Jason Hamlin Sings Creedence Clearwater Revival on ‘American Idol’

A golf course mechanic named Jason Hamlin impressed Steven Tyler and the rest of the judges on 'American Idol' last night (Jan. 22), earning himself a spot on the show with passionate performances of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Midnight Special' and Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues.'

To this reporter, Hamlin, who insisted everybody called him "wolf" and seemed determined to get us all on board with his use of the word "git-fiddle" for guitar, seemed like he was trying way too hard to be cool. To be fair, though, our co-workers fully disagreed. So hey, maybe he's the greatest guy in the world. Maybe the fast-paced, pretend-reality-when-really-its-all-scripted nature of the show just makes everyone look like an eager-to-please caricature of a real person.

His singing on 'Midnight Special' wasn't bad, it just had that over-dramatic, bar band / beer commercial "grit" to it. He actually did better, with some subtlety and restraint, when taking on Cash's famous prison anthem. Anyway, the judges, perhaps as Tyler said, sick of forty different versions of the same Adele song, went crazy for it and "Wolf" got his ticket punched for Hollywood.

Watch Jason Hamlin Sing Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Midnight Special' on 'American Idol'