SEASON 7: Neil Salsich & The Mighty Pines -- St. Louis Roots, National Ambitions

Neil Salsich didn't set out to become a St. Louis music icon — he just never stopped loving music long enough to do anything else. The founding member of The Mighty Pines, a soul-inspired roots rock band shaped by the wide rivers and red-brick streets of their hometown, Salsich turned a lifelong obsession into a full-time career in 2014 and hasn't looked back. His Season 23 appearance on The Voice — where he earned a rare four-chair turn opening with Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues" — elevated the band to a new level of visibility. But Salsich is quick to put it in perspective: "The wave brought us up, dropped us at another level, and then it went away." What remained was a sharper, more confident band with a growing national footprint and, now, a new album — Good Luck Nice to Meet You — produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and dropping July 31st. Equal parts humble and fiercely opinionated about where music is headed, Salsich is exactly the kind of artist St. Louis deserves to claim.