FORESTVILLE SINGER WOWS 'IDOL' JUDGES: OUT OF TV SHOW'S 72,000 HOPEFULS, DAVID LUNING ONE OF 212 MOVING ON

You can officially remove the "small-town" label from David Luning's resume.

Yes, he is from Forestville -- population 3,300, give or take -- and still lives there.

Yes, he went to Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm -- enrollment approximately 350, and that's preschool through high school.

And, yes, he promotes himself through social media. As of noon Thursday, he had 2,038 likes on his Facebook page. Today, that number is likely to increase immensely.

Why?

On Thursday night's second show of Season 13 of "American Idol," Luning performed an original song in front of judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick, Jr., and he received their approval and a gold ticket to move on to the next round of the competition.

Wednesday's season-opening show was watched by about 18 million viewers, and that number wasn't expected to drop much Thursday night.

"Afterward, Keith (Urban) told me he liked my song and he would buy my record," Luning said. "That was pretty cool.

"The entire process was kind of a blur," he admitted. "I mean, auditioning in front of three superstars like that ... it was really, really cool."

After getting the judges' approval, he did the obligatory walk off the set and into the jubilant arms of mom Kathy, dad Michael and aunt Paulette Luning.

And the show, which was taped last fall, happened to air on David's 27th birthday.

He now has crossed three enormous hurdles in the "Idol" journey, which means he has progressed further on the show than any previous Sonoma County singer.

Luning, who performs frequently around Sonoma County, went to last summer's tryout at AT&T Park in San Francisco. "I got there at 4 a.m. that day, and it was cold. I was way out in the outfield when I performed," he recalled.

He was called back for a second tryout a month later and then was picked for Thursday's show.

At the seven audition sites scattered around the country, 72,000 singers tried out, and 212 gold tickets were awarded.

Luning has one of those.

Now what happens as "Idol" weaves its way to a May 21st finale that will be held at New York City's Madison Square Garden for the first time?

Much of Season 13 already has been recorded but hasn't aired, and Luning can't divulge how things turn out.

The show turns live when it reaches the Hollywood stage. In the past, there have been earlier elimination rounds in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, but that may change this season.

According to TV Guide, in December judges and contestants were reunited at Santa Monica Airport's Barker Hanger, where they faced a surprise round of eliminations. The round apparently was added as a makeover for the show's middle-of-the-season episodes, which typically have been the lowest rated.

"In this first portion, the contestants have actually gotten better as a whole and there is less crumbling," "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest told TV Guide. "They've been more impressive than we thought when we first met them."

Luning, who was born in Santa Rosa, moved to Cotati, then Camp Meeker and finally Forestville. After finishing at Summerfield Waldorf in 2005, he spent a couple of years at UC Santa Cruz before attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

"I majored in music and electronic film scoring at Berklee for a couple years," he said. His career path then swerved to "Americana" music.

"It's like Mumford and Sons," said the accomplished acoustic guitar, harmonica and bass player. "Folk, rock, country."

So, how did his "Idol" journey start in the first place? "I hadn't even thought about it," he admitted, "but my mom kept encouraging me to try out. I'm glad she did. It's a great way to get your music out there."

You can visit Luning's website

at davidluning.com and follow

"American Idol" with daily updates

on Bill Pinella's "Idol" chatter blog, idol.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.