COTTLEVILLE, Missouri — NBC's "The Voice" returns with a new season, featuring a 16-year-old girl from Foley, Missouri, during the show's highly anticipated blind auditions.
This season's competition is fierce — as the queen of country Reba McEntire claims her red chair — alongside last season's champ Niall Horan. Vocal coaches John Legend and Gwen Stefani also return.
A local from Missouri, Ruby Leigh, got to perform for the judges on Tuesday as the blind auditions continued. The teen's yodeling skills turned all four chairs, and Leigh chose Reba as her vocal coach.
Before Leigh's TV debut, excitement built at JP's Hideout Bar and Grill in Cottleville, Missouri. Family and fans of the 16-year- from Foley packed inside on both Monday and Tuesday, eager to learn if their favorite Missouri performer would get picked for the show.
Watch her full audition here:
5 On Your Side sat down Wednesday for an interview with Leigh after Tuesday's performance. You can watch that interview in its entirety here:
"A lot of people here support her, they have supported here and have been here many times," Sandra Pearson, Leigh's older sister, said. "It's really cool to see them come back here and celebrate with us."
John Windfeldt with JP's Hideout said Leigh has a long history with the bar and grill.
"She came in here when we were opening up the place," Windfeldt said. "She was 13 years old her and her father came in and auditioned for me. she did acapella with a guitar."
The opportunity is definitely a shock for Leigh because celebrities don't visit Foley often, she said.
"I come from a very, very small town of Foley. It's a town of 68 people," Leigh said. "I do not come from a musical background at all. No one sings, no one plays instruments, there are no musical aspects to my family except for me. I come from a very non-musical family," Leigh said.
Leigh said she started singing and performing when she was 9 1/2 years old. She started singing in her dad's race car shop and blossomed from there. She posted videos of herself singing on Facebook and took off on social media from there.
She said that performing on Monday night is "absolutely insane" because she is from a small town, and she feels like it's the first big thing to happen to Foley. She said she is very glad to represent Foley and show what the town can do.
Leigh said she actually started the audition process as a joke because she didn't think she would make it.
"Me and my sister thought it would be kind of funny to just do this audition and send in something that I'm not really familiar with ... something that's different from me ... so I sent in heavy rock songs as my audition [tape] ... we thought that was funny," she said.
As she started to build momentum through The Voice audition process, she said started taking the audition a little more seriously. That's when she started singing more country, which was her original genre. Eventually, talent recruiters asked her to sing in another audition because she had such a good country voice.
"I'm glad they noticed that because man ... it just took off and now I'm doing this," she said. "I'm not nervous. I feel really good, I know that I have my fan base behind me which I call my 'fan-mily' because they're just fans that turned into family. They're amazing and it's really just a treat."
Several companies have decided to endorse and support Leigh.
"Having their support, knowing that they're behind me when they could literally support anybody is just truly amazing. It makes me feel really good. So I'm going in with confidence and just going to do my best," she added.
"I just hope to get a chair turn and make my small town proud. All I need is one chair ... as long I get one, I'm happy," she said.
She said even if she doesn't receive a chair turn, she will still be extremely grateful for the opportunity.
"I'm so excited to see all the posters right in front of me and people I look up to.," she said.
And on the Illinois side of the river, 2020 Waterloo High School graduate Eli Ward will also get a shot to make a chair turn. His performance will air in October.