Hannah Everhart auditioned for American Idol with a song by Johnny Cash and it really left a lasting impression on the judges.
The 17-year-old Mississippi native looks like Idol Judge Katy Perry and says, “I often get that.
“Are you my country version?” Perry asked Everhart upon seeing her. Everhart replied, “Everyone said I looked like you.”
Everhart auditioned with Johnny Cash’s “Wayfaring Stranger,” a song that appeared on Cash’s 2000 album, American III: lonely man.
In the middle of his performance, Bryan interrupted his audition by saying “stop checking us out, to see what our reactions are.”
After her audition for the song Cash, the Idol contestant revealed that she would originally be auditioning with “At Last!” From Etta James. but she decided not to do it because she wanted to “play it safe”.
“Why are you going to play American Idol so safe?” Bryan asked.
“Yeah, give us a little ‘Finally!’,” Perry asked.
“So listen, your fifty percent whoops everyone in your little hometown, but if you start going one hundred percent you’re going to start yelling at people about American Idol,” Bryan gushes.
During her brief performance of the hit Etta James, Perry joined her in singing the song along with her while building her confidence to do even better to let her truly unique voice shine.
“You are very close to being an amazing singer and I will do whatever I can to push you to the next level,” Bryan said.
“You have an attitude problem,” Perry said. “And I like it, but you’re not allowed to play it safe anymore, you better start rolling the dice on your life.”
“You are sitting on a gold mine,” gushed Lionel Richie.
“Heck, yeehaw, yeah,” Bryan added.
Everhart impressed the judges so much that she won a golden ticket to Hollywood.
