Blake Bergere and Nick Lorenz, two New Albany High School graduates who met at age seven, will perform on NBC's America's Got Talent live stage Sept. 8.

The indie rock and soul duo, known as Bird & Byron, are both members of the New Albany High School (NAHS) Class of 2015. They grew up together in New Albany, played baseball and graduated in the same class before reconnecting in 2019 to make music. They now live in Nashville, where they work on music full-time from a home studio, according to New Albany-Plain Local Schools.

Their AGT journey started with an audition of their original song "I'll Always Be There," which earned four yes votes from the judges. The duo then advanced through the Judges' Callbacks, a second-chance round for acts that earned yes votes during regular auditions. On the Aug. 11 episode, they performed another original, "By My Side," and judge Howie Mandel waved them through to the live shows.

Bergere, who works at a burger restaurant back home, spoke about the stakes during an on-air segment in the Aug. 11 episode. "There's a lot on the line here," he said, as reported by Billboard.

The Sept. 8 quarterfinals episode is a special three-hour live broadcast airing from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, with results determined the same night, according to NBC. Bird & Byron are one of 11 acts competing in the round, according to TVLine. Viewers can vote through the NBC website, the AGT app or by commenting on the @AGT TikTok page.

Voting closes at 7 a.m. ET Sept. 9.

The duo is also using their AGT platform to support the Kids Mental Health Foundation at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Bird & Byron have pledged a portion of proceeds from special merchandise tied to "I'll Always Be There" to the Columbus-based nonprofit, which provides families with free resources created by more than 1,000 mental health professionals and researchers at Nationwide Children's.

New Albany-Plain Local Schools called on the school community to organize watch parties and cheer on the pair. If Bird & Byron advance past the quarterfinals, the semifinals are scheduled for Sept. 15, with results Sept. 16. The season finale is set for Sept. 22.

Coming up in New Albany and Gahanna:

• Tuesday, Sept. 8: Bird & Byron perform live on AGT, 8 p.m. ET on NBC
• Tuesday, Sept. 15: New Albany Lecture Series opens with David Petraeus and Marie Yovanovitch