Idol Chatter & Voice Views

They’ve been friends and collaborators since meeting five years ago at the Idaho campus of Brigham Young University..

They’ve performed together in The Band West since forming the group in 2012. The pop, rock, soul quintet is described on Facebook as “just a little band from Provo, Utah, shooting for the stars.” Amber Lynn provides lead vocals; James plays lead guitar.

The two also perform as an acoustic soul/blues duo under the name Mahogany and Pearl.

So Amber Lynn and James traveled together to the Idol auditions in Dencver.

He accompanied her on guitar as she earned a golden ticket to Hollywood covering Allen Stone’s “Unaware.”

Then he took center stage, earning is own unanimous vote to advance on Idol with a cover of John Legend’s “Sun Comes Up.”

Harry Connick Jr. provided some of the highest praise, complimenting James on his energy, his guitar playing and his vocals.

During a TV interview that aired shortly after his audition, James, 23, repeated what he said on Idol — that he thinks of himself more as a guitarist than a singer.

“I count myself a guitarist before a singer. I’ve been playing guitar 14 years,” he said. “I’ve been singing only about six or seven.”

During the interview, James also said his dad is a “huge” Harry Connick Jr. fan. As a result, so is James.

“There’s a line in one of his songs where he screams out, ‘Pass me some fried chicken.’ My family has used that as an inside joke for the last 15 years. That was really cool for me. Like, ‘hey, you’re the reason we yell in my family every time there’s chicken on our table.'”

You can follow James through his own Facebook page. On Twitter, he is @jamesthe8th.

Here are a couple of other videos with James showing off his vocal talent.

“Wicked Game” — Chris Isaak cover

“Leave Me Alone”