South Carolina teen Willie Jones made quite the splash on the stage of the “X Factor” as he once again showed that an African-Americans can perform Country Music. While it may be too early to tell if he will be the next Charley Pride or Aaron Neville, one thing was for certain: Willie Jones brought the crowd at the X Factor to their feet with his performance of the 2006 Country music smash hit “Your Man”.
Jones, a very polite 17-year-old, was dressed from his hair style to his clothing like Will Smith from the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. Perhaps by his appearance, folks were expecting him to sing an R&B or hip hop tune.
Clearly, Simon Cowell was taken back when he heard the young man say he would be singing the old Josh Turner classic. However, any skepticism Cowell may have had ended within seconds of the song beginning. Jones not only had an excellent singing voice, but he could well have been Turner himself singing on stage. He hit all the deep baritone notes just as the original recording had and before long audience members were on their feet dancing and swaying to his voice.
The side camera caught his family watching the event from one end of the stage. His mother, father, and sisters were clearly supportive and exuberant over how well the performance was going. At one point, even Jones himself was overcome with wonder as he did not expect the audience to react so favorably to his singing. Naturally, he advanced to the next round in the competition.