Crystal Douthit Rumfelt, mother of “American Idol” season 24 contestant Braden Rumfelt, said the experience of seeing Braden’s success is exciting – and stressful.
“It’s a really positive thing, you know?” she said. “Watching your kid do what he’s always dreamed about is really fun. But then it’s also high anxiety, high stress, hoping that he makes it as far as his goals are … it’s a good stress.”
On top of that, while the show’s production is handling travel and lodging for Braden, family members have had to figure out on their own how to get to two Nashville shows and to Hawaii for his performances.
“I think we had 21 people with us and maybe even more in Nashville.” Rumfelt said. Among those traveling to support him were aunts, uncles, grandparents, spouses and friends from church.
“He’s always been a singer, ever since he was itsy bitsy,” said Rumfelt, who graduated from Franklin High School in 1995.
Rumfelt said Braden’s friend submitted videos of his performances without telling him, so when he was first contacted by the “American Idol” production team, he thought he was being pranked. In between performances, Braden has been returning to Murphy for rest, but set out for Los Angeles from the Atlanta Airport Sunday.
“He’s had a lot of support from our community here in Murphy and Hayesville, like people using their sign space to advertise to vote for Braden.” Rumfelt said. “He has had a couple local concerts. He had one at the Georgia Mountain Fair to a really, really big crowd. So he’s had a lot of hometown support, which I’m so thankful for and he is too.”
“I love it, I’m so proud,” she said about the outpouring of community support. “I will never forget all the support. I just appreciate it so much for people to be good to your kid and support your kid. It’s been really, really sweet of our community to be so good about it.”
Rumfelt knows the community will close ranks to vote Braden and hopes that will be enough to get him to the top.
“Being from a small town and being from a close-knit community like ours, I’m hoping that’ll be a benefit to him and not a hinderance,” she said. “Some of the other contestants are from really big cities that have a whole lot more people to draw from, right? But if all our people will get behind him and do their best to figure out how to vote, I think it’ll be beneficial to be from such a small town where everybody can call their family members and friends and tell them how to vote.”
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