If this is your first time hearing about Colt Glover, you better get used to seeing him. Glover recently auditioned for American Idol and his performance garnered high-level compliments from Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie.
The clip begins with Glover walking out to the audition area in front of the judges (not really sure what Katy Perry and Luke Bryan were doing before they introduced Colt). You can tell he is visibly nervous as he and his guitar-wielding friend step on the stage for the audition.
Luke Bryan asks Glover how he got started in his music career, to which Colt responded:
“I was a freshman in college and one of my buddies came up to me. He just said ‘Hey man, you need to just start taking this stuff (music) seriously.’
And he was like ‘Let’s go to a pawn shop and get ya a little Washburn guitar, about a hundred bucks.’”
Glover then went on to tell the judges that he would be singing “Rock Salt and Nails” by Flatt & Scruggs, a song that has been covered by many great country voices over the years.
Originally written by Utah Phillips, the song was recorded by Flatt & Scruggs in 1965, Waylon Jennings in 1970, and more, but it’s easy to hear the Tyler Childers influence in Colt’s sound. Tyler covered the song for Red Barn Radio back in 2014.
Glover still appears to be anxious before they get started, and Katy Perry even tries to calm his nerves halfway through his performance by saying:
“Relax, you got this.”
The shakiness in his vocals might help to emphasize and compliment that classic country voice that Glover is able to showcase:
Colt nails the landing, and the judges immediately commend him for his performance. The nerves start to turn into smiles as Richie, Perry, and Bryan give feedback.
Katy Perry describes Colt Glover as “her pick if she were playing a country music video game,” which is a strange way of getting around to her saying he had a “Top-Ten” level audition. She exclaimed:
“You are the best country singer we have seen so far.”
Lionel Richie was also complimentary of Colt’s voice, jokingly saying:
“All we have to do in your whole career is to teach you what to do with your hands while you are singing.”
Country singer Luke Bryan was happy that Glover had come on to American Idol, saying:
“You are gonna see stuff you’ve never seen out here in Vegas and L.A., and you are gonna be on a country-boy-amusement-park-rocket-ship.”
American Idol judges have a weird way of giving out compliments, but in the end, all three judges voted Glover through to the next round with a resounding “yes.”
If Glover ends up signing a million dollar record deal, I’m sure some money will be allotted to that friend that gave him the little extra push to follow his dreams. With the name “Colt,” he is bound to be a country star.
Here’s the Tyler Childers version: