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Dawson Slade
Dawson Slade
On the night of Sunday, February 25, Moulton native Dawson Slade’s audition to be the next American Idol aired across the nation at primetime on CBS.
For his first song in front of the three superstar judges: Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan, Slade, 17, chose to sing “I Hope You Dance”, by Lee Ann Womack.
“I know that song is about singing to a daughter but the more I listened to the lyrics the more I felt like it applied perfectly to me and my son,” Slade said.
Slade’s mother and son joined him for his audition in Tuskegee, Lionel Richie’s hometown, where they did an interview with Ryan Seacrest.
His first song didn’t blow the judges away, so he was asked to perform a nerve-racking second-song redemption.
“In Tuskegee I was nervous,” Slade said, “but I had my little boy with me and that helped a lot, he has the magic touch.”
Slade got his first guitar at 5 years old. By the time he was 10, he was performing at the annual Strawberry Festival. After a few years, he started playing at Bobby Rai’s Sports Bar, just off the square in Moulton.
“Something about song writing kept me going in music,” Slade said. “For some reason I was always better at talking to sheet of paper than to other people.”
Slade was the most excited to see Katy Perry on stage during his audition. He said his mother looks just like Katy Perry and growing up he remembered people in the Walmart asking his mother if she was the world-famous musician and he thought that was funny.
Slade’s second song “Somebody Else Will”, by Justin Moore, impressed the judges enough to send him through to Hollywood.
“Going from Moulton to Hollywood is a big change,” Slade said with a laugh. “There aren’t as many chicken farms, but I like it, I’ll take it!”
Slade does not yet know when his next TV appearance on American Idol will be, but it will be sometime during Hollywood week.
In the meantime, Slade would like his hometown fans to stay tuned for his debut single, which is also coming out soon.
“It’s been a lot different,” Slade said about the last few weeks. “I’m still trying to figure out how to put it all into words.”
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