Blake Shelton recruits Jimmie Allen to be his team’s mentor on season 22 of 'The Voice'

Trae Patton/NBC

As he gears up for a new season of The Voice, coach Blake Shelton has some serious country star power by his side: He’s enlisting Jimmie Allen as the guest mentor to his team.

“I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer..” Blake wrote on his social channels, posting a selfie of himself with Jimmie from the set of The Voice.

Blake and Jimmie may be longtime mutual fans, but according to Access, they’re new friends who got to know each other on the set of the TV show.

“We’ve met on occasion, at awards shows and music industry events, but literally nothing more than, ‘Hey, how you doing, good to meet you’ type moments,” Blake says. “But I’ve watched him. I’ve watched his career develop ... he’s just an incredible performer, and he’s so focused on what he does. He’s clearly just a huge fan of music.”

For his part, when asked what the best part of meeting Blake was, Jimmie starts with a joke: “I got to say I hung out with Gwen Stefani’s husband."

In all seriousness, though, Jimmie’s excited to have had “a chance to meet an artist I’ve admired for a while." “Just how cool he was, how open he was to trusting me and what I have to say to share with his team.”

Season 22 of The Voice kicks off on September 19 on NBC.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 2:00PM by Carena Liptak Permalink