The Voice: Gwen Stefani goes all out against Blake Shelton over talented trio of country singers

Gwen Stefani and fiancé Blake Shelton fought hard to win a trio of extraordinary country singers to their teams on Monday’s episode of The Voice.

Worth The Wait, a mother-daughter group from Centre, Alabama, blew the coaches away with their stunning cover of Linda Ronstadt’s When Will I Be Loved.

Their audition opened with one voice, but as soon as the other two voices chimed in, all four of the show’s judges turned around, eager to vie for the family’s talents.

It was the last night of blind auditions, and Gwen, 51, tried selling out Blake, 44, to get them.

Aware that he might use his experience on the show to win them over, she played defense.

‘It’s true that he has been on the show for 19 seasons,’ Gwen noted. ‘He is so burnt-out.’

She then played a video she’d prepared, in which country star Trace Adkins, 58, said, ‘So clearly, you’re torn. I believe that every person is allotted a certain amount of good luck in his or her life. And Blake, as evidenced by his girlfriend, has used his up completely.’

‘What an idiot,’ Blake said, laughing.

The God’s Country singer turned to the trio, and told them that he thought they had a perfect name, saying, ‘I have one spot left on my team, and I’ve been sitting here waiting for whatever it’s gonna be. It’s been worth the wait, right?’

They chose him, and completed his team.

‘My competitive side has grown since the season before,’ Gwen observed.

‘I’m kickin’ Trace off my tour,’ Blake said.

The group, made up of Tara Matthews, 47, and her daughters Mia, 15, and Jacy, 13, had already known a taste of fame, as they’d had a viral Internet hit.

A video of the girls singing The Star-Spangled Banner to a store cashier had amassed 40 million views, and led to bookings all over their state.

The teens had sun with their sister Sadie, but she had to drop out after having her son Jackson, who needed full-time care.

‘They came to me and said that they feel like that third part needs to be there, with tears in their eyes, so how could I at least not give it a shot?’ their mother asked.

The night got started with an ethereal performance by college student Julia Cooper, 21, from Poland, Ohio, who blew the coaches away with her take on Maggie Rogers’ Alaska.

Three chairs turned, but Julia went with John Legend, 43, who admired her ‘angelic’ tone and called her voice a ‘revelation.’

Blake groused, ‘I’m sick and tired of seeing John win everything when he pushes his button.’

‘It’s like a vocal ninja or something,’ agreed Kelly Clarkson, 38. ‘A Voice coach ninja.’

It only took Lain Roy five seconds to get chair turns from Gwen and John for his rendition of Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved.

The 22-year-old singer from Larkspur, Colorado, went right for John, as he loved his song All Of Me and had attended Berklee College, where John had just spoken for graduation.

‘I’m gonna quit my job,’ Gwen said, getting up and pretending to walk out. ‘Nice to meet you guys.’

‘Gwen, she’s not really great at selling herself, but she’s really great at selling craploads of albums, because people really gravitate toward what she does,’ Blake interjected. ‘So if you go with John, I just want you to know… he forces his contestants to touch this disgusting glove.’

Blake was referring to the green glove on a stick John had been using to shake the singers’ hands.

When Lain chose Gwen, she fell to the ground in surprise, saying, ‘Thank you! Thank you! What? I’m so honored!’

Backstage, Lain told his parents he’d been sure he was going with John, but his heart had told him otherwise.

Bailey Rae, an 18-year-old singer from Roberta, Oklahoma, often played at Blake’s bar Ole Red, and the country star liked her cover Lee Ann Womack’s Does My Ring Burn Your Finger?

But by the time she hit the stage, Blake had filled his team, so he couldn’t vie for her.

He tried to convince her to pick him in the battle rounds, as her new coach, John, drew devil horns on a cardboard cutout of Blake and wrote ‘Pick John’ on its face.

‘John is one of my favorite people on the planet; I love him,’ Blake shared. ‘He is a horrifying coach.’

John rounded out his team with James Pyle, 30, from West Hills, California, who did a smooth version of Harry Styles song Watermelon Sugar.

‘I’m sorry, y’all!’ John said, grinning, to his fellow coaches, as he reveled in the fact that they had no spots left on their teams.

Earlier in the two-hour episode, Gwen and Blake had gone head-to-head for a talented contestant.

John Sullivan, 32, a former baseball player from Denver, North Carolina, unveiled an intimate version of Jim Croce’s Operator, and got the couple to turn their chairs.

Gwen said she loved listening to ‘yacht rock,’ as Kelly joked that Blake was ‘pontoon’ rock.

‘I think you’re a storyteller, and I’d be proud to be your coach,’ Blake told John, who signed up for his team, replying, ‘Come on down to the lake, man! We’ll get in the pontoon.’

Skylar Alyvia Mayton, 15, from Grand Rapids, hooked Kelly for a coach with her searing version of The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights.

Kelly practically bounced out of her chair when she learned Skylar was a teen—as she’d won the show with two teens before—though she asked Blake if he had anything to add.

‘I was gonna let you get your worms out, or whatever’s happening to you—your ‘excitement seizure’ that happens,’ he cracked.

Kelly then filled her team by choosing Emmalee, a 20-year-old gigging musician from Clarksville, Tennessee, who’d sung a stripped-down version of Whitney Houston’s How Will I Know.

For her last pick, Gwen chose Tori Miller, 26, of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, who sang Alison Krauss and Union Station’s When You Say Nothing At All.

Singers not going through included Jared Ming, a 32-year-old bartender from Denver; Neci, a 32-year-old nurse from Nashville; and Apropos, a 31-year-old artist from Detroit.

The Voice will return next week on NBC.