TYLER, Texas — Fritz Hager III made his way back to the Rose City to perform for his hometown audience who watched him thrive on American Idol.
His career started with just a casual conversation with his aunt
"And she was like, Fritz, you're not really doing much right now. But you're young, you don't have anything tying you down. So if you're gonna try something, you should do it now," said Hager.
And he did, Fritz auditioned in Austin and got a ticket for the next round.
"Just kind of a on the fly decision that, you know, I was fully prepared for nothing to come from it," said Hager.
But something did come from it, a lot in fact. Fritz sung his way into the top 5 spots on idol and says it was a great learning experience for his career.
"It's almost like training for like the industry. So learning how to work hard every single day non stop, you know, and I'm just supremely grateful for that entire experience. As difficult as it was at some points. It was all just so rewarding," said Hager.
Rewarding him and Tyler residents that cheered him on every week.
"To have anybody form this town and so good a national platform that can bring attention to where you’re from, I like that," said Sarah Eggleston, a Tyler resident.
Even visitors from outside of Tyler came to Stanley's to see Fritz perform tonight.
"He’s on my Spotify playlist a lot and I like his song hearts align,, I like that song a lot," said Josie Everage, a Shreveport resident.
For Fritz, the support he’s seen from the community is stunning to say the least.
"I came home and I did my show at true vine. And there were just so many people showing up to showing their support for me, and I it was so it was like overwhelming, you know, the amount of just love like from this community that's, you know, come to me. I'm so grateful for it," said Hager.
Philip Philips was Fritz’s inspiration when going into American idol, and he hopes he can be of inspiration to others to follow their dreams.
"If there's, if there's kids out there, you know, that saw me on the show, like I saw Phillip Phillips and, you know, want to pick up good guitar because of it. Start writing songs. I think that's amazing," said Hager.
Fritz told me he has some plans coming in the near future with new music coming out and he will also be performing at the Inaugural Rose City Music Festival in October. Below you can watch our post-show interview with Fritz.