shepherd isn\u2019t taking it easy: Her new album will be released soon and she is working on a Christmas album as well.<\/p>\n<p>And still having a blast while she\u2019s at it: \u201cOh, it\u2019s so much fun. I enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:katie@durangoherald.com\">katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">On the Net<\/h4>\n<p>For more information about Chevel Shepherd, visit<br>\n                chevelshepherd.com<br>\n                .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Farmington native\u2019s music continues to evolve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[938,1167,799,28,559,29,337],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-country-music","tag-exclude-homepage-video","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-music","tag-newsletter","tag-television"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50843"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}