#58 Casey James

Next on my American Idol finalist countdown is my number 58 American Idol finalist, guitarist and ladies' man Casey James. He got 3rd place on American Idol season 9.

Casey Everett James was born on May 31, 1982, in Plano, Texas, and raised in Cool, Texas. He had a bad reaction to the petussis vaccine when he was an infant, and his family feared brain damage. According to his mother Debra "Bybee" James, however, she realized that he would be all right and was going to be musical when he started humming before he talked. James started playing the guitar at the age of 13 and within a year he was playing on stage. James has played acoustic sets with his mother and blues with his older brother, Billy Cole. He has also played with country and rock bands.

Before American Idol, he played with his band, The Casey James Band, consisting of James on lead guitar and vocals, his brother, Bills Cole on bass, and Jacy McCann on drums. They recorded four songs, including the first song that James ever wrote, "Freezing," back in 2002.

James cites blues guitarist Doyle Bramhall II as a major musical influence and whom he would most like to perform with in his Idol Q&A. Another major influence is Stevie Ray Vaughn; James named Vaughn's 1992 album In the Beginning as a formative album in his childhood. Other influences cited in the article are southern rockers Lynyrd Skynard and Pearl Jam.