The ongoing "American Idol" season has brought us a heaping helping of auditions by gifted vocalists with feel-good personal stories. Among them so far has been Aniston Pate, a tractor driver from West Texas who sang a song she co-wrote about her mother.
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Pate co-wrote "Hummingbird" with a close friend. It's inspired by Pate's mother, who'd hum along to songs while driving her daughter around Dalhart, Texas. Her mom was on-hand for the audition, as shown on television.
The audition performance won over all three judges.
"I love the song and I love that melody in the middle of the chorus. It was great," Luke Bryan said, adding that there's "like four things I want to tell her to do" to the lyrics.
Katy Perry also mixed praise with constructive criticism.
"Aniston, I thought it was a good song," Perry said. "You're on your way to being a great songwriter in Nashville, but I do think you were throwing away some of the opportunity for holding out notes. You can deliver lyrics in a very intimate way while still having power."
However, Perry sees a bright future for the singer-songwriter.
"You don't always have to drive a tractor. You can drive a Mini Cooper. You know what I'm saying?," Perry added.
The highest praise came from Lionel Richie, who likened Pate's storytelling approach to a rock and country hall of famer.
"Love the song. About halfway through the first verse, I said I had to open my eyes and go, 'is that you, Dolly?' But only in the way Dolly tells stories," Richie said. "It was very honest, solid and natural and positively you."
Bryan clearly sees a lot of potential in Pate. In a behind-the-scenes clip Bryan posted to Instagram, he sang Shenandoah's "Church on Cumberland Road" as a duet with Pate.
