It’s been a year since Blaine Long shot to No. 2 on iTunes’ rock charts with a soulful reinvention of John Hiatt’s “Have a Little Faith in Me” after nearly a decade of eking out a modest living as a singer-songwriter here in the Valley.

At 40.

That’s the power of “The Voice” – and to be fair, the voice – a winning combination that landed Long a spot on Team Blake after catching Blake Shelton's attention with his moving cover of that Hiatt song in blind auditions that also saw Miley Cyrus and Adam Levine spin around in their chairs to try and coax him into joining their teams.

It was a stunning performance of a song he’d always loved. But Long wasn’t meant for a life on reality television. And after being made to sing a Ronnie Milsap song he’d never even heard in his second performance on the show, he was relieved to be sent home, where he could focus on reality as it exists off-camera.

“Scorpio,” his first release since rocking iTunes, features several songs inspired by the actual reality he lived behind the scenes while competing for Shelton’s affections and a chance to have his real voice heard on a show he quickly realized wasn’t meant for guys like him.

And he’s OK with that.

Here’s Long on what he learned about himself and why he’d rather be himself than win the game at any cost.

Question: This is obviously your first release since your time on “The Voice.” What impact did that have?

Answer: A really big impact. Being on “The Voice,” you’re at an elite singer summer camp. It’s all these egos thinking, “We’re gonna be big!” And I’m old and jaded enough that I DID NOT believe that. But you’re still surrounded by it, everyone saying “We’re gonna be huge!”

And then, making the record, you realize that you want to try to set the record straight on… I call it a musical “Price is Right.” I just made it onto a show. That’s all it was but to a lot of people, now I’m a “Voice” singer. And a Blake guy. So I was fighting against some of that and going with some of it.

There are two older songs on this record because I wanted people to hear those things, and some of the new songs kind of went against the kind of country thing that is in me. I have a country flavor or what I prefer to call Americana. But I have this other side.

So to answer your question, yeah, it was heavily on my mind, thinking “How can I set the record straight?” And I guess the answer is “You can’t.” You can’t say “I’m not a Blake guy,” because I was for a minute, you know? I was on TV and I did choose him. But the reason I chose him was the only thing they cut out of the whole interview. I chose him because he said he would fight with the producers for me.

Q: Did he?

A: No. And I believed him for a minute because you’re there and, well, the chairs did turn. And then he said, “I’ll fight with the producers to get you the right tune.” Which is not true at all. I’d never even heard the song I got kicked off the show on. And I was grateful to go home. I got on the show, which was lucky. And I got off the show really early, which was lucky, too. I really did want to be off the show.

But once you’re there, you’re thinking, “Let me see what I can do, if this is real.” You kind of get that attitude.

Q: What was the song you didn’t know that you were made to sing?

A: Ronnie Milsap, “Stranger in My House.” I’d never even heard that song. And the other guy had played that song and everybody knew it.

Q: Do you think people got any sense of who you are on that show?

A: A little bit. The family side of it. They billed me as the family man rocker guy. And it’s like “well I don’t rock, first of all.” (laughs). And family man? Well, yeah, I’m trying. I’m busting my ass trying to plug in with my kids and be there every day and try to put them first, you know?

Being a songwriter and singer is a very selfish job. You’re always thinking about the next song. So I have to struggle very hard – and you know, everybody does – to be there for the kids and listen to them and talk to them, to be a parent and get to know them and set an example. So that’s what they got right, is the family man part.

Q: You don’t think people got any sense of you musically?

A: On the audition, sure. Absolutely. That was my take on the song. I originally said I didn’t want to play guitar and the bandleader said, “You’ve gotta play guitar” – ‘cause the guitarist couldn’t really get the feel I was doing. Not saying I’m better than him by any means, but it was just a little quirky kind of a feel.

They literally had a band argument in the rehearsal room. I loved it. That’s what made me feel at home. The guitar player yelling at the bass player to not make a noise while he was trying to figure this out. I thought that was hilarious. These guys are pros and It’s like, “Oh, great, they fight with their bandmates, too.” (laughs)

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Q: And that is a song that falls within the broader framework of the sort of music you actually do.

A: Absolutely. I’m a huge John Hiatt fan. That’s a guy that I really look up to. John Hiatt, Tom Petty, Bob Schneider and then, like, Dead Hot Workshop and Colin Hay would be my top. So that was fortunate for me that he was on their list of options.

Q: So do you think the people who responded to your Hiatt cover would appreciate this album?

A: I think part of it. Not all of it. Part of the record is for older fans as well. Because it is quirky. "Earthquake Weather" is a very quirky song. I wrote that song in, like, five minutes on the ukulele. That was it. Recorded it on the iPhone. That was just all off the top of the head but it describes the whole walking around L.A. with a bunch of lead singers in a contest with video cameras all around you. It gets weird.

Q: You said there are a few songs on the album that were inspired by the “Voice” experience.

A: Yeah, absolutely. “Down” was another one. That has the lyric, “How can you say you love me when you don’t know who I am? / You’re a spoiled little boy in the body of a man.” That’s talking about the “I love you” experience with Blake.

That whole thing went down about two minutes before I was gonna do the battle round. And I was pretty sure that I was gonna lose with all the signs that were around me, with no saves being left. I really felt that I was going home. So that whole little thing with the “I love you” right before I went on stage, I think that was him clearing his conscience and me going, “S—t, I’m going home.” (laughs) “This is really happening.”

And I was OK with it. It’s a strange thing to be really happy about losing in front of millions of people.

Q: For the sake of those who haven’t heard you tell the Blake “I love you” story, would you mind explaining what that is?

A: (Laughs) The “I love you” story is two minutes before we did our battle round, which is only the second round of the show and that’s all I made it to, you have your little microphones on you and a couple minutes before you battle, they take you behind the stage. And Blake walks up while Josh and I are waiting there and says, “I like these boys. I could drink beers with these boys. These are good guys right here.”

And then he says, “All right, it’s a tough day here. We’ve gotta pick someone.” I was like “All right, don’t worry. We’re gonna kill it. It’s gonna be good.” And then, as he’s walking away, he says, “I love you guys.” Josh says, “I love you, Blake.” And I do something like “Yeah!” or “All right!”

Just something generic but positive, because I don’t say “I love you” unless I love you. That’s weird to me. I mean, I’ll help you move but I won’t say “I love you.” It’s a strange thing. Then he stops, like, five or seven feet away and he says, “Blaine, you don’t love me?” Kinda raises his eyebrows. And I remember just raising my hands up really slowly, Ricky Bobby-style, and saying, “I don’t know you.”

Then he says, “OK,” and turns around and walks away, as if to say, “All right, you’re gonna get what you’re gonna get because of that.” I honestly don’t think Blake decided much on that show. It’s the producers.

Q: Well, you said he had no saves left anyway.

A: Nobody did. But he could’ve picked me over the other guy. In all truth, I think I sang fine, but the other guy, Josh, really wanted to be there, he liked being there, he’s a showman, I’m not. I just play the song and try to get into the song. But other than that, I’m not gonna swing my guitar behind my back. I’m not that guy (laughs). So I did think that Josh deserved to be there.

But I thought that was just unnecessary and pretty lame (laughs). It was just like, “Aw dude, why’d you have to do that?” I could have just gone on the show and off the show and everything would’ve been cool. But then, you had to do that “bow to me” thing, or “Play the game, Blaine. Are you gonna do it?” I didn’t even know it was a thing. I honestly didn’t.

Josh said, “You couldn’t say ‘I love you,’ dude? What’s wrong?” (laughs). But whatever. It’s stupid to even be repeating the story this much.

Q: Well, you know, it’s quite a story.

A: Everybody loves Blake. And I bought two or three of his records, dove into his record he had just released. It’s not my kind of music but I’m thinking, “OK, when I come back from the blind audition, he’s gonna be my coach so I guess I’d better learn some of his shit so we can talk about it and I can reference it.” I took it serious. But you don’t get coached.

There’s no such thing as coaching and I guess you’ve gotta say, “I love you.” (laughs)

Q: So was it a learning experience?

A: Totally. I learned what I don’t want. Anything that’s kind of related with that stuff, I don’t want. The wardrobe, the design, the hype. It’s very social-media-based. The contestants are very hip to that stuff but they don’t play gigs that much. It’s very strange. Nobody’s opening their cases much.

I mean, there’s cats there that can play guitar and just kill it. And they’re great songwriters. But most of them are not really even performers. They’re just on YouTube, which I guess is valid. I guess I’m just old. But to me, that’s just strange.

Q: You like getting out and playing.

A: Well, yeah. That’s what it’s about, man. Opening your case and then talking to people after the show and hanging out. You try to work a room and learn to work a room. You have to get that right, to read a room and feel the vibes and adapt your music to those vibes. That’s what I’ve been doing. And I’m not saying that’s correct, but I looked up to guys who did that and worked with a band.

For a guy who’s been solo for most of the time, I’m going to band rehearsal right now. It’s fun to work with a band, to feel the room out together and make the night happen, to try to put on a good gig and let people have a good time.

“I Got a Name” is another song about the show because when you get there, they give you a number. They don’t use your name. I was No. 22. So that’s my little joke about that. Like, dude, I got a name. I learned your name. (laughs)

Q: Taking all of that into account, are you glad you did it?

A: Yeah. I think so. Just because I learned so much. I have such bad anxiety. It’s painful to walk into a room and say “Hi” to your friends with weird anxiety issues, let alone be on a television show.

So it really pushed me to where now, anything for me is like “OK, this isn’t fun or easy but I got this” – you know, compared to doors magically opening and there’s a camera on you and you’ve gotta walk out on a stage and try to impress the back of chairs.” It’s just weird, dude. (laughs).

Q: You said some of the songs on this album are older?

A: “Hubcapdiamondstarhalo” is older. I recorded that a couple times. “Little Bit” was a song I had released with just guitar and vocals, when I went and did a one-off, last-minute record at Prairie Sun in Northern California, the Tom Waits room, where he recorded “Mule Variations.”

I said, “All right, I want to go record an album like that.” But it was an unfinished record, really. That was the whole idea of that record was to capture something extremely raw, hopefully in one or two takes.

So when I did “Little Bit” this time, that was really a lot to do with (producer) Sean (Cooney). It’s a two-chord song but I felt like it needed the right touch and and Sean really did that. We were late on mixing the record and he texted me at night while mixing it. He said, “I’m putting horns on this tonight.” It’s the Sweet & Low horn section. They came in and recorded that around midnight when he was supposed to be mixing. And it makes the tune.

Q: So you weren’t even there when the horns were added?

A: No. I mean, it’s our record. That’s how I look at it. I was working with Sean. “Down” is one of the songs he changed. He was like, “Meh, that chorus is good but it’s typical Blaine.” I’m a super-simple guitar player. So we changed that up and I said, “Hmm, I dig it.” Every once in a while, I’d fight it and go, “maybe we shouldn’t change the chords. This is weird.” But that’s what Sean helped me do.

He pushed me out of my comfort zone. He produced me. I’m a one and done kind of guy. I just sing it and walk away. But that’s not always the best idea when you’re trying to make a record.

Q: You guys had recorded together before this?

A: We had. The last record and then that compilation, “The Project,” with Grant Woods, that was also with Sean. So through that and signing with Grant, we worked together. And Sean definitely produced that record but it felt like he was answering to me, when really, he did have free reign. And I was answering to Grant, when Grant did not care.

Grant wanted me to make the best record possible. Which I messed up, because I just took it as “Still got a boss. Gotta make this guy happy.” (laughs). So “Can’t Change the Sun” is a good record. But it’s not great. Sean wasn’t off the leash. I wasn’t off the leash. And in reality, we both could have really gotten down on that one and had fun. But we tried to make a certain record.

I don’t think we missed. I think we were the best that we could be. I guess you could look at it as a growing experience, too, getting ready for this.

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Q: So you are happier, then, with the way this new one turned out.

A: Totally. There’s two things on this record I don’t like. I’m not gonna mention them. But when you think of all the things that could go wrong in a recording, and how picky you are with the sound of your voice or this or that, to have two things you don’t like, I would think that’s pretty good. That’s the best I’ve had so far (laughs).

Q: You were talking earlier about the important thing being getting the guitar out of the case. How often are you performing around town and is it a mix of band shows and solo performances?

A: It is lately. I’m a guy paying the bills with a guitar. So you’ve got to play a lot. And that makes some shows just another night. That’s the struggle of being a musician, to make a just-another-night gig important enough for the people in the audience. I do a lot of just-another-nights.

And I do band gigs. We’ve been playing as a trio. And a five-piece. Depends on the gig. Jon Rauhouse has sat in a couple times. So I am playing with a band more but it’s mostly solo and we’re trying to step up the band thing. It looks like by December, most of the weekends will be full-band stuff. We’re getting that lined up now.

Blaine Long CD release show

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.

Where: Cactus Jack’s Ahwatukee Tavern, 4747 E. Elliot Road, Phoenix.

Admission: $10.

Details: 480-753-4733, cactusjacksbar.co.