“Throughout the last month or so, our dad’s health has been declining pretty steadily,” Joshua told Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “We had been in conversations with our parents and the executive producers of The Voice about the possibility that if we needed to come home, we would. The show was so good about saying, ‘Yes, we know the show is important, but family is more important, and we will support whatever decision you make in regard to going home.’” Girl Named Tom stayed in L.A. to finish out the season of The Voice because their father, Chris Liechty, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and mom Holly urged them to do so. “They really wanted us to see the show through,” Joshua continued. “It’s such a welcome distraction for them and they got so much joy out of seeing us on The Voice stage. And so, we were really grateful that we were able to see it out and then get back and be with our parents. It worked out timing-wise and we’re very thankful for that.” As for making history, they not only were the first group to win The Voice, but they were the first act to have four songs on the iTunes Top 10 list at the same time. “From the beginning, to hear the coaches tell us that what we have is special, was very shocking,” Bekah said. “And then every round that we progressed, we were surprised. We treated each week like it was our last. We were very grateful to have made it to the finale and then to win the whole thing just blew us away. So, hopefully, more groups will go on The Voice.” That said, Bekah also believes the reason more groups haven’t done well in the singing competition is because it is a challenge music-wise. It is more difficult to make song selections and figure out the harmonies when there is more than one singer involved. “It’s a lot of hard work,” she continued. “When there’s one week to arrange a song, that’s already a lot of work. But then for three voices, it’s just a crazy amount. I think that’s the main reason why trios haven’t won in the past because you have to have really good arranging skills.” But Girl Named Tom has that. Caleb and Joshua minored in music at college, along with their pre-med studies, so they understand what Joshua calls the “science of music.” “From the beginning when we took piano lessons, music theory was always a part of our study,” Joshua explained. “And Caleb and I studied it in college, so we know how to read it and to write it out. There are do’s and don’ts of harmony and to be aware of those is very good. And then, obviously, rules are meant to be broken sometimes, too. So, you don’t want to bind yourself into these rules but just knowing the rules is a good start.” With the goal of becoming the harmony trio of this generation, Bekah has also made her own music studies, of groups like Peter, Paul and Mary,The Everly Brothers and The Louvin Brothers, and how they interacted with each other and how they performed songs written by other artists. “They considered it a compliment to sing someone else’s song,” she said. “I just love that community aspect of it. If we sing Jimmy Webb’s song, “If These Walls Could Speak,” it would be a compliment to him. And then also singing songs that Josh wrote, it’s very cool to study those trios of the past and find our place on that family tree of harmony trios.” In their interview, Girl Named Tom also discussed when they knew winning was a possibility, how involved their coach Kelly Clarkson will be in their careers, the next step and more. Read on to see what they had to say. Going in, of course, you knew it was an uphill battle, but was there a moment where it clicked that, “Hey, maybe this can happen?" Was there a specific performance or something one of the coaches said? Caleb: “Dust in the Wind” was the moment for me. Because that performance was so ethereal, so magical, and we rocketed up the iTunes charts with that single release, so all of that together made it feel like, “Wow, maybe this could actually happen.” Joshua: The coaches said it a couple times, too. Caleb: Yeah, the coaches said it a couple times, but I wasn’t sure if I believed them, like they were being optimistic. Joshua: They say it to a lot of people. Caleb: I think making it through to the Lives and past that first playoff rounds was a huge step. Because once people started voting, then I thought we had a chance. Because we are siblings, we have this small, hometown feel, and our music is very easy and pleasant to listen to. I just didn’t know if our coach, Kelly, would believe in us as a real possibility to take her to the finale. But, obviously, she did. Before the news was announced when it was down to you and Wendy, Kelly said, “Hey, you have this huge fanbase, let’s continue.” So, has she indicated that she plans to be involved in your career in some way? Joshua: She’s indicated that she wants to help us. When she got off of the talent show American Idol, she was like us in that she knew nobody in the industry; she didn’t know how the industry operated. And so, she wants to be a support and not have us fall into the same traps that she has experienced. She’s said, “Building a good team is really important.” Obviously, she’s so busy, she’s got so much going on. But to have her take time to call her lawyers and ask questions on behalf of us just to be a part of our building process, it means a lot. Do you know the next step? Have you had a chance to talk to the record label yet? Bekah: We did talk to the record label, and they did mention there’s not a great track record for Voice winners as far as having successful albums in the past. There have been a few, but they do think that there’s something different about us. So, to hear them say that is reassuring. We’re ready to work as hard as we can and stay true to ourselves throughout the whole process. You mentioned previously that you have songs ready to go. When you talked to the label did you talk about that? Or do they have writers that they want you to work with and are you open to that? Caleb: We touched on that a little bit when we talked to the label but mostly it was an introductory call, and conversations about songs and songwriting will come in the future. But they did ask for us to send over some original work and so we did that. We’re excited to hear back from them. Do you have a favorite critique from one of the coaches? Caleb: One of my favorite examples, favorite quotes of all time that we heard from the coaches on The Voice was after “Wichita Lineman.” I don’t believe it aired on TV, but John Legend said that listening to us is an emotional and spiritual experience, but it also for him is an intellectual experience. So somehow, he was able to, and I don’t think he knew about our pre-med track, he didn’t know anything about us, but somehow John Legend recognized the intellectual nature of our music and that made me very excited. That was an honor. With three of you, how do you decide what songs you sing? Is it best two out of three? Or what if you each want a different song? Bekah: We usually try to come to a unanimous decision. And if somebody’s really not feeling good about it, there’s no way we’ll do it. Joshua: Yeah. Bekah: At least that’s how we operate right now. Joshua: Yeah, another piece of this trio that we love is that we can each take solo songs, we can build our albums however we want to. And so, we’ll probably all be writers on our albums. I don’t know what else there is to say about that. You had several of your songs in the top of iTunes, what was that like? Caleb: It was amazing first of all, to have our songs chart. Our family was always texting us updates, like screenshots of the iTunes charts. What is your plan for the new year? What are you going to do next? Caleb: We’ll be on TheEllen Show the first week of the new year. And then we’ll get in the studio to work on these songs we’ve been talking about. That soon? Caleb: Yeah. We’ve got to figure out a producer first before we can really get down to the nitty-gritty. We have to find people that work in spaces that work for us. Next, And the History-Making Winner of Season 21 of The Voice Is…?
