MINERAL WELLS — Local "American Idol" favorite Casey James once again strapped on an electric Fender guitar and rocked the Idol stage with his version of the Rolling Stones' hit "It's All Over Now."
With the show down to its top 12, and with contestants choosing from the Stones' massive song list, the 27-year-old James, from nearby Cool, performed the song true to his Texas roots in a country-rock-blues style that drew a rousing ovation from the live audience.
He wowed three of the four judges.
"You're back to the Casey James I love," stated Randy Jackson. "You are back for me."
Ellen Degeneres told James his look would play well with most of the ladies, then jokingly said, "But then for people like me ... blondes," drawing a laugh from those who got her joke. "I thought it was fantastic."
Kara DioGuardi noted how she told James a couple of weeks ago that he was pretending to be a rock star, but praised him this week, saying, "Tonight, you were a rock star. For you to pick that song ... It showed your soul. This was your best performance since we first saw you."
Judge Simon Cowell disagreed with the panel, criticizing James for a lack of showmanship on the now much larger stage.
"For me, that was like an audition performance," Cowell said. "You've got to push yourself, not just be a guy standing in the middle of the stage playing a guitar. It has to be more than that. Be a star."
Host Ryan Seacrest asked James about his decision to play the guitar, and James admitted he had reservations about it.
"I thought they were going to eat me up for this one," James said.
"Well, it worked for you," replied Seacrest.
James' mother, Debra, was in attendance and was shown with other family members in the audience.
Before his performance, Debra James was shown talking about Casey as a baby, saying he had become very ill when just 3-months-old with pertussis, or whooping cough, and having a reaction to medicine so severe doctors thought he was left with brain damage.
"He hummed tunes in the crib before he talked, so I quit worrying about him," she said.
Casey James noted his large musical family.
"I'm probably the least talented of all of them," he said. "There's no way I'd be where I am if it wasn't for my family."
James and the other 11 contestants will await Wednesday night's results show to see which one goes home.
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