The 18-year-old Cedar Party singer has made it to the top 24 of the high-rating contest and will perform live on air for the first time this Thursday.

And here’s where you come in.

After his performance, James needs the support of Wingham people to get him over the line.

So tune in, write down the phone number, vote early and vote often!

James’ mum Marie has spread the word around town, putting up posters in shops that ask residents to get behind our local contender.

His sister Shona has also been drumming up support online, establishing a fan group on the social networking site facebook.com

As of yesterday, the group had 1010 members.

James's whole family has headed to Sydney to cheer him on during the live telecast.

Sunday night’s episode showed James navigating his way through the gruelling top 100 phase.

He faltered in the first challenge when a clearly nervous James started his song two keys too high. Halfway through his performance, his voice cracked.

He recovered from this setback and impressed during his final performance on day three. James performed the John Mayer song No Such Thing in front of 1000 screaming fans, with a Sony music panel and Delta Goodrem watching.

James admitted to Idol co-host Ricki-Lee Coulter that his chances were “up in the air” before he fronted the judging panel of Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Ian “Dicko” Dickson.

“To be honest, your live performance was... okay,” Marcia told James. “You need to really believe in yourself, because it is a ‘yes’ from us.”

Marie said she is confident of her son's chances of winning through to the top 12.

“It depends on how relaxed he is on the night,” Marie said. “If we can see the relaxed James belting out his songs, then he'll do great. We're crossing our fingers.”