American Idol auditions

She wasn’t wearing a costume, but a woman sitting in the W’s Living Room lounge was sporting a T-shirt that read “I support Krista Branch” and matched one worn by her husband. Krista is their granddaughter, she explained.

She and her husband drove in from Palestine to support Krista, who herself had driven down from Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and three children.

“She’s been singing her whole life, mostly church music. But she’s singing a song by Faith Hill today – I don’t think church music would go over so well for this.”

Tom Maurstad