Mathews native Matt Sease made his national TV debut last night, auditioning in Kansas City, Mo., in front of celebrity judges Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban on “American Idol.”

Sease’s journey onto the Idol stage started this past summer when the show’s bus tour came to Richmond, where Sease, a Virginia Commonwealth University business student, currently lives.

“I don’t even know how it really happened,” Sease said of his first audition in Richmond. “I wasn’t going to audition,” he added. “I had heard so many nightmares about how the auditions were.”

Sease said he didn’t decide to show up to audition for the show until 3 o’clock the morning before the auditions began.

According to Sease, the start time for auditions that day was 9 a.m. “I said I’d get up about six and be there by seven, wait in line and do it.”

However, he couldn’t fall asleep. “I j...