A homecoming concert Friday evening was more than just a chance for Triston Harper to entertain his home community. It was a chance to see just how much his star turn on “American Idol” meant for the folks back at home.
Had Harper made it to “Idol’s” May 19 finale, Alabama might have had an incredible trifecta: Bryson McGlynn of Auburn won “Masterchef Junior” on Monday and Asher HaVon of Selma won “The Voice” on Tuesday. But reaching the Top 5 on “Idol” was a huge accomplishment for the 15-year-old from McIntosh, and it brought rare national attention to his tribe, the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.
Friday’s festivities were a chance to acknowledge the importance of that exposure, and to do so on home ground, the MOWA reservation in Mount Vernon on the north edge of Mobile County (The MOWA name is derived from Mobile and Washington counties.)
Harper’s grandfather, Perry Carl Rivers, said the blessing over a pre-concert meal in a MOWA meeting hall. Before the prayer, he said that when Harper was a young child he’d said God had told him that his name would be in lights some day. Rivers also shared some counsel he’d given his grandson more recently. Harper asked him what he thought about him taking a shot at “Idol.” Rivers said he’d told Harper, “Your granddaddy’s been working hard for 72 years, and you see what I’ve got. … Go for it. You might be criticized. You might be talked about. But when you put those $100 bills in your pocket, don’t worry about it.”
Rivers said that Harper had responded, “Pop, do you love money?”
“I said, ‘No sir, but I sure like what it can buy,” Rivers said. “And you know, when you pull that F-150 up to the pump, put $90 worth of gas in it, love don’t pay for it. You got to have some money.”
Tribal Chief Lebaron Byrd joked of Harper that “he’s got more following him than I have as chief.”
On a more serious note, Byrd said that as he had traveled to Montgomery and elsewhere in the state, everyone who heard he represented the MOWAs was quick to say they were following Harper’s “Idol” run and voting for him.
“So I know all over the state of Alabama, you’ve been having a lot of people to follow you,” he said. “I think you’re doing an excellent job. And I want to echo what your granddad just said, that I feel like what you did on national TV, you served God. You don’t have many young people that do that. And so you did a great job.”
Jacob Snow, chair of the MOWA Housing Authority, was quick to mention he and Harper were cousins. “We’re very proud of Triston,” he said. “He’s been doing a great work for our community and I can attest to what Dr. Byrd has stated.”
Another affirmation came from state Rep. Brett Easterbrook, R-Fruitdale. “If you watched the Legislature … you were talked about significantly on the floor during legislative session,” he said. He encouraged Harper to be wary of the pitfalls of fame and fortune and to represent the tribe well.
“It was getting a lot of attention,” he said. “Now everybody knows the MOWA name.”
Harper himself expressed gratitude to the event’s sponsors and to the community in general.
“I want to thank everybody that I know -- you know, my town, my people, just everybody who had the courtesy and the heart to look at me and see, you know what I went through, and that y’all had a heart to really help me out,” said Harper. (During his “Idol” audition, he described how he and his mother had endured hardship and homelessness.)
“I just want to say I love you all and thank y’all for putting all this together just for me,” he said. “You know, I’d never have thought in a million years I’d be standing here, [having] a concert right here in Mount Vernon, Alabama, and that my people would be here to support me 100%. I’m just gonna say I love you all and thank you all.”
The same spirit flowed through the concert itself, with Harper expressing his gratitude to a crowd of hundreds of people. His performance was brief, but he included several of the songs he’d performed on “Idol:” After opening with the Travis Tritt hit “T.R.O.U.B.L.E.,” he performed the Blake Shelton tune “God’s Country” and the Elvis Presley classic “Heartbreak Hotel.” He also got to his original song “H.O.P.E. (Hold On, Pain Ends),” which was released as a single after he made the “Idol” Top 5.
The show concluded with Harper bringing it full circle, inviting his grandfather up to the stage. Rivers spoke about terrible injuries he’d suffered when he was hit by a truck many years earlier. He’d been told he’d never walk again, and he attributed his recovery fully to God. He told the crowd they were looking at “a walking, talking miracle.”
“I wish I could get this crowd in the church house,” he said.
Harper stepped to the side while Rivers sang “Waiting for the Messiah,” then the two sang together on “I Was There When It Happened,” a faith-themed song performed by Johnny Cash and many others.
Rivers said it was a song “we used to do before he got way better than me.”
It was clear that Harper had the stronger voice, hands down. But in this homecoming concert, it was just as clear where that strength came from.
Celebrations were to continue on Saturday, May 25. A parade was planned for noon in McIntosh. That was to be followed at 5 p.m. by a tribal Pow Wow in Harper’s honor at the MOWA reservation at 1080 West Red Fox Road in Mount Vernon. The event is free and open to the public; visitors are welcome to bring lawn chairs and blankets, but coolers and alcoholic beverages are not allowed.
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