On Wednesday, Texas native and 2010 ‘American Idol‘ finalist Casey James made an appearance on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ to perform the lead single from his self-titled debut, which just dropped March 20. Performing ‘Let’s Don’t Call It a Night’ for the studio and television audiences, James seemed quite relaxed and natural wielding his electric guitar with his band.

Introducing the 27-year-old talent, Ellen said she actually had a front row seat when James became famous on ‘Idol.’ Though the country guy with long, blonde curls didn’t finish first on the reality show, he placed third in season 9 of the show. In a recent interview with Taste of Country, James said he landed exactly where he wanted to.

“With all respect to the people that got first and second I’m sure they’re very happy with what they did, but I wouldn’t trade third for first or second any day of the week,” he said, “just because it allowed me the freedom to do what I needed to do with my album and it gave me the freedom to do the music I wanted.”

James’ debut album is an 11-track record featuring songs culled from the singer-songwriter’s life before, during and after his appearance on ‘Idol.’

Watch Casey James Perform ‘Let’s Don’t Call It a Night’ on ‘Ellen’

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