Home Free brings a cappella music to UNLV Sunday

The fourth time was the charm. At least for the five members of Home Free.

The a cappella quintet was working steadily, performing a variety of music showcasing their soaring harmonies at state and county fairs, corporate shows, aboard cruise ships and on college campuses.

“We were fortunate enough to be full time — making a living, supporting families,” bass singer Tim Foust explains. “But it was mostly regional.”

Hoping to take their careers nationwide, they auditioned for NBC’s “The Sing-Off.” Not once, or twice, but three times.

It wasn’t until the fourth audition, when Home Free opted for a more down-home country sound, that they made the show — and wound up winning the fourth season, complete with a $100,000 prize and a recording contract.

In the three years since their win, the quintet — which also includes tenors Austin Brown and Rob Lundquist, baritone Adam Chance and vocal percussionist Adam Rupp — has recorded multiple albums, the latest being their second holiday compilation, “Full of (Even More) Cheer.”

In the past year, Home Free also debuted at the Grand Ole Opry, joined Kenny Rogers on his Christmas album and sang “God Bless the USA” during halftime at a recent Minnesota Vikings game.

Oh, and their YouTube channel just passed 100 million views.

“Three years ago, we were ecstatic if one of our videos hit 10,000 — we never fathomed one million, let alone a hundred million,” Foust says in a telephone interview. “It’s surreal for sure.”

This weekend, Home Free checks off another sure sign of showbiz success: Vegas, baby.

Sunday afternoon, they’ll perform at UNLV’s Artemus Ham Hall — just across campus from the Thomas & Mack Center, where the National Finals Rodeo continues through Dec. 10.

Although the show’s billed as “A Country Christmas,” it “will be a little bit of everything,” Foust says. “Stuff off our album, stuff from YouTube, stuff from ‘The Sing-Off.’ ”

That includes a few numbers that, despite their presence on their latest Christmas album, “aren’t particularly Christmasy,” Foust says, citing a cover of the Zac Brown Band’s “Colder Weather” and the gospel tune “How Great Thou Art,” which “went viral on social media.”

He attributes the latter’s popularity to a couple of factors: the tune’s gospel roots and the setting for the music video, which was filmed in the Austrian Alps, blending “a timeless song and matching beautiful scenery.” (High tenor Brown even “did a few twirls on the mountain,” Foust jokes, to match the “Sound of Music” setting.)

Multiple singalongs are also part of their live show; “we break down the fourth wall right away,” the singer observes.

Even when audience members aren’t singing along, however, they can “actually feel” the good musical vibrations, Foust notes, citing “the mystery and magic” of a cappella performance.

“I think people can’t believe all that sound they’re hearing is coming from voices,” he suggests. “You can feel the low notes.”

Foust is responsible for many of those resonant low notes, singing lead on several tunes, from “White Christmas” and “O Holy Night” to “Die a Happy Man” and “Ring of Fire,” the Johnny Cash classic the group performed during their “Sing-Off” run.

The recent addition of baritone Chance makes it easier for Foust to sing leads, he says, because Chance “can cover bass as well.”

Group chemistry plays a vital role in Home Free because “we spend about 70 percent of the year together,” Foust says. He should know; he joined the group in January 2012, after pursuing a solo country project.

Before that, however, Foust spent a decade on the road with a cappella groups, reflecting the fact that he’s always been drawn to vocal music, either in a heavy-on-harmony country context or vintage doo-wop pop from the 1950s and ’60s.

In part, he attributes that to “the fact that I’m not good at playing instruments,” he admits. Besides, “outside of a cappella, there’s not a lot of outlets for a true bass singer.” (Except in opera or choirs.)

But with Home Free, members can “play around and have fun musically,” he says.

Read more stories from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.