If you search up Blake Proehl, his football stats exist as a memorial to a life long since past.
The North Carolina native was laser focused on a football career early in life and, unlike most athletes, he found the crowning jewel of success. Blake climbed up to the NFL where he signed to the Minnesota Vikings. However, life would have a different plan for Blake after his team placed him on injured reserve and, ultimately, he was waived. Most athletes who make it to the professional level have devoted their life to the game from a young age and it’s often the only truth they know. A career-ending injury can often feel impossible to bounce back from.
Blake managed to do it, but in an unexpected way: He began to sing. Blake never considered it an option, but a viral video made him realize he had a natural gift. The whole thing sounds like a story from a movie, truly, but Blake just called it “random.” The former football player pivoted hard, finding himself in unfamiliar territory as, compared to his peers, he was behind his musical careers in experience — but not necessarily in talent. Nonetheless, Blake confessed to us, he was riddled with “imposter syndrome.”
“That was a plan for me, and I couldn’t have orchestrated that. It’s so random. Whatever you believe in, the universe, I feel like it was written for some reason I found that guitar.”
On stage, though, you never would be able to tell. His performance at Baby’s All Right in New York City made that abundantly clear. He seamlessly worked through original tracks like Miss Carolina and covers of Taylor Swift alike, keeping the crowd engaged with no problem. While he might not see it, the confidence he’s found from music is abundantly obvious to anyone in the crowd. Blake’s career shakeup landed him in country, but not the sound of legends like Tim McGraw. Like many young rising stars in the genre, he’s taken a turn into a more country pop sound, describing his music as more “America, almost like, stripped back country a little bit.” He likened his sound to more the works of bands like Florida Georgia Line.
“I feel like I’m in a unique place,” he said. “Like, a lot of people are like, ‘Are you country? Are you pop?’ … I don’t have a super twangy tone or, like, some words come out a little Southern, but the production is kind of country, but my vocal is poppy. So [my music] kind of lives in this unique lane that I kind of enjoy.”
It allows Blake to play with sound, production, and lyrics. Plus, he has the freedom to cover stars like Taylor Swift onstage, which sparked up the crowd. “I love covering Taylor at my shows. People love it,” he said after his rendition of Love Story left us with smiles.
While Blake’s stage presence seems natural, behind-the-scenes, he’s putting in the work — a lesson he learned from sports, which has never fully left. “The discipline and self accountability,” he identified as aspects he learned from one world to the other. He’s also noticed the way it made him stand out in the industry, admitting professionals in the music world have a tendency to be running late. Instead, Blake arrives early and promptly, letting his work ethic prove to those around him that he means business.
“My management tells me all the time, like, ‘Man, you’re a workhorse,’ like whatever. And I think it’s just because of how I grew up playing football since I was a kid,” he explained.
Blake’s accidental career seems bright. His past, from some time on the American Idol stage to previously opening for Benson Boone, already has him set up for success. Most recently, Blake opened for Why Don’t We‘s Jonah Marais as they shared that Minnesota connection. Minnesota, by the way, still turns out for him to support even if he is no longer on their NFL field.
With a little bit of time, practice, and learning, there is no reason Blake can’t disrupt the country genre. After all, largely, the genre is in a bit of a free fall with it becoming increasingly about rage-baiting and apathy. Blake’s story offers a refreshing perspective and his devotion to his craft could, hopefully, breathe life back into a genre desperate for saving.
It’s not about being a mover in music for Blake, though. He’s more focused on the impact his story and music can have on the fans and real life people outside of a stuffy entertainment industry. “You can connect with somebody so easily through music,” he observed. “I feel like, even if you’re not in the room with them, just on the radio, some people connect to your voice, whatever it is. I just love that you can, like, reach somebody all over the world through just a recording. I think that’s so powerful.”
That sort of humble mindset creeps its way onto the stage with Blake, received well by fans in the crowd. The star-in-the-making will go far as long as he remembers his roots, a task which already seems easy for him.
