IDOL: Lucas Leon Makes Judges Swoon With “Heartfelt Interpretation” Of A Tim McGraw Hit
17-year-old Lucas Leon impressed the judges with his American Idol Top 20 performance. (Photo credit: American Idol/YouTube)
Lucas Leon sang a duet with Brad Paisley before wowing the audience with his cover of Tim McGraw’s “Just To See You Smile.”
Lucas Leon, a 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Gallatin, Tennessee, has been a standout country act since his American Idol audition aired earlier this season. He first captured the judges’ attention with an original song, earning himself a coveted Golden Ticket.
He soared through the Hollywood Week round with “Georgia On My Mind,” and his cover of Miranda Lambert’s “House That Built Me” earned him a spot in the Top 20 during the Ohana Round.
During Monday night’s episode (March 23), Lucas had a dream come true when he had the opportunity to sing with Brad Paisley. Paisley was joined by Keke Palmer to mentor the hopefuls during the Top 20 Round. During their mentoring session with Lucas Leon, the teen told Paisley that he sings “I’m Gonna Miss Her” at almost every gig he plays in Nashville.
Brad then joined Lucas for a quick performance of the song, which led to Brad inviting the high school student to join him at the Opry the next time he plays.
Lucas Leon Covers Tim McGraw
Lucas chose to cover Tim McGraw’s 1997 hit, “Just To See You Smile.” Brad was impressed with his rendition, saying that Leon delivered a very “heartfelt interpretation of Tim’s thing. It doesn’t sound like Tim, and it shouldn’t. It sounds like you, and that’s hard to do.”
Lucas brought that same energy and delivery to his competition performance of the song. The judges praised his performance, calling it “lovely” and “comfortable.”
“I almost forgot that you were a contestant. That’s what you want. You want comfort,” Lionel Richie told him. “You want people to understand that this is what you do naturally. And what you just performed there is about as natural as you’re ever gonna get.”
The other judges agreed and applauded the singer’s simplicity and laid back approach to performing.
Watch Lucas Leon’s “comfortable” performance of “Just To See You Smile” in the video below.
