Don't Count Casey James Out

Sometime last year a Texas blues player drove his mom’s truck up to Denver to audition for American Idol. As loyal viewers of the show know, before a contestant even gets in front of the judges they have to make it past an initial screening. We haven’t seen what Casey James did to impress the producers to make it to the judges’ round, but we can guess that they saw what his many fans have seen over the past few months – a gifted singer-songwriter-musician who lives for music.

Casey made a memorable impression on many levels during that first televised performance – he had a good voice, he was cute, and handled awkward situations with equanimity. But what was most clear was this was a dedicated musician who just wanted the chance to show what he could do. When Casey got to Hollywood, he did just that. He brought out his not-so-secret weapon, his guitar, and played and sang “I Don’t Need No Doctor” like he’d been doing it all his life. It was instantly clear this was a talented artist, not a wannabe musician who was trying to take a shortcut to fame.

Casey had no way of knowing what the whirlwind of American Idol would do to him. He is now known to millions, yet it’s not clear that the casual viewer really knows him at all. This became eminently clear as the first videos from this past weekend’s series of hometown visits started being displayed.

We’ve now been shown a side of Casey that only his fans from back home had seen before. He sang with abandon, he played guitar with gusto, he charmed the crowd, he reveled in jamming with his band, he sang a beautiful duet with his mom. Unlike the sometimes stiff, sometimes reserved Casey that we see on the Idol stage, he was fully in command of every performances. He was comfortable, he was dynamic, he was expressive, and he looked to be about the happiest guy on the face of the earth. Playing music to him seems as important as breathing air to the rest of us.

And this voice, sometimes so subdued on the show, came out of nowhere. He had a husky growl and a sweet falsetto; he had smooth sustained notes and a sexy vibrato. The voice was mostly bluesy, with a little country thrown in. He played an original song which, as they often say on Idol, could be a hit on the radio right now.

We knew Casey could sing, we’d heard him play around with his voice before, making it do so many different things on so many different songs. But set free from the time constraints – and maybe feeling the love of the home crowd – he was able to give some truly remarkable performances. And he was able to do what he appears to love the most – jam. He can play guitar better than anyone who’s ever taken the Idol stage, without question. He might be one of the best guitarists out there, period.

The contrast between the adored Casey back home in Texas and the underdog Casey in California was striking. This weekend, he was a star -- clearly destined to be the next American Idol. Yet back in Los Angeles, Ellen and Randy have already written him off. So focused on their dream final of the two Midwesterners they don’t even mention Casey’s name in their interviews. Ryan, the good little soldier, was recently heard counting him out as well. But an interesting phenomenon is happening. The more people listen to Casey, without the American Idol filter to tell them what they think, the more the like him. Slowly, Idol watchers are seeing him as the dark horse that just might win the race.

They listened back to “Mrs. Robinson” and realized it might have been the best vocal of the year by any contestant, or at worst second only to his performance of “Don’t.” They realize that he wasn’t adequately praised for “You’ll Think of Me” and his ability to change up and rock out on “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” was overlooked as well. They realize that no one has had as affecting a moment on stage this year as “Jealous Guy,” and that he can do all this while being a veritable virtuoso on the guitar. And maybe most importantly, they’ve checked out the many YouTube videos from this past weekend and discovered what a star he already is.

This competition is not over, despite what the judges might think. It’s not in the judges’ hands, it is in ours. The journey that began on the road from Ft. Worth to Denver can still end under the confetti next week in Hollywood.