Bo Bice, 'A Cat' Who Can Jam

'American Idol' Runner-Up On Career Highlights

(CBS) 
Fortunately for Bice, this was the first year that Fox increased its cut-off age from 24 to 28 years old. He made the age requirement by just a few months. And, he notes, every week he competed he was actually stunned to be still participating.

"It was really crazy," he says. "The hardest part for me was really seeing our friends go home each week. It really wasn't much of thinking that I was ever going to win it. I'm the cat that's most surprised to be sitting here today, trust me."

A musician his entire life, Bice was living off unemployment at the start of the show, after losing his job at a guitar store. Today, he has a contract with RCA.

He says, "I'm very excited, not only for the career that I'm about to kick off with the group I'm with, but when I say the word legitimate, I don't mean that taking away from anyone else. But to be a legitimate songwriter and legitimate musician who plays an instrument, 'American idol' was really not the foreground for that. So I think it's a vocal contest. She's an incredible vocalist, and she does a great job. So my gig is to write songs, and to jam them out."

He stood out, nevertheless, by singing a cappella, which had never been done before on "American Idol." Why did he do it?

"Lack of brains or intestinal fortitude. I'm not sure which one," he says with a smile. "It was cool, man. Every song I picked, I picked because I loved it. Somewhere along the way it touched me."

And during the finale he got the opportunity to perform with his idols - Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"Everybody who's in the show know my favorite all-time songwriter is Jim Croce. Lynyrd Skynyrd is my favorite all-time band. It was incredible."

Bice is thankful to his family for their support, especially to his mother and Granny Madge, who made many of the outfits he wore on the show.

"They're excited. I think they're looking forward to me getting home," he says. "I've been away from home for about four months now. So my mother's milking this like a dairy farmer. She and my grandmother are more celebrities than me."

As for the strangest things fans say to him on the street, Bice says, "Well, I've had, obviously, a few offers for marriage, children and things like that."

His "Idol" tour starts July 12 in Florida.

About rumors that he had aspirations to be in the movies, Bice says tongue-in-cheek, "I use deodorant. I don't aspirate."