Hannah Everhart auditioned for American Idol with a Johnny Cash song and she really left a lasting impression on the judges.
The 17-year-old Mississippi native resembles Idol judge Katy Perry and she says “I get that a lot.”
“Are you the country version of me?” Perry asked Everhart upon seeing her. Everhart replied, “Everybody said I look like you.”
Everhart auditioned with Johnny Cash’s “Wayfaring Stranger,” a song that appears on Cash’s 2000 album, American III: Solitary Man.
In the midst of her performance, Bryan interrupted her audition saying “quit checking us out, to see what our reactions are.”
Following her audition of the Cash song, the Idol contestant revealed that she was going to originally audition with Etta James’ “At Last!” but she decided not to as she wanted to “play it safe.”
“Why you going to play American Idol safe?” Bryan asked.
“Yeah, give us a little bit of ‘At Last!’,” Perry requested.
“So listen, your fifty percent whoops everybody in your little hometown, but if you start going a hundred percent, you’re going to start whooping people on American Idol,” Bryan gushed.
During her brief performance of the Etta James hit, Perry joined in to sing the song with her while also boosting her confidence to do even better to let her truly unique vocals shine.
“You’re very close to be an amazing singer and I’m going to do all that I can to push you to the next level,” Bryan said.
“You have an attitude problem,” Perry said. “And I like it, but you are no longer allowed to play it safe, you better start rolling the dice on your life.”
“You’re sitting on a goldmine,” Lionel Richie gushed.
“Heck, yeehaw, yes,” Bryan added.
Everhart impressed the judges so much that she earned a golden ticket to Hollywood.
