Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Quaid Edwards wants to follow in his mother’s footsteps and rekindle her dream.

But not in exactly the same fashion.

Quaid Edwards earned a ticket to Hollywood at American Idol’s auditions in Omaha. (FOX Photo)

Quaid is the 21-year-old college student from Papillion, Nebraska, whom we met at the opening of American Idol’s Omaha audition episode.

We also met his mom, Jolie Edwards, who used to be lead singer for a country group called Jolie and The Wanted.

Her band apparently toured with Keith Urban for some time.

But don’t expect Quaid to strap on a guitar and start belting out old Jolie and The Wanted songs or Keith Urban covers.

“I love modern pop,” Quaid said, rattling off the names Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake. “All the hip stuff that’s on the radio. That’s the kind of artist I want to become.”

For his Idol audition, Quaid covered Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”

While concerned about his inconsistency and fascination with runs, all three judges said they liked Quaid’s raw talent and he breezed into the Hollywood round with three yes votes.

During the televised audition clip, Quaid described himself as “green as they come.”

He touches on his inexperience again in his Road to Hollywood video, but says he’s eager to learn whatever he can from Idol’s superstar judges.

“What makes me unique is my lack of exposure to being on stage and performing in front of people,” he says. “A lot of people see that as kind of a down side. I’m going to try to turn that into a positive. Hey, I’m a clean slate. I can learn from the best here.”

By the way, Quaid is a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Having his frat brothers at the audition to show their support helped, he said.

If you’d like to follow Quaid, here are links to his Facebook page and Twitter account (@theaceof_quaids)

I’ve embedded three of Quaid’s covers below. To hear more, head to this YouTube channel.

For profiles of more than 90 other Season 13 contestants, head here.

“My Heart is With You” (Ernie Halter cover)

“Pretty Girl” (Ernie Halter cover)

“I Don’t Wanna Be” (Gavin DeGraw cover)