by Linda Erbele
A White County native was awarded one of the “American Idol” Golden tickets this season. Eli Palmer, a 2020 WCHS graduate and his fiancé Haley Esquinance both made the trip to Hollywood last November. “It was fun,” he said. “Definitely a lot different than we expected.” He added that there were a lot of cameras always on, and that only 20 or 30 of the more than 140 people who qualified were shown on television. And, he said, the editors were looking for a little drama.
“You gotta have the look, the performance side of it and the story,” he added. “They kind of want ‘American Idol’ to ‘make’ you. They wanted (your success) to be because of ‘American Idol.’”
He said he made the Top 100, and Esquinance made the Top 50 – called the Showstoppers – but in the end, they didn’t get screen time.
“We were there for two weeks and there were only two episodes,” he said. “They have so much content and they cut so much.”
Palmer went to the University of North Georgia after graduation for a year, then transferred to Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., where he was very involved with music, ensembles and small worship groups.
“I didn’t really plan to write my own music until junior year,” he added.
He began working with Scottie Wilbanks, a producer who also plays for Luke Bryant and Third Day.
He graduated from Lee in 2024, then spent several months cloistered in a studio, writing about 50 songs. He and Wilbanks narrowed those down to his best ten, and the first will be released Saturday, Oct. 18 on most music platforms. It’s called “Home.”
“I’m super excited,” he added.
Eli is the son of Shane Palmer of Shane’s Auto Body and Justine Palmer who lives in Habersham County.