Barrett Baber hasn't wasted any time since his time on Season 9 of The Voice in late 2015. The singer, who came in third on the TV singing competition as a member of Blake Shelton's team, is recording his freshman album.

Baber's debut single, "Kiss Me Hello," was released on Valentine's Day, and in addition to being available on iTunes, the song is playing in Walmart stores across the country, on what the retailer calls "Walmart radio."

"I’m sure I’m bugging the people that work at Walmart!" the artist tells The Boot with a laugh, adding that he's hoping his debut disc will be available "by October." The 36-year-old says that he is grateful for his time on The Voice, even though he admits that the experience wasn't quite what he expected.

"It was a lot of work. At the end of the day, they’re making a TV show. And that requires a lot of work and a lot of long hours, but for me, I really enjoyed that," Baber shares. "I’ve always known that, while being an artist and being a musician, there’s a creative aspect to that, but there’s also a lot of work to that. You have to grind and spend time away from your family and do all the things you have to do to make it.

"It’s the same on The Voice: You get in there, and it’s long hours, and it’s hard work, but the reward is great. It’s opened a lot of doors for me; it’s allowed me to be at awesome things, get to meet people like Blake Shelton and sing with Wynonna [Judd] and do cool things like that," he continues. "I think there’s a lot of people that don’t understand how much time and effort is involved in being a contestant. And it takes a lot of work afterwards to turn it into something special."

Performing for the show each week also got Baber outside of his comfort zone.

"Doing The Voice was a great thing for me because, normally, I always perform with a guitar, and on The Voice I only did that a couple times. So I really got the chance to develop as a performer, as somebody that can really capture an audience," he notes. "It takes a lot of work, too, to do that, when you’re really trying to entertain people at home as well the crowd that’s there. You’ve gotta be big, and you’ve gotta go strong, go hard. That’s something that I’ve incorporated into my live shows since, and people have responded to it."

A list of all of Baber's upcoming concerts is available on his website. "Kiss Me Hello" is available for download on iTunes.

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