Thompson gets golden ticket on ‘American Idol’

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — Local talent Noah Thompson was the first contestant to make an appearance on the 20th season of “American Idol” Sunday, receiving a golden ticket to go to Hollywood and continue in the competition.

Prior to his performance, country music star and “Idol” judge Luke Bryan asked Thompson where he is from, and he told him Kentucky, “a small town called Louisa.” Bryan then asked him how he found “American Idol.”

“I didn’t, my buddy, Arthur, did,” Thompson said, referring to Arthur Johnson. “He signed me up. We was hanging sheetrock at work and he told me he was going to sign me up, and I said, ‘No, you’re not,’ but he did it anyway.”

“Is he still your buddy?” Bryan asked.

“Yeah, sorta,” Thompson said.

Thompson sang “Giving You Up” by Kameron Marlowe during his audition. After he finished, Bryan said, “I don’t want to touch your accent, don’t want to touch it.” Bryan wanted him to sing the chorus again and asked him to be a little more “deliberate” with the lyrics.

“Perfect,” Bryan said when he finished.

“You got a real-life storytelling, bad-ass voice,” judge Lionel Richie said. “It’s believable. Now, I don’t know what you were expecting.”

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Thompson said.

“I know you weren’t expecting that,” Richie said. “That’s why I said it the way I said it.”

Judge Katy Perry asked Thompson his friend’s name, and he told her “Arthur,” and then they asked him to come in the room.

Perry asked Johnson why he set his friend up, and he said it was because he wouldn’t have signed himself up.

Perry told Thompson, “You are the American Dream.”

“You’re why this job is cool,” Bryan said. “We’re really excited you’re here.”

Perry asked Johnson why he thinks Thompson can do it.

“He’s got so much talent, man,” Johnson said. “These contestants have had vocal training, and they do crazy warm ups. This is just straight raw right here. This ain’t no training. We don’t warm up.”

Bryan told Johnson that everything he was saying is “kinda how you wind up being a manager” and then asked him if he could drive a 15-passenger van.

“You daggone right I can, do it every day,” Johnson said.

“I’m a yes,” Bryan said about his vote in favor of Thompson.

“Thank you, Arthur, for seeing him better than he could see himself, cause I’m a yes as well,” Perry said.

“Arthur, I know you’ve probably never been given this title before, but angels come in very strange packages,” Richie said.

“For sure,” Johnson said.

“Your angel showed up in a red plaid shirt, ‘lumberjack,’ and to get a yes from Luke, a yes from Katy and a yes from me, you’re a wonderful man,” Richie said.

Thompson is currently in a relationship with Angel Dixon and the couple has a son, Walker Lee. Thompson, who is working in construction, is a 2020 Lawrence County High School graduate.

To find out how far Thompson makes it, tune in to “American Idol” Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.