Travis Garland has already proven his vocal chops in the Dancing With the Stars‘ ballroom, and now, he’s taking the America’s Got Talent stage. While fans of the ballroom bash may recognize his voice if not his face, the singer is ready to change that, and Billboard has an exclusive clip of his audition set to air on NBC Tuesday (July 7).
In the clip, Garland powerfully belts out the chorus to Aerosmith’s 1970s classic “Dream On,” which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1976, and was a chart staple for 29 weeks. As he lets the lyrics soar with his rich voice, judge Howie Mandel turns to look at the audience members behind him, who are clapping and banging their heads along to the hit rock song.
Just before Garland reaches for frontman Steven Tyler’s ultra high notes from the chorus followed by the iconic scream, judge Mel B smiles and praises “Niiiice!” before raising her arm to cheer and rock with the beat.
Though Garland has been sharing his vocal talents mostly behind the scenes as a live vocalist with Dancing With the Stars since 2015, the singer — who is from West Texas (Lubbock, Texas, to be exact) — has been singing for much of his life, he tells judges Mandel, Mel B, Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell on the Tuesday episode that he’s now ready to reach for his ultimate goal and go solo.
He also opens up about the struggles of pursuing music as a career, even if he’s achieved highlights such as touring when he was only 17. But, he reveals, competing with his singing abilities on America’s Got Talent has been — fittingly for his song choice — a dream.
Watch Billboard‘s exclusive clip of Travis Garland’s AGT audition below:
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC, and streams on Peacock the next day.
