Chris Tungseth Honors His Late Dad with Original Song “Lonely Road” - American Idol 2026

Dang, this is so sick. Hey. Hello. This is crazy. So you're the last. You're the last audition. Isn't that crazy? That's crazy. You guys look majestic. Majestic? Yeah. Well, thanks. Your hair is majestic. It's a lot going on, but. I don't know if we've seen better hair, right? It's pretty awesome. All right, tell us who you are and where you're from. Yeah, my name is Chris Tunkseth. I'm 27 years old, and I'm from Fergus Falls, Minnesota. And what do you do up in Minnesota for work? Right now, I've been roofing houses. Quickest work in a small town is usually construction, so. Tell me a little bit about why he's here and what this audition means to Chris. Yeah. I mean, music's always been a part of our family. We grew up watching American Idol, and he's really turned to music as his way of getting his feelings off his chest. Tell us about growing up, your home life. Yeah. I just feel so fortunate. I'm so blessed. I've been given the greatest family in the world. Yeah. Growing up in Minnesota's the best. Like my childhood, it was so fun and so simple. My dad, he studied opera, and he was an opera singer, and then became a pastor and a worship leader. And my mom was a pianist. My siblings, we'd sing every holiday at church. Everything that we did was, like, together. But it started to take a turn. When I was 10 years old, my mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Hi. My mom was pretty aggressive. How are you? I'm good now. Right away, my mom was in and out of the hospital. She was four hours away. My dad would be traveling back and forth trying to take care of our family. He was gravity to us. He's the strongest person I've ever met. He was my best friend. He was my, kind of my foundation, the person I turned to for advice. 12 years after my mom's diagnosis, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia. Yeah, that was the worst thing I've ever had in my life. Like, Superman is no longer Superman, you know? My siblings moved home to help me take care of them. I mean, all of us put life on hold, but there was nothing else that we would have done. Like, that was honestly the biggest gift for us to be close to them. So I'm going to be singing Lonely Road that I wrote for dad. Love that. I mean, everyone says how much you look like dad and how much you resemble dad. Now, especially with him being gone, his legacy is now living through you, through your singing. Pops, I wish you were part of this. I wish you were here to see this thing go through, but I'm just going to be me, and I hope they see you through me. I hit the lonely road again. I missed my turn. I'm not the only one that's traveling, but I know that I'm far from home. I guess I had to learn the hard way. I know that you did, too. How come no one has directions when we've all been down that same road, too? I still have a million questions. Only you got answers to. I don't really think that I will care for them when I'm up in heaven with you. Press on. We're going to make it through. Hold on. I'm holding on to you, to you. I love everything about you. I love your presence. I love how open you are in the way you talk, communicate, and the way you sing, communicate. You have an incredible voice. It's powerful, and it's beautiful. It's masculine, and it's soft at the same time. You kind of have all the things. Just very impressive, the gift that you have to work with and the way that you work with it. Thank you. Part of your singing is going to be the things you say in between each song. You have a ministry, a real strong connection to people. Thank you. I was so touched by the fact that you said, I'm blessed, I'm grateful. There was a point in my life where I thought, my dad's dying, and my life's falling apart. There was a little aide over in the corner of the hospital, and I was talking to my dad. He was in and out of a coma. He said, you're very lucky. And I looked at him and said, what are you talking about? I said, he's in a coma. And he said, I was just thinking, I wish I had a dad to love as much as you have. Yeah. It's a gift to hurt so much, because it means that something was important there. Your ministry is right in place, man. Thank you. The timing of all this is the timing of it. Right, exactly. We're not in control of it. I had setbacks in my life that put my music career on hold, and I matured and grew up during those years. Yeah. It's really perfect to me, what you're doing. I've been in the room with Chris Stapleton a lot of times. You've got those little vibes going on. You've got that ability to whisper with soul and turn it up. You just got a lot of stuff going on. And don't be afraid to turn them loose. Yes, sir. Because we're going to be there every step of the way, encouraging you. Thank you, Luke. Lionel, what is your vote? Yes. Appreciate you. Absolutely, yes. Thank you. I think you're going to go really high in this competition. It's a yes. All the way from Minnesota. Come on. Oh, my god. Woo! You're so good. Thank you. That was amazing. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you. Woo!