Last night (April 21) Jack Blocker took the American Idol stage to perform a Bob Dylan classic. He sat on a stool with his acoustic guitar and played “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” for the audience. He made the decades-old song his own and, on the strength of his performance, moved on to the next round.
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It was Rock ‘n’ Roll night on American Idol. So, everyone had to choose a rock song to bring to the stage. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” was a bold choice for Blocker. Dylan penned the song and released it as the B-Side to “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1962. He also included it on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
Since its initial release, several artists have covered this Dylan classic. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Kesha, The Four Seasons, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and countless others have put their stamp on the song. In short, Blocker had some big shoes to fill when he chose the song. In the end, though, he held his own. Watch the stellar performance below.
Jack Blocker Performs What He Enjoys
Blocker came out strong during Hollywood Week. He covered “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Hank Williams and “You Should Have Seen the Other Guy” by Nathanial Rateliff for the show. In a recent interview, he talked about his song selection process.
“I love Hank Williams,” Blocker said. “I was really excited to sing a Hank Sr. song. I landed on that song and was really excited about it,” he added. “Then, the next round, I wanted to kind of revamp a pop song into my own style. So, I had done some work on that and there was a really quick turnaround between those two performances.”
That quick turnaround time made it impossible for him to rearrange a pop song to fit his style. Instead, he went with something a little closer to his heart. “I showed them ‘You Should Have Seen the Other Guy.’ Like, I was just playing a little bit of that. And everybody in the room—me included and the coaches in the room—were like that one sounds just so in the pocket for what I do,” he explained. “I love Nathaniel Rateliff. That song that I sang has been one of my favorites for over a year now,” he added.
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