Almost 15 years have passed since Blaire Elbert and Makenzie Patton sang together as part of Lubbock’s Cactus Cuties.
A couple of weeks ago, they shared the stage at Lubbock’s Silver Bullet Saloon – which bills itself as “Lubbock’s Five-Star Dive Bar” – performing a few songs wedged into Elbert’s set on her short swing back home after her run on NBC’s “The Voice.”
Related story: Former Cactus Cutie Blaire Elbert once sang at White House, but being on ‘The Voice’ stage was ‘whole different beast’
Before the music started, Patton talked about watching her friend on the show.
“I started crying when she came out. Tears were streaming down my face. It was very sentimental, very special. When the chair turned, I was watching it with my dad. We lost it. We lost it. It’s like we were watching a basketball game and they scored a buzzer beater,” Patton said of the moment when judge Kelly Clarkson turned her chair, moving Elbert to the show’s second round.
“I knew once she started yodeling, I knew Kelly was gonna turn y’all. I knew it. That’s irresistible. Smart move on her part. Way to grab attention. I knew Kelly won’t be able to resist that one,” Patton said.
“Just starting so young as babies together and seeing where she got and knowing I got to experience that with her for a small part,” said Patton, who lives in Lubbock and gigs around town and in the region, of her connection with Elbert.
Elbert opened her set singing Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” recorded for the movie of the same name. She sprinkled in some of her own songs – “Howdy,” “Dating Down,” “Whiskey Proof” along with yodeling number “Wide Rollin’ Plains,” which she sang on “The Voice’s” Blind Audition and “Never Again, Again,” which she sang with J.W. Griffin in the Battle Rounds.
“Wide Rollin’ Plains,” got a strong response from the crowd, with many taking videos on their phones during the song.
Elbert described “Dating Down” as a song about a friend dating someone who’s friends know is not right for them.
Some young women started laughing when Elbert described the song. Asked why they were laughing, all three said they had a friend the song fit perfectly.
Then Patton came up for a spirited set of tunes, including a sing-along version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
But most of the evening’s songs were country, luring two-steppers to the dance floor.
During breaks at the Silver Bullet, Elbert’s mom, Leanna Mitchell, introduced her daughter to people at the bar, where watch parties were held when Elbert appeared on “The Voice.”
Mitchell and Elbert’s sister Brooklyn were in Los Angeles for Elbert’s Blind Audition.
“It was pretty awesome … nerve racking, to say the least. But she walked on there with confidence,” Mitchell said.
“She has performed on stage since she was five. But I had no doubt she could get a chair turn with her personality, the way she has been mentored to perform on stage and how to interact with the judges,” Mitchell said.
Before Clarkson turned her chair, Mitchell said Elbert hoped to work with Clarkson because of the Texas and country connections – plus she was the only female coach.
And Elbert isn’t Mitchell’s only daughter to sing on a competitive TV show.
Brooklyn Elbert was in a group called Avery and the Calico Hearts, performing on “America’s Got Talent” as seen in this 2011 YouTube clip. Brooklyn graduated from Tech, lives in Lubbock, works for Covenant Health and still does music, said her mom.
Also in the audience was Kathy Rollo, Lubbock Independent School District superintendent, who was Elbert’s principal at Murfee Elementary School.
“I had followed Blaire throughout her career, after she graduated from college and throughout her musical career in Nashville. So ‘The Voice’ was just the next extension of what she had already been doing. But it was amazing to watch her and she still has an incredible future,” said Rollo.
Rollo praised Elbert’s songwriting and musician skills.
“She’s always been a very talented person from the time she was in kindergarten. This musical talent she had as a very young child was very evident,” she said.
Rollo also used words like creativity, brilliance and intelligence describing Elbert.
“She’s extremely smart and … was very gifted academically. She was on that Destination Imagination team my son was on and they were coached by my husband. They advanced to their district, state and even the national level,” she said.
Misty Michel, whose son James was close friends with Elbert at Evans Middle School and Monterey High School, was also in the audience.
“I cried the whole entire time. I’m proud of Blaire because she knew what she wanted. She left Lubbock, left everybody she knew, went to a town where she knew nobody and did her thing,” Michel said of watching Elbert on “The Voice.”
Michel has gone to Nashville to watch Elbert play.
“I always had high hopes for her because she had such talent. But even more, she had more ambition,” she said.
Michel talked about Elbert’s early years in the Cuties, singing on the Disney Channel show “Cory in the House” and other appearances, like singing the “National Anthem” in front of large audiences.
“When they’re little, they’re so cute. These little girls in front of these big audiences, she was never scared or she didn’t show it anyways,” she said.
She left Lubbock, left everybody she knew, went to a town where she knew nobody and did her thing.
misty michel
