Mattie Pruitt
Mattie Pruitt is an American singer and musician from Eagleville, Tennessee, who was a finalist on American Idol season 23. She plays guitar and piano.
Early life and education
Mattie Pruitt was born to Sara Lytle and Justin Pruitt. She is from a blended family and has 12 siblings. They live in Eagleville, Tennessee, a town of 934. Justin and Eleanora Pruitt, Mattie's stepmother, run Middle Tennessee Traffic Management in Nolensville, a southern suburb of Nashville. Pruitt went to Barfield Elementary School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Rockvale Elementary School in Rockvale, Tennessee; and Christiana Middle School in Christiana, Tennessee.Lauren Alaina, who was runner-up on season 10 of American Idol, offered Pruitt some advice. Alaina told her to keep in mind that the judges have the same experiences as everyone else. Pruitt's influences include Jessie Murph to whom she refers as being a new artist, Teddy Swims, Chris Stapleton, Whitney Houston, Etta James, and Paramore. Pruitt talked about having met Jelly Roll in church; he was the in-house mentor for season 23 of American Idol.
Pruitt feels that her musical style is undefined and sometimes leans towards "classic music", which she defines as soul or country soul. She told WIS News Channel 20, "My grandparents are from there, my mom and all her siblings and cousins, they're all from Champaign. I visit them once or twice every year for…holidays…and along this journey, they've been really supportive." Pruitt said that her family enjoys Miranda Lambert's music; Lambert was a guest mentor for a week on season 23 of American Idol. Pruitt's mother, Sara Lytle, auditioned for American Idol when she was about 15.
Pruitt was joined on her audition for American Idol by Craig Campbell. She sang "How Could You?" by Jessie Murph. Campbell is a singer but played piano for the performance. He is a former bandmate of Luke Bryan, one of the American Idol judges. Pruitt began to post cover songs on TikTok when she was 11 and she has over 117 thousand followers there. Her snippets of songs covering Teddy Swims' "Lose Control", "Vienna" by Billy Joel, and "I See Red" by Everybody Loves an Outlaw have 3.5 million, 1.8 million, and 3.5 million views respectively on TikTok. She has a version of "Rise Up" by Andra Day on TikTok which has been viewed 1.7 million times.
Pruitt said that she was so excited to meet Miranda Lambert that she wanted to cry. After being voted by the public as one of the bottom two contestants of the top 8 show, Pruitt was saved from elimination by the two judges who tied for top place in the "Judges Song Contest"-themed episode. She finished in the top 7 of the contest, alongside Gabby Samone.
As of 2025, she is the youngest contestant by birth year to reach the finals of the show.