Thunderstorm Artis performs soulful rendition of ‘Is This Love’

Hawaii-born Thunderstorm Artis’ skill at personalizing the hits of other artists was in full effect Monday night when he reworked Bob Marley’s reggae classic, “Is This Love,” as smooth acoustic soul in “American Idol” competition at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa in Ko Olina.

“Idol” filmed there in February, but it is the audience voting on Monday that will determine if Artis is one of the survivors when the field is cut from 24 to 20 on Sunday.

Performing for the “Idol” judges – Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood – “Artist in Residence” Jelly Roll, guest mentor and judge Josh Groban,and a hometown audience that included members of his extended family, Artis, 29, kept things simple and down-home. He wore a black tank top, military style camouflage pants, white athletic shoes, and a white baseball cap backwards. His guitar of choice was the one that’s covered with the names of friends who have supported his musical career all the way back to his early TikTok days. Artis’ lighting bolt guitar strap completed the outfit.

All three judges gave Artis a standing ovation. All three praised his performance.

Lionel Richie spoke first: “You have something extremely unique. Because just you, your voice and the guitar, your expression and your interpretation of a song, is just mind blowing. When you put the band with you, I’m so in love with what you do, man, I just want to tell you that was a great performance.”

Carrie Underwood said she was “blessed” to listen to Artis.

“Everybody here was just hanging on every single note, every single word,” she said. “I think about the people that are home watching, and every single time that you get to be on stage, a few more people are going to see you, hear you, and fall in love with you and what you’re doing and your artistry. I’m blessed to get to listen to you. We all are.”

Luke Bryan praised Artis’ command of the stage.

“You really know what you’re doing. You know what you’re doing with your guitar. You know what you’re doing with your voice, and you know how to make the song create the moment. I was sitting here and I was like, ‘I’m really in Hawaii, now!’ It felt like I was at some like Hawaiian music festival, and you were the headliner.”

The results of the voting will be revealed during the “Top 20” show on Sunday. Competition will go “live” with a live elimination on Monday.

For more information visit www.ABC.com/Shows/American-Idol