19-year-old guitarist Silas Luke Jones is on a high after wowing the America’s Got Talent judges on Tuesday’s (July 29) episode with a spellbinding performance.
The mild-mannered Homer, Alaska, native took to the stage with an acoustic guitar and a pedalboard to perform a rendition of “Misirlou,” the classic Eastern Mediterranean folk song which gained worldwide popularity through Dick Dale’s 1962 American surf rock version.
Jones had the crowd on his side from the opening chords of the track, which fans might recognize from the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, Pulp Fiction. The song was also remixed into Black Eyed Peas’ hit 2006 single “Pump It.”
By the end of his performance, Jones had the entire audience and the judges on their feet. “You became a rock star in front of our eyes,” Sofia Vergara told the young performer, while Howie Mandel called him the “Alaskan techno [Jimi] Hendrix.”
“If I turned away and I listened to what you were doing, I would’ve thought that was like five or six people on stage,” Mel B added. “You’re one of a kind. You really are.”
“You’re a very nice guy. Very humble, and then you just turn into that,” Simon Cowell noted. “Actually, the guitar is not an easy instrument to do that with. What you did with that was extraordinary. You have a really real special talent here.”
After receiving four yeses from the judges and advancing to the next round, Jones spoke with Alaska’s News Source about his experience. He explained how his passion for playing the guitar started when he was just 10 years old.
“It was kind of a choice of like, what do I want to invest my time in? At the time I was taking karate lessons,” Jones shared. “My parents were like, ‘what about music?’ and kind of brought it up and they got me a guitar for Christmas.”
Jones’ focus is on percussive finger style, which he said, “I feel like the style of playing is not super popular, and I love doing it. I want to travel and show people what the guitar can do and what anyone can do when they put their mind to something.”
As for his AGT audition, Jones described it as a dream come true. “Getting on the stage, the stage that you watch on TV all the time and you see all these other acts and you’re like ‘I’m here now’, it’s been surreal,” he said.
Jones never told his parents he’d signed up to audition, but his mom and dad were in the audience cheering him on. “It was exciting to see him stepping out, taking initiative and stepping up to challenge himself in that way,” his father, Billy, told the outlet. “It was a proud parent moment.”
America’s Got Talent, Season 20, Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC
