Jason Castro eliminated from American Idol

This week's theme on American Idol had the Top 4 singing songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On Tuesday night's show, Jason Castro performed "I Shot the Sheriff" in the style of Bob Marley, enjoying the stage, showing more confidence than ever before, but the judges were not on board the reggae bus. His second song of the night, Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" started out strong - I could almost feel redemption coming until he lost a line in the lyrics, shaking his confidence. He got back on track to finish the song but the momentum was lost, which prompted Judge Simon Cowell to say "Start packing your bags." David Archuleta, David Cook and Syesha Mercado did not falter in their performances, so it appeared Simon might be right.
After David Archuleta and David Cook had been declared safe Wednesday night on the results show, Jason and Syesha were left to await their fate.
Jason Castro - everyone's favorite dreadhead, the guitar strumming, free spirit, with captivating eyes and a smile to make the female persuasion swoon and truth be told, the males too, didn't exactly fit into the power Top 4 with Syesha, David Archuleta and David Cook. He felt he was the weakest singer of the remaining group; technically he might be right, but artistically, he ranked up there with David Cook, bringing something new and exciting to American Idol. While I enjoyed all of his performances, "Hallelujah", was the break-through performance of the season, followed by "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Travelin Thru." While the judges didn't love last week's selection of "Forever in Blue Jeans", his studio version is my new favorite song! Paula was right on the money when she proclaimed how great his lower register is on this song.
As Ryan Seacrest started to read the results, I was holding on to the hope that Jason's fans, the "Dreadheads" and the "Castronauts", had power voted him into safety. I had voted with two phones and even my 68 year old mom had voted! When Ryan announced "Syesha you are safe", leaving Jason on the stage to finish fourth in the competition, I swear I heard the refrain from "Travelin Thru":

"Goodbye you little children, goodnight to all my friends,

Farewell you lovely ladies and to all who knew me when

And I hope I'll see you down the road, you meant more than I knew

As I was travelin, travelin, travelin, just travelin thru."

Interview excerpts from the phone conference:
Jason's musical inspirations come from his home state of Texas; his favorites are Ray Lamontagne, Kirk Baxley and Pat Green. "I'm a little bit of a country music fan, he said, "I love the heart behind it."
He taught himself how to play the guitar in his freshman year of college (learning to play off the internet) and started singing shortly after that. Prior to his audition, he had sung in public only a few times. After his audition, he played approximately 10-12 times in local venues; a 30 minute set was his longest gig. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the contestants on the show who have had significant backgrounds in music. He was asked what did American Idol see in him over thousands of others with more experience and professional backgrounds. "I think it was the potential and just because I was so new at it, what I had done so far, I think I showed just enough potential that I could potentially be something. And especially with the nature of the show, I think I am very much what the show was originally about. I am as raw as it gets. I haven't done much of anything singing-wise; I don't know, maybe I'd just be good on TV!"

My conversation with Jason:
Rhonda: Congratulations Jason!
Jason: Thank you!
Rhonda: I am so happy that you made it as far as you did; I would have liked to have seen you in the top 3. I think "Forever in Blue Jeans" was an amazing song and totally underrated.
Jason: Thanks!
Rhonda: The fans on the message boards were pretty active in trying to decide what they wanted you to sing this week. They had chosen James Taylor's "Fire and Rain", Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" and an acoustic version of Prince's "When Doves Cry."
Had you considered any of those choices?
Jason: I had not read that. I did get suggested the James Taylor one the day of, the day I was preparing my songs, I kind of wanted to stick to what I already knew because I wasn't familiar with either of those other songs. I did consider Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry." I really like that song but I thought it needed more time. A lot of Bob Marley's songs need more time, the one I did it was a little awkward like they said, the arrangement was just awkward because it didn't give it enough time to groove.

More questions from other writers:
Q: Did you know that you drove the Jeff Buckley version of "Hallelujah" to number 1?
A: Yeah, that was awesome, I couldn't believe it, I realized the amount of power that American Idol has, that I could sing this song and I could push this song. It was such an honor, if people hadn't heard that song, they should have and I'm glad now they have.

Q: What's the most difficult aspect of being on American Idol?
A: It has everything to do with the song, selecting the song and finding the time to rehearse it, that's the biggest challenge. It's all about the song. If you are trying to make things original, as time goes on you have less and less time to do that, it becomes harder, the day to day running of things make it hard to do that.

Q: Did you feel the show portrayed you how you really are?
A: It did! I am a goofy person, I have fun. I am an awkward conversationalist. I am doing my best right now, what you see is what you get. I haven't changed a bit since I came out here, yeah that's me!

Q: How did you feel when Simon said you weren't the Jason we brought into the competition?
A: I was feeling the same thing; I was feeling me losing that power, because I couldn't connect with the songs in the given time. I really had a hard time when we picked it up to 2 songs, I wasn't committing to either one, couldn't connect with it. I couldn't fall in love with it, you need time for that.

Q: Were you sick during Andrew Lloyd Weber week?
A: I was very ill on the Sunday of ALW week, the day of the music video shoot, had a fever, sore throat, was coughing and had a runny nose, so I went to the doctor on Monday, got two shots and went on anti-biotics. I was pretty wiped out and thought the performance of "Memory" was very nasally because of it.

Q: Was he relieved he was going home?
A: I was as happy last night as I was when I found out I had made the top 24. I have had a blast and I was trying but it has been hard, before I found out the results I was starting to fear the week ahead if I made it, how was I going to do three songs, I can't even do two right and the hometown visit is a lot of work - even though it would be so much fun, I was freaking out about it, so it was all building up. I was ready to go either way, whatever they gave me. My natural reaction was relief, the pressure was off - I loved my time on there and would have liked to have gone further but I don't think I could have handled it. I'm content.

While American Idol might not have been the perfect fit for him as a musician, his fans are grateful that we got to know his charming personality and experience his touching music. He said "Loving the music and doing it from the heart is the core of music. It is easy to forget when you have to rush. Having a Hallelujah moment takes time." Here's hoping that we will get to experience plenty of Hallelujah moments from Jason in the future! Can I get an Amen?
Jason's parting words? Thanks Y'all!

Rhonda Cloutier lives in Santa Rosa Beach. You can reach her at IdolBeat@gmail.com.