Runner-up Will Moseley on ‘American Idol’ Being Part of a Divine Plan

Will Moseley

Will Moseley may have finished in second place on American Idol this season, but he’s anything but a loser. The 23-year-old musician from Hazelhurst, Ga. had only given himself a year to see what he could accomplish as far as pursuing a music career before getting a real job, but now it’s looking like that year was all he needed.

“A year was a good goal,” he told Parade and a small group of reporters. “It wasn't unreachable. Looking back on this past year—because a year ago I graduated almost to the week—I hope it never runs out. I hope those years just keep rolling over. I think this journey has shown how much I truly love performing and playing music. I hope it never ends. I told people in the beginning that if I could play music until the day I die, I would die with a smile on my face. I think it's truer now than ever.”

Will says that making music is the only thing that he’s done in life that he’s passionate about. True, he’s had a lot of side jobs in order to earn money, and he found some joy in each of them, but nothing like what sitting down with his guitar does for him.

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“This is the only thing that even on an off day, even when I don't have a show, I find myself with a guitar in my hand playing around, thinking of music, trying to write a song or trying to do something to do with music,” he says.” It's the only thing that I've been truly passionate about my whole life.”

The amazing thing is that Will is fairly new to music. He picked up a guitar for the first time four years ago and took to it like a duck to water. But he didn’t get serious about it until he graduated college, which is when he made the decision to pursue it for a year.

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“Coming out of college, I thought about getting a job but I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t give myself a year,” he recalls. “I made that comment and I’ve held onto that pretty well. I think for me that year mark rolling around at the season finale and me still being in it, that’s the special part. I think that’s just a divine plan.”

Last week as part of the American Idol Top 5, Will released the original single “Good Book Bad,” which already has more than 51K listens since its May 18 release. He didn’t write it—three guys from Nashville did, but he fell in love it with as soon as he heard it.

“The story that they put out there, man, when they wrote that song my first question after I heard it was, ‘Why has no one else cut this song?’” he says. “It’s just one of those songs that everyone connects to. It tells the story of a young kid getting a DUI and his parents come and bail him out and take him to church. It’s called ‘Good Book Bad’ and it’s a reference to the Bible. It’s talking about his family telling him, ‘You need the good book bad. You need the Bible bad. You need to slow down. You find your way; you’re getting off track a little bit.’”

Will got a little bit off track himself when he sang Bob Seger’s “Night Moves" on Top 12 night, but sometimes good things can come from bad. He made a small slip—he switched two lines, but it still rhymed, so not many people caught it. But he knew. So, he reached out to Bob Seger to apologize because it’s difficult to get clearance on a Seger song. So much so that Will is the only person to perform one on American Idol to date.

“I sent him a personal message: ‘Hey, I appreciate you allowing me to cover the song, but I did have that little mess up. I just got in the moment, got a little bit excited. But, again, I want to say thanks for everything, and I do apologize. I hope there's no offense taken there.’”

Will was relieved when he heard back from Seger’s team because he didn’t want it to seem as if he was disrespectful of the opportunity he was given and he didn’t want to burn that bridge for possible Idol contestants in the future.

“I got a message back that said he really appreciated it and thought it was really respectful that I did it,” Will says. “It meant the world to hear back—even if it took a mess up to make that possible.”

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