- You heard me perform with my next guest
earlier in the show.
And you also saw him in season 17 of "The Voice."
(Kelly imitates air horn) (audience cheers and claps)
On my team, of course, that's right, Shelton.
His new EP is called "Love out of Time,"
and it's out right now, you gotta check it out.
Give it up for Jake Hoot!
(upbeat funky music) (audience cheers and claps)
So, have a seat on the end.
It's very formal.
- I know, it's very. - Us hanging out like this.
(laughs) So. - Yeah, hello.
- Earlier we got to sing, "I Would've Loved You,"
and I know I say this all the time,
but I mean it every time, I love this song.
I was so proud of you,
not just for singing the hell out of it,
but writing such an amazing song.
And also just asking me to sing it.
And I think a lot of people have related to this feeling,
you know, in situations and circumstances with love.
And so, thank you for having me on it, it means a lot.
- No, of course, you know, I,
it was so cool 'cause when I was on "The Voice,"
you'd come up to me towards the end, and you said,
hey, I wanna work with you, you know,
let's do something. - Yes.
- And so, you know, we wrote the song,
and immediately, as soon as we got done writing,
I said, this has got to be a duet song,
and I think Kelly would be perfect.
And so, I sent it, and you said,
heck yeah, I'm in, you know?
And so-
- Oh, It's funny, when you send it to me the first time,
we were busy doing the show, and we were doing
a bunch of things, and I was like,
okay, okay, I'll listen to it, I'll listen to it.
And I remember listening to it,
and I remember, oh, that was a really great song,
and it is funny, later when I listened to it,
and you send it back, you go,
hey I just wanna send this again, I didn't hit.
And I go, oh, God, yeah, yeah, I'm so sorry.
I was like, we got so busy and it was,
I think that timing is everything,
- Absolutely.
- You know?
And not just for me, but a lot of people out there,
like, you know, and all of a sudden you hear,
you can hear a song a thousand times,
but then if you hear it from a different perspective,
and vantage point. - Oh yeah.
- It hits you, you know, so, so differentLy.
- Oh yeah, well, I tell people all the time, you know,
playing, you know, gigs and stuff before "The Voice,"
I would sing the song "Goodbye Time,"
an old Conway Twitty song- - Yeah-
- That Blake ended up redoing. - Yeah.
- And I remember singing it, and I love the song,
but it wasn't until after I went through my divorce that-
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- The first time I sang it, I cried like a baby,
and I was like, holy crap,
I can't sing this at shows anymore-
- Yeah. - 'Cause it actually
became real and you know- - Yeah.
- And it was, like you said, it's timing is everything,
you know? (Kelly mmhmms)
And- - But congratulations also,
personally, like on the wedding everything.
- Oh, yeah, thank you so much, yeah.
- Yeah, so exciting! (audience cheers and claps)
So can you tell everybody how you met?
- [Jake] Yeah, thank you so much.
Yeah, so we actually met-
- [Kelly] I love this story, it's like a long time ago.
- Oh, yeah, it was a hot minute ago.
We met actually eight years ago as wedding singers
in our best friend's wedding.
She was living in California,
I was going to school in Tennessee,
and just communicated back and forth
through voice memos on Facebook,
and then met the rehearsal dinner night.
At the time, she wasn't on my radar, I wasn't on her radar,
I was in a different relationship,
and we sang that night, and then went our separate ways.
And then, of course, you know, life happens, and it,
you know, that song, "God Bless the Broken Road
You Go Down-" - Oh, amen, Rascal Flatts,
yes, that's a great song, yeah.
- Oh yeah, exactly, and so, you know,
about, I don't know, three or four years ago,
I went on a missions trip,
and she had been hosting missions trips.
And I just went down there to kinda get away.
I was going through a rough spot in life,
and I grew up on the mission field.
So going back, I was hoping that I would get
some kinda, you know, like just a disconnect.
- (mmhmms) And sometimes it helps you get through
what you're going through when you help somebody else.
- Absolutely, and I mean, you know,
not having cell phone service, and not having emails-
- Checking out. - Or calls or whatever.
And we reconnected then, and I had a crush on her,
but it, you know, timing is everything.
And the song, the title song for the album
is "Love out of Time," and I wrote that about her 'cause,
you know, I had that crush, but it wasn't reciprocated.
And- - Yeah.
- So we go- - Out of time.
- Yeah, we go both go our separate ways again,
and reconnected last year on another missions trip.
- Yeah.
- And it was just the perfect time.
And since then, you know, during COVID we started dating,
got married, and-
- [Kelly] You're super cute together.
- [Jake] Oh, thank you.
- Yeah, on the video shoot, I was like,
oh, they can't like separate from each other,
and they're holding hands all the time,
I was like, it was so cute.
(Jake laughs)
And you actually grew up partially
in the Dominican Republic, right?
- I did.
- 'Cause I that's where I learned you knew Spanish.
- I did, yeah, my parents were missionaries down there.
I think I lived down there almost 11 years
before I moved back- - Wow.
- to Tennessee, and so, yeah, it's, I mean,
it's easily a part of me.
You know, I mean, down there, it's one thing to be,
you know, Caucasian in the Dominican Republic,
but it's another thing to be 6'6"
in the Dominican Republican. (audience laughing)
- Yeah, he's a giant!
- Oh yeah, well, they called me, Goliat,
which is Spanish for Goliath.
(Kelly laughs)
And then a little Spanish-
- And you wanna be David in the story, just so you know.
- Exactly, yeah no, I don't wanna be,
but so, a little Spanish is gigante is giant in Spanish.
- Yeah. - Well, in Spanish,
if you add tón at the end of any word,
it makes it that much bigger.
And so my nickname was gigantón for the longest time.
(Kelly laughs)
And so, no matter where I went, there was no hiding,
I mean, it was just, you know-
- {Kelly] Yeah.
- A foot above everybody else,
but it was a great way to grow up,
and I wouldn't trade for anything, I'm one of nine kids,
and so we all grew up-
- I know, I remember you telling me that,
and I was like, Oh, what a cra, your mom was crazy.
That's a lotta kids
- She's got a lot of patience, that's for sure. (laughs)
- Of Job, but the patience of Job.
Well, everybody Jake's EP is called, "Love out of Time,"
like you said, and on it you can find our song,
"I Would've Loved You."
It's available right now, go check it out.