“American Idol” Contestant Slater Nalley Brings Judges to Tears with Emotional Original Song About Teacher's Late Son

American Idol auditions are off to an emotional start!

In a sneak peek from season 23 of American Idol, Slater Nalley auditioned with an original song he wrote for his teacher's late son — and it struck a chord with judges Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and  Lionel Richie.

Before Nalley entered the room, his high school English teacher, Mrs. Davis, shared her story with the judges.

"I am not performing today... I'm so grateful to be here. I have a special student of mine, Slater Nalley, and he wrote a song for my son who was killed eight years ago," she began.

She continued, "Slater had heard the story about my son and I had written a poem and the second year that I taught him I asked, 'Would you mind looking at the poem? I would love to see what your thoughts are and how you turn a poem into a song.' So he did and two weeks later, he wrote the song and that's what he's going to sing today."

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Slater then made his way into the room and Bryan, 48, announced: "You have had the coolest introduction ever."

Then, Slater spoke about the inspiration for the song.

"This song is called 'Traces of You,' I wrote it for Carter Davis," he said, before adding in a one-on-one, "I didn't know Carter before this happened and when Mrs. Davis told us, I just felt this presence come into my life essentially and I knew that I needed to do something. I went home and started working away on little notebook pages and eventually it turned into a song."

Slater proceeded to sing the song while strumming along to his guitar — and the performance brought the "Before He Cheats" singer, 41, to tears.

"The moment breaks and you appear / And for a second I swear you're standing right here / I'd give anything for love to be enough to make it true / As the memories come racing in the view / These traces of you," he sang emotionally.

Once he was done singing, the judges hugged and comforted one another as Underwood wiped her teas away.

"Even though this was about your son, every single person that hears that can fill in that memory with somebody that's in themselves. I couldn't have imagined you doing that any better," she said.

"That one line, 'Your life was like a river running home,' that moves man. That's the one," added Richie, 75.

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"You just stick to walking on stage and singing with your heart. The rest will take care of itself," Bryan continued.

When it came time for the final decision, the "Hello" singer explained that "sometimes we don't have to vote."

Bryan gave the judges a countdown and together they announced: "You're going to Hollywood!"

Nalley then reached for his teacher and gave her a hug.

"To have this gift, it's like a little piece of Carter gets to live on in song," she said.

American Idol season 23 premieres on March 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Fans will get a preview of the upcoming season on March 2, when ABC airs a special after the 97th Oscars.

Read the original article on People