Plumas County has a Voice: Christie Chase
In 2019, NBC’s The Voice might just have its first Plumas County participant in auditions and that voice belongs to Hamilton Branch’s Christi Kerzic Chase.
Chase competed against 16 other participants in the final battle rounds of the Plumas County The Voice competition Oct. 25 at the Main Street Sports Bar and Lounge in Quincy.
There are four audition locations for the upcoming The Voice competition: San Francisco, Salt Lake City, New York City and Nashville. Chase is leaning toward the Nashville competition.
The songs Chase won with on that Thursday were Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee.”
According to her bio from The Voice competition, Chase moved to Plumas County nearly 30 years ago, and settled on the Lake Almanor Peninsula.
She graduated from Chester High School in 1995 and went on to earn a Bachelor’s in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She met her husband, Chef Heath Chase, in Santa Barbara.
In 2013, they decided to return to beautiful Plumas County to raise their family —son and daughter — and to pursue owning their own restaurant.
In 2015, they opened Cravings, which has become a popular breakfast and lunch cafe in Chester.
Chase has always loved music, but didn’t start singing until she was 25 years old. She performed at venues in and around Santa Barbara prior to starting a family.
Ten years later with her kids older and Cravings steadily booming, Chase felt the microphone calling her again.
Every other Saturday night she performs at the Red Onion Grill & Bar as a lead vocalist for a Lake Almanor band called Mojo 36.
Main Street Sports Bar and Lounge has been raising money since the summer for the winning voice. They’ve run games, charged a donation to watch the initial The Voice competitions and asked for donations. So far, they’ve taken in $1,800. Karen Powell of the Main Street Sports Bar and Lounge wants to send Chase off with airfare, hotel and some spending money for her trip. She’s hoping they can get to $2,500.
Prior to leaving on her trip for the big audition, Chase and her band will be getting in lots of practice around the county. She has dates at the Drunk Brush in Quincy and back at the sports bar with her band.
The second place winner was Kristi Hoffman, the third place winner was Patrick Parks.
Powell feels this is only the beginning. She wants to hold The Voice competitions every year as long as there’s interest. “Plumas County has a lot of talent that deserves to be recognized,” added Powell.
