"I like the feel of country," he said. "I played the melody and wrote words and did the chords on the piano. I wrote it and let it sit for a while."

On the way home from a songwriter workshop, Smith listened to the song.

"It was funny because the workshop encouraged us to rewrite our songs," he said. "I came up with a different melody and new lyrics."

He sent his song off to a producer in Nashville who took care of hiring the musicians.

"His name is Gary Carter," Smith said. "The person who sang the leads is a friend of mine named Logan Pepper.

"Anyway, I got everything on an MP3 for under $500," Smith said. "And I submitted the MP3 two days before the deadline to the 'American Idol' people."

Two weeks later, Smith received a call saying his song was chosen as a finalist.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "The only requirement is that the songwriter doesn't have a full-time writing contract. So, my song is in the competition with professional songwriters who write for a lot of people, but not part of a publishing firm."

Fans can vote for Smith's song "You Believed in Me" on songwriter.americanidol.com until Wednesday.

"This proved to me that anyone can do something if they put their mind to it," Smith said. "Dreams can happen."

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com