Sam Sparks gets an ‘Idol’ Golden Ticket to Hollywood for his performance of his original song, ‘Colorado Gray.’

Sam Sparks

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Disney/Eric McCandless)

Watch the ‘American Idol’ Contestant Who Used Music to Overcome a Life-Changing Injury

Sam Sparks gets an ‘Idol’ Golden Ticket to Hollywood for his performance of his original song, ‘Colorado Gray.’

The American Idol auditions continue on Sunday night with judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan making some final decisions as to who will go to Hollywood because there’s only two weeks until Hollywood Week begins on March 31.

A standout audition from Sunday night is 25-year-old Sam Sparks from Dardanelle, AK. He actually didn’t sign himself up, but was brought to the attention of the Idol producers by his best friend Malik. Sam underwent a life-changing event after breaking his back in a car accident, and it was music that helped him get through.

“Two years ago, I was headed to a shop that was two miles away. It was rainy, it was a little bit wet,” Sam recalls. “The vehicle had some kind of failure and lost control and blew off the road 35 yards or so and landed and then hit a parked car head-on. I couldn’t move my legs. I immediately knew that my back was broken, and that left me paralyzed from the waist down.”

Sam Sparks, Malik

Sam Sparks (L) and Malik (R)

Disney/Eric McCandless

“When I pulled up to the scene and saw Sam sitting in the car and hearing my best friend scream like that, that scream sets with me at all times,” Malik said. “I knew at that moment that his life was going to be different, but I knew music was going to get him through whatever he had to get through.”

And part of that was putting a guitar in Sam’s hospital room. Sam jokes that he couldn’t sing in his room because he was too loud, but he would go down to the parking garage at night and play there. It was also when he started writing songs.

With that said, Sam performed an original for the judges, “Colorado Gray.”

“I like the song,” Carrie said. “You’ve got a cool voice to go along with it. I think you definitely have something in here [points to heart] and in here [points to throat] that I would like to hear more of.”

“I would say with a gritty rock tone like yours but with those country acoustic instruments and those chord changes in the song, I love how your voice is yours and different than what we have,” Luke added.