NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. — Madison Hughes grew up singing and playing guitar in front of her parents.
"My mom says when we have this first concert at our house, and I was like 13 I sang this Gillian Welch folk song, and my mom was like wow I never knew you could sing until that one moment," Hughes said.
The Ponte Vedra Beach native never treated it as a career, it was always a hobby. That is, until she tried out for 'The Voice' and made it to the blind audition round last Fall.
“When you have these Blake Shelton, Camilla Cabello, Gwen Stefani, John Legend all saying good things about you you’re like oh that’s definitely a confidence boost, and I’m not delusional in my own head," Hughes said.
Hughes wowed judges on the show.
She was eliminated after the blind audition round, but it gave her the confidence to go for it.
“I actually want to try to compete in this industry, so I got to write songs that I like in the style and genres I like," Hughes said.
After the show, Hughes wrote 'You or the Whiskey.'
“I was very emotional at that time just reflecting on this one person – the first line that came out was it you or the whiskey I met?”
Hughes wanted to keep the momentum she had built from 'The Voice' and decided to film a music video, using her own camera in Pete's Bar in Neptune Beach.
The video went viral on TikTok and has more than 490,000 views.
"Pete’s Bar is a legendary place in Jacksonville and I want people to when they see Madison Hughes, I want them to associate me with Jacksonville,” Hughes said.
For Hughes, home was never the dream.
She chased it in Los Angeles, Montana, and Nashville. Searching for her voice.
"The dream in LA. Will I find it there? Or will I find it in Nashville? New York? And really the grass is not greener on all these different places,” Hughes said.
'The Voice' taught her to believe and to write from the heart.
It led her back home to the beginning of the dream.
“I had the gift inside the whole time and right where I was planted was good enough the whole time Jacksonville, I don’t need to be looking for success in other people places and things and I just finally had that epiphany. It’s indescribable," Hughes said.
Hughes is living in Nashville and Ponte Vedra Beach while writing new music.
Her latest single 'Chasing Cities' chronicles her journey to find success across the country.