American Idol XIII Top 31 Contestant #9

I’ll be posting several American Idol Top 31 contestants previews every day in the run up to the American Idol XIII premiere on January 15.

Click for the FULL list of the American Idol XIII Top 31

Briston Maroney is only a high school student, but as a musician, he’s somewhat of a veteran, having been a member of a band called Subtle Clutch since he was in middle school.

The 4 person Knoxville, Tennessee, outfit sings Mumfordy-type folk music and have already put out a single titled “Railroad” on iTunes.

A local Knoxville blogger who just happened to come across them while they were busking in a park, was so impressed with the quartet, he ran back to his home to grab his camera to capture a performance.

Check out the bands Facebook and Youtube channel. I’ll post a few of their performances below.

But, of course, Briston is competing on Idol as a solo artist. His twitter feed reveals a bunch of retweets of a girl named Laura who is apparently his girlfriend. There’s a real cute series of photos that obviously went down when Briston found out he made the Top 31. She tweeted on Dec 21, so the dates line up. You can find more cute photos on Instagram.