Jason Rich keeps faith in God, looks to 'American Idol' for fame

Christian singer/songwriter Jason Rich, a 21-year-old from Dike, wasted no time in adding “2008 American Idol contestant” to his biography.

Tuesday night's episode of the hit talent contest on the Fox network will feature auditions in Omaha, Neb., that were held in August 2007. Viewers may get to see footage of Rich, who sang a country song, Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All.”

“I’m not really a country singer,” he said. “I’m a contemporary Christian artist with a fairly progressive acoustic style.

“I’ll be the first one to admit, I sang the first line and I forgot the words. I finally got it and they let me through. I’m kinda nervous to see how they portray it.”

During the auditions, he was followed by an “Idol” camera crew for four hours as he worked on his girlfriend’s dad’s farm, something he does on a part-time basis. Such attention is usually a sign the show will feature Rich in some sort of profile segment. Rich was one of 20 contestants in Omaha to receive one of the show’s famous “golden tickets,” usually seen being waved above a singer’s head just before they’re smothered in a group hug.

He traveled to Hollywood to compete for one of the show’s 24 semi-finalist slots, but can’t say whether he made the cut, due to the show’s confidentiality agreement.

“Jason has a lot of talent both as a singer and as a songwriter, and that he fits well with what American Idol looks for,” said Justin Bartlett, who produced a solo album for Rich and an album Rich recorded with a band, Greenhill. “'American Idol doesn’t really take songwriting into account as far as I know, so I’m sure it was his voice and singing style that got their attention. He’s just a very strong pop/rock singer.”

Rich will say he shook his nerves in Hollywood.

“People were confused (in Hollywood and wondered) 'Why isn’t he nervous?’ My confidence was in the Lord,” he said. “The first audition, I was almost laughing. It was ... so surreal that the cameras I was looking at, there would be 40 million people looking back at me.”

Rich nearly attended the University of Northern Iowa with a vocal scholarship, but turned down the arrangement and instead took a job as a worship leader at Orchard Hill Church in Cedar Falls. More recently, music has been paying the bills. He released a solo EP, “I Am Waiting,” and recorded a CD with a band, Greenhill.

But the experience in the ministry helped in Hollywood.

“The very first person I met was a girl from Indiana and the first thing she told me was she was pursuing a career as a Playboy model,” he said. “I was shocked. I’d never met anyone like that ... but it opened the door to have some deep conversations, and being a witness and minister, she was convinced that was not the right direction to go.”

Tuesday night's time on TV may change the course of Rich’s career, too. After telling local papers about his successful audition, Rich had 300 people attend a solo concert he performed in Grundy Center.

In the last week, he’s been offered gigs at about 15 different events. In all of those cases, promoters called him.

“That would have never happened if this Idol deal didn’t happen,” he said. “I’m trying to be logical and smart about it. To know it is from the Lord and being careful about that and not getting too huge of a head. But it’s neat to see the Lord reveal he has created me to do this and I can make a career out of it to support me and my future family.”

And the attention will likely get more intense tomorrow, if he’s featured tonight.

One woman Rich befriended during Hollywood week received about 10 seconds of on-air attention in an earlier “Idol” episode.

The next day, her Web page had 4,000 hits.

Someone else he heard about turned a 20 second appearance “Idol” into interviews on four national TV shows.

Rich has hired a manager to help him manage and take advantage of the attention. And the manager isn’t waiting to see whether Rich is the next “American Idol.”

On Amazon and CDBaby, where his CDs sell, the description already reads: “American Idol® contestant.”

Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or ecrawford@dmreg.com

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