Garrard County High School student Alex Miller now has a promise he will get to perform at the Grand Ole Opry with Luke Bryan. (American Idol Photo)
He’s known since December what the rest of America found out Sunday night — his American Idol journey would not get him into the top 24. Still, Garrard County’s Alex Miller, age 17, has no regrets about his choice of music or anything else that let him make two appearances on national TV in front of judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan.
Miller was eliminated after performing Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings” and has had to keep the information to himself since December when the show was taped.
“I had to keep that secret forever. I am a blabbermouth but I had to keep quiet,” Miller said Tuesday. “It has been a little crazy since Sunday night but I have not heard any bad things, only encouragement. I have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. I would have loved to continue but I was expecting them to tell me to keep feeding cows at my first audition.
“This has just all been so crazy. If someone would have told me this all would have happened a year ago I would have called them a liar.”
He did leave American Idol with a nice consolation prize. Just as Bryan had promised him earlier in the show, Miller will now get a chance to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He took a backstage tour there at age 9 and joked he knew as much as the tour guide.
“I was in heaven and my dream has always been to play there,” Miller said.
Bryan surprised him with a call after Miller had been eliminated and was back home in Garrard County.
“They (American Idol producers) just told me to dress up and told my mom to film it. I assumed it would be him (Bryan) calling but I didn’t know. I was totally unprepared and couldn’t believe what happened,” Miller said.
Bryan not only told him he was keeping his promise to get him a chance to sing at the Grand Ole Opry but he planned to join him on stage like he did after Miller’s first performance on American Idol.
Miller does not have any Opry details yet and assumes his appearance will need to fit when Bryan is available to perform.
Miller says he’ll always remember that the Idol judges were “completely honest” with him.
“The last thing you need in this business is somebody lying to you,” Miller said. “They can’t really change me. I still need to be me. I am not resistant to change. I take advice from a lot of different people, especially when they are saying I am doing something wrong, to see if it will help. I am very open to criticism but I have to be true to me.”
While he’s disappointed he’s no longer on American Idol, he’s keeping busy. He’s especially proud he has a date to the Garrard County High School prom — he sang a song to ask his date to the prom. He’ll be on WHIR (1230 AM) Friday from 9-10 a.m. with Joe Mathis to discuss his Idol experience.
“I will be singing. Idol wouldn’t let me do that before but since I broke ties now I can do that,” he said.
He’s already booked a show as far out as June 2022 in Indiana.
“I am getting booked pretty far out but I am going to keep doing local shows, too,” Miller said. “This Saturday and next Saturday I will be at the Lincoln Jamboree in Hodgenville.
He will be doing a meet-and-greet Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at Southern Roots Boutique in Lancaster.
“I think they even have some merchandise of me they are selling,” Miller said.
He did a show last weekend and said “people were all over me, which was nice.” He plans to sign any autograph request he gets.
“I went from nobody from nowhere to somebody from somewhere,” Miller said. “I don’t want to sound too boastful but it was definitely an experience I never expected to have this early in life.
“I have not had anybody give me a hard time. Most people just treat me the way I want to be treated. I don’t feel I am better than anybody else. I had an unbelievable experience with absolutely no regrets.”
Now he’ll become an American Idol fan. He says he became friends with most of the final 24 contestants and knows they all have some special quality. However, he admits he has big hopes for Alyssa Wray of Perryville.
“I think she is going to do extremely well. I have to root for a fellow Kentuckian. That’s only right,” Miller said.
