Michigan family band wins over AGT judges with emotional “Take Me Home, Country Roads” audition

America’s Got Talent is back on NBC on Tuesday, July 21, with another round of auditions, and one of the standout acts is a family country band made up of a father and his two sons.

The trio, known as The Sound, traveled from Romeo, Michigan, to audition for the competition. During their introduction, the musicians explained that they had been performing together for years and that the two brothers started playing music with their father when they were still children.

For their audition, The Sound chose a classic country favorite: “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

Before singing, they asked the audience to clap along to create a rhythm. The three then began the song a cappella, immediately showing off their tight harmonies and drawing cheers from the crowd.

After the opening section, the family picked up their instruments and continued the performance with full musical accompaniment. Audience members could be heard singing along and cheering throughout the song.

When it appeared the performance had ended, the crowd rose to its feet for a standing ovation. Judges Mel B and Sofía Vergara even stood up early, believing the song was finished, but The Sound surprised everyone by returning to an a cappella ending.

The judges were clearly impressed.

Mel B joked with the father about giving himself the “coolest” instrument in the band, the bass guitar, before praising the performance.

“Listen, I’m not really that big of a fan of country music, but this made me so happy,” she said. “Your harmonies were just perfection!”

Howie Mandel laughed about the fake ending, saying even the crew seemed to think the song was over and had started preparing to move the equipment.

Vergara called the audition “perfect” and predicted that viewers across America would fall in love with the trio.

Simon Cowell also had positive things to say, although he challenged the band to take more risks if they advance in the competition.

“Everyone’s going to like you. I mean, how could you not?” Cowell said. “But being honest, that was a very safe, nice audition. That’s the riskiest thing you could do.”

He encouraged The Sound to choose a more unexpected song in the next round and turn it into a country arrangement.

“Going forward, we have to go beyond safe,” Cowell added.

In the end, the family band received four yes votes, officially sending them through to the next stage of the competition.

Fans can watch the full audition when America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday night on NBC.