On the first night of blind auditions on Season 20 of The Voice, one of the best stories of chair turns came from a surprising reunion of sorts. Forty-five-year-old Pete Mroz, sang “Can’t Find My Way Home,” the Blind Faith classic penned by Steve Winwood. John Legend turned, followed by Blake Shelton. What unfolded was a classic recognition scene. When Mroz revealed that he played 20 years ago under the name Pete Mitchell in a Nashville band called the Young Riders, Blake said that he too had played in the band Young Riders.
THE VOICE — Season: 20 — Contestant Gallery — Pictured: Pete Mroz — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)
Mroz said that he didn’t have a hard time choosing Shelton. He said, “I could play poker and tell you I didn’t know. But it was so special to me to go onto a show with someone I knew a long time ago.” He said they both have nostalgia about that time in their lives, just starting off in their early twenties. “For me, it was becoming a man in this big town by myself. I have these vivid memories, and Blake just happens to be one of those people from back then. Going on the show, I thought, ‘How cool would it be if he turned his chair?’”
Pete says while singing he focused on the virtual crowd behind the panel. “I believe art happens from my mouth to your ears, so as I’m playing, I’m focused on them. When a chair turned, I didn’t even know who it was.” He says he was just glad to know he was on the show, but he was subconsciously aware of where Blake sat from watching the show so much, so when he turned, it briefly broke his concentration.
He said from the banter between the coaches, he realized Blake didn’t know who he was, but he was thinking, “How do I know this person?”
“I think Americans, the people watching, really saw a genuine moment where he was thinking, ‘There you are.’ Then when they panned over to Kelly, her reaction was priceless,” says Mroz.
Mroz came to Nashville at nineteen from Florida, where he had not thought about performing for other people until his dad surprised him by signing him up for karaoke when he was 18. The restaurant was packed and noisy, but when he was called up, he sang “Yesterday” by the Beatles. When he got into the first verse, he says, you could have heard a pin drop.
“In my mind, I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I didn’t know what that meant, what roads it would lead me to, but I started singing a lot, learned to play the guitar, and started writing songs and playing shows.
He first came to Nashville when he was 18, turning 19, where he recorded a demo. He was told he needed to move to Nashville, to learn how to write songs and be a part of the community. At the time, a music attorney and some managers suggested he change his name because, they said, people aren’t going to be able to pronounce Mroz. He checked in first with his grandfather, who gave his the go-ahead, but he never officially changed his name to Pete Mitchell, the name he used when he and Blake played in the Young Riders. When he was about 23, he decided to go back to his real name. “My last name is Mroz,” he said. “Just call me Mr. Oz.”
When he arrived in Nashville in the early 90s, he said, country music was hopping and a resurrection of country music was happening. He points to Garth Brooks as a huge influence.
“Garth brought country music back to a level that it hadn’t been for a while. I was like a lot of young, aspiring artists: I wanted to be Garth Brooks. I loved the man, loved how he wrote, how he entertained, so I cut my chops on Garth Brooks.”
In Music City, Mroz started writing with everyone. “I was working as a bartender, making fast friends, and I was writing all through that time. I put an album out in my early twenties and continued to put albums out. I have the kind of classic Nashville songwriter story: moved to town, playing songwriter nights everywhere.” The two things artists do when they come to Nashville, he says, is to find a community of songwriters they mesh well with, some of whom have become lifelong friends, and if they are singers, they sing demos. “That’s all I did for years just to cut my teeth,” said Mroz.
He says he also went in and out of production deals with record companies, “mostly at my detriment. I was very self-defeating when I was a young writer. I found some kind of weird solace in tearing things down, self-persecution–so I could write about it,” he admitted.
But Pete Mroz never considered himself a starving artist. “I always worked. I always loved to work, so maybe that’s why—fast forward, I’m 45 now—it has taken me so long. I’ve worked and I’ve played music. I’ve always told people you can do more than one thing at a time; you just might not get there as fast.”
Even now, as he waits to see how his experience on The Voice proceeds, he’s still working his day job with FootJoy, the number one shoe and glove in golf, he was quick to point out, and they have been supportive of this new journey.
“There are two entities in my life. My wife is my princess warrior, my rock. Without her, I couldn’t have done this. Secondly is my job. They have been so supportive in so many ways. They said, ‘We invested in you for the next 20 years, not the next 4-5 months.’”
Pete Mroz has had The Voice in his sights for awhile. He initially auditioned for Season 2 and again a couple of times later, making it through part of the process but not onto the final show. He stayed in touch with people from the casting agency, and when the pandemic hit, they reached out to him about auditioning as the show had to change its process. When he asked his wife what she thought, she said, “Sure! Why not?” He ran upstairs, recorded three videos for consideration, and sent them to The Voice immediately.
“I didn’t over think it,” he said. “That’s the point I am in my life at 45. I have the luxury of knowing who I am as a person, the things that work for me and don’t, and I’m good with it. I feel that I win, no matter what,” he said.
He believes the time he’s spent since coming to Nashville have brought him to a good place.
“I’ve pulled this apart many times. Why didn’t I make it back then instead of now? In this universal way, I wasn’t living in the light. I was living in a version of it, but now that I have purpose in my life. I have my family, my wife and my kids. I’m living in a positive, productive life, where I’m thankful. I stay present, live in the light, and give back. When you do those things, you’re really present, good things happen. You give water and light to a plant, and look what happens. That’s why the timing of this worked for me, and it didn’t in the past. I was trying to make it happen,” he explained.
He knows it has been important to put in the work too. He says he’s never stopped playing music. He continues to play guitar, and he has a band SuperHunk that plays in Nashville, playing 1965 back jump blues, like boogie blues. When live music is possible, they play at such downtown venues as Nashville Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in and Puckett’s.
“We stay in Nashville because we have jobs and families. Occasionally, we’ll go out and do a job somewhere that someone wants us to come out, but it’s been so fulfilling just to play music. If you’ve had a hard week and come out and for two hours, we’re going to make you feel like everything is all right.”
For now, like the rest of The Voice viewing audience, he’s awaiting the battle rounds. His five-year-old Cooper is eager to see his dad back on the show. For someone accustomed to performing on stage or recording in the studio, Mroz says The Voice stage is a different experience, one he hopes to have plenty of time getting comfortable.
His says he’s adjusting his dream to the reality too. “When I got into this, I thought if I could get a chair turned and just make it on the show, I’d be good. That would give me more visibility. Now I’m on the show, so let’s see what happens next. I have a shot at this. I don’t know where it’s going to take me, but I’m as excited as I can be to see. I’ve got all the tools. I’ve got an amazing partner behind me that lifts me up and I lift her up. I feel like the two of us are an unstoppable team. The sky’s the limit.”