American Idol Loses Its Everloving Mind — Invites Cool Old Roots Artists to Audition
American Idol is on its last leg, promising to end its run with the fifteenth and final upcoming season, and they’re looking to go out with a bang. A show that once dominated the entire American cultural from TV to the music charts has fallen on hard times and tough ratings as shows like The Voice and others have moved into the Reality TV competition space and gobbled up viewers.
But American Idol is not going down without a fight, and is looking to field their strongest roster of participants yet. No stone is being left unturned apparently, and they’ve even resorted to reaching out to some quite unusual individuals with special VIP invitations for private tryouts, proving just how clueless the show’s talent scouts are, while also offering an interesting insight into how they actually find contestants. Not since Jason Isbell was asked to try out for The Voice have we seen such a ridiculous scenario unfold from a reality show.
The first to get solicited was Austin, TX’s producer and musician extraordinaire Gurf Morlix. Though Gurf may not be a household name outside of his native environs of Austin, TX, if you’ve heard albums from Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard and others, then you’ve heard Gurf in one capacity or another. The multi-instrumentalist has also released nine solo albums over his career, including the recent Eatin’ At Me. Gurf is known as a musician’s musician, and is revered throughout the roots industry.
On September 23rd, Gurf received an email soliciting him for a special VIP chance to audition for American Idol.
Hi Gurf
Thought you might be interested in this:
We are in the final week of casting for our final
VIP audition for the final season of American Idol!
Interested??
Whether he was interested or not, the problem came in the next paragraph:
We are looking for singers and artists of all
styles, male and female, ages 15 to 28. These VIP
auditions are for ‘industry and personal
referrals’ only, NOT for the general public!
Gurf Morlix is 64-years-old. The email continues,
Here’s how you can audition:
1. Please shoot a 90 sec video clip of yourself
singing an acapella or acoustic (guitar or piano
accompany only), mid to up tempo current cover
song…2. Upload it to YouTube and mark unlisted. DO NOT
send any downloads!!!3. For details on where to submit, visit:
http://currentlycasting.blogspot.com/”¦/please-refer-amazing”¦
*** IMPORTANT ***
Please follow the instructions above.Good Luck,
Patrick
It was all good for a quick laugh, imagining the 64-year-old Gurf Morlix auditioning for American Idol. Billboard even ran a story on the strange VIP invitation. But Gurf is not alone apparently.
Kevin Sekhani of Lafayette, Louisiana—the frontman for the Louisiana-based old-time tent revival and rowdy honky tonk band The Mercy Brothers—has also received the very same invitation. And just like Gurf, he’s a little too old to qualify.
These special VIP invitations are coming from American Idol directly, but a company representing American Idol called Tami B Casting. Tami Brandel boasts that she is the “real casting director of Hollywood,” and also casts for other reality shows such as Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Hell’s Kitchen. It’s through such agencies that contestants are put at the front of the line for auditions, while the throngs of people who show up to the publicized auditions are mostly for show.
It’s just a shame Gurf Morlix and Kevin Sekhani don’t qualify. It would give the rest of us a reason to tune in.
UPDATE: LA-Based musician Grant Langston has also been invited to audition.
September 26, 2015 @ 10:23 am
The interesting thing about the age policy , is that there seem to be an awful lot of older folks who watch these fake reality talent shows . A lot of my older friends comment on them all the time …( I don’t have the time to get interested in the shows myself ) … and would probably love to see REAL talent in the form of experienced , mature contestants …many their own age . What’s to lose by leaving the kids to the Voice and mounting a more realistic show based on actual musical acts and attracting sponsors who are seeking an older demographic if your show is going out of business anyway ?
September 26, 2015 @ 10:41 am
Hey, just because they don’t qualify doesn’t mean they won’t get to audition. If the industry broke the rules for Justin Moore, I’m sure they could break the rules again.
September 26, 2015 @ 11:52 am
I think the funniest thing that could happen on one of those shows would be if Hank 3 went on The Voice. I could see him telling Blake Shelton to go fuck himself.
September 26, 2015 @ 12:07 pm
This, this is beautiful.
September 27, 2015 @ 4:05 am
Maybe he could have Dale Watson come on for a duet partner…. 😀
September 27, 2015 @ 7:39 am
There’s one problem–Hank3 can’t sing.
September 27, 2015 @ 11:16 am
I guess Hank Sr. couldn’t sing either , go look up a video of Hank3 covering his grandpa’s songs. He did lose a litle bit of his voice over the year though, considering he has 4 hour concerts 360times a year.
September 27, 2015 @ 11:20 am
Hank Sr. didn’t have the grating tone that 3 has. Their voices are undoubtedly similar but while I don’t particularly like either voice, Sr. is more tolerable.
September 26, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
Fuck Hank 3. You can’t beat Gurf for a first name. It would be pure perfection having this cool dude belting Killin’ time in Texas on prime time us tv.
September 26, 2015 @ 2:40 pm
I think the show should have Gurf and Kevin on the show for guest appearances. I’m sure they would be honored to play on national tv.
September 26, 2015 @ 4:13 pm
Age never meant anything in terms of auditions because a good older cat will always get screen time during audition rounds if the gimmick is right (i.e. Pants On The Ground).
September 26, 2015 @ 5:51 pm
“We are looking for singers and artists of all
styles, male and female, ages 15 to 28. These VIP
auditions are for ”˜industry and personal
referrals”™ only, NOT for the general public!”
So apparently if Carrie Underwood were to audition again at 30 years old, she probably wouldn’t be able to do it again. It’s hard to believe, what is it, 11 years since she did the thing and you would think now she probably did it the old fashioned way. But then again I don’t think any of us are stupid in that logic.
September 26, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
If Isbell had actually took the producers of “The Voice” up on their offer I wonder if they’d let him cover his own songs? Can you imagine him singing “Elephant”, “Cover Me Up” or “Live Oak” on live, nationally televised TV? That would be some crazy stuff for sure.
September 27, 2015 @ 3:14 pm
I remember A couple years ago The Voice asked Rachel Brooke to audition too. It was on her Facebook page.
September 28, 2015 @ 7:16 am
What about Willie? Did he get an invite too??!!
September 28, 2015 @ 10:34 am
I received the same email. I’m sure they sourced a music site like reverbnation or sonicbids or tunecore and bought a bunch of email addresses.
Yay 21st century world.
September 28, 2015 @ 11:13 am
But to call it a “VIP” invite, and not to take at least a cursory glance at the age or accomplishments of the people you’re sending them to seems like such an insult to these artists. It just proves that the music industry is all just one big hype machine.
September 28, 2015 @ 10:45 pm
On a related note, Steve Young’s son (wrote seven bridges road and lonesome onry and mean) auditioned for the voice tonight and got on the show. Steve was there as well and talked briefly. Have you ever done a story on him?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Young_%28musician%29
September 28, 2015 @ 11:22 pm
If you’re talking about Jubal Lee Young, then yes, I’ve been familiar with his work for years. I wrote about him in this article:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/16-great-sons-daughters-of-country-music-greats
So he’s on The Voice now, huh?
September 29, 2015 @ 7:52 am
Not only is he on the voice. He sang duet with his girlfriend (seven bridges roads of course) and then proposed to her on stage. Publicity stunt much? PLUS a guy named Tyler Dickerson also made it on. He apparently was on lyric street but got dropped after his first single, got in a bad car accident which looks like it did damage to his jaw or something. John Rich championed him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Dickerson
September 29, 2015 @ 9:00 am
Jubal and I have had conversations before. I’ve been listening to his music for years. We’re friends on Facebook. Perhaps I should reach out.
September 29, 2015 @ 2:29 pm
And now I’m friends with him on facebook (I also sent you a friends request). I think these kind of things are good for country music.
June 30, 2017 @ 7:11 pm
I think it’s not right to have age limits…My fiancee and his family have amazing talent,,,so disappointed cause I so wanted them to audition!!! Thanks Karen Sayne…