An Interview with American Idol Contestant Sean Michel

A Soulful Singer from Arkansas

Who is Sean Michel? Well, you will probably remember him as the Jesus look-alike who auditioned for American Idol in Memphis singing "God's Gonna Cut You Down," by Johnny Cash. He's also a really interesting guy with a great heart.

I talked to Sean Michel last week and found out that there's much more to him than long hair and a great voice. Sean, who works as a caregiver with the physically disabled, is quite the musician. He is the front man of a band bearing his name, and based on the few tracks I listened to, their demo album "Sketches" is an incredible work of art.

Interestingly enough, Sean had never even watched American Idol before he auditioned. "It was kind of a joke, actually, going to the try out. It was kind of a last minute deal, and it became a little bit more serious."

Sean Michel's band mates have been very supportive of his American Idol pursuits, and I can see why. Even just the short audition clip that aired last week has already brought the band a lot of attention. Sean and the band's bass player, Nick, were invited to a local radio station last week, and they have also doubled the number of friends on their Myspace Music page. Sean has been fairly humble about the American Idol publicity, and has no plans of ditching his band. "God might want to use this somehow, maybe to help the band. If anything ever happens, it's only to help the band do what God has called us to do as musicians. We are trying to keep a straight head about that."

Sean proved that American Idol is definitely not just about the pop look, as he walked into the audition proclaiming that people say he looks like Osama Bin Laden, or Fidel Castro, or Jesus, or a homeless person. One of the few great rockers so far this season, Sean nailed his audition and was pushed on to Hollywood week, where we will get to watch him continue to rock.

Sean feels that it was a combination of his look and his voice that helped him get through to Hollywood. "They're looking for pop idols and I think I freaked them out a little bit," commented Sean, "I'm sure it's my voice more than anything, and then the way I look was kind of a shock factor for them."