By Lawrence Specker
It was touch and go there for a minute, but when Dawson Slade of Moulton got his golden ticket on the Feb. 25 episode of “American Idol,” it was another step forward in a story that began when he was just 5 years old.
He reckons that’s when he got his first six-string. And it was only a few more years down the road when he discovered songwriting as an emotional outlet.
“I got my first guitar when I was around 5 years old,” said Slade, who’s now just 17. “I started, you know, trying to learn the melodies and what sounded right on the guitar and just trying to teach myself everything I could. I took some guitar lessons for about a week and it never really worked out. So I ended up just teaching myself all the basic stuff.”
When he began trying to write his own songs, that’s what really fueled the fire and kept me going to music,” he said. “It really helped me clear my head and it was just something that was always there.”
By age 9 or 10, he said, he was started writing songs to perform for other people. “I started doing a hometown festival called the Strawberry Festival,” he said.
Fast forward a few years to 2023, when auditions began for the 2024 season of “American Idol.” For a few years he’d considered submitting an audition video, without ever pulling the trigger, “just getting a little nervous or whatever.”
This year he got a little push, he said, and obviously it paid off: The next thing he knew, he was headed for an in-person audition in Tuskegee, hometown of celebrity judge Lionel Richie. Slade knew it was a rare moment.
“His song ‘Stuck On You’ is probably one of my top favorite songs,” Slade said. “So he’s always been in my playlist. I’ve always listened to Lionel. So, just to be there, especially in his hometown and face to face with them and be able to perform and show my style of music and 17-years-old, I’m very grateful for that.”
Richie, and fellow judges Luke Bryan and Katy Perry, were not blown away by Slade’s take on Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.” Perry said he had a great voice but wasn’t attacking the song. Richie said he heard a performer who needed “to put more time in.” Bryan said he was hearing a songwriter, not a powerhouse performer.
It looked pretty grim, but Bryan wanted to hear a little more. So Slade sang Justin Moore’s “Somebody Else Will” and got just enough traction to change some minds.
It might not have been the most auspicious start, but a golden ticket is a golden ticket: Slade will advance to the show’s Hollywood Round. Though he’s got a strong country vibe, he said he’s not worried about being pushed to perform in other genres.
“When I started songwriting, it was more of a folk vibe,” he said. “So I feel like I have a wider variety of music other than just country. I describe my music as from the heart.”
“I try to, I try to keep it as real as possible,” he said. “No matter my age, no matter how young I am, I’ve seen a little bit of life and so I just try to keep it as real as possible and as relatable as possible. My music is more on the, you know, love, sad breakup, love song kind of stuff. So I try to keep it real and relatable.”
These days, Slade divides his time between Tennessee and north Alabama. In Tennessee, he works on the ranch of a mentor who’s helping him dip his toes into the Nashville scene, he said. In Alabama, he’s closer to his infant son, Stetson.
Stetson made an appearance on “Idol,” carried by Slade’s mom, who got a big reaction because she looks like she could be Perry’s sister. Slade said he knew that was coming, because he’s been dealing with it all his life.
“Yeah, growing up, that was always a thing,” he said. “You know, I’ve always been protective. We’d go to Walmart and, some older man — or a younger man, my age, I mean – would flirt with her, come up to her and be like, ‘You look like Katy Perry’ and sometimes they’d ask for a picture. … So, going to ‘Idol,’ we were really excited to see how it was going to be.”
While Slade might sometimes have been uncomfortable with the attention, he said it never turned his mom off on her lookalike.
“She loves Katy Perry,” he said.
For those who like what they saw on Idol, Slade said he has new music coming out soon. His debut single, “Home in My Heart,” can be heard on YouTube and other streaming platforms.
