Hope Johnson showed up on last night’s American Idol best of the rest auditions. Holly grew up poor, very poor. So poverty stricken that she used to bring home food from her school lunch tray to feed her brother at home.

Holly impressed the judges with her cheery attitude though, telling them:

“There’s always tomorrow, and things are always gonna be better. There’s a lot worse things than just going without.”

Hope sang ‘I Hope You Dance’ and the panel loved it.

“There’s something very interesting about you and your tone,” Kara DioGuardi said.

Randy Jackson added, “There’s a certain sort of innocence. You’ve got a beautiful tone to your voice, but you need to work on completing the phrases.”

We didn’t think she was the best voice we’d heard, but we were glad when she got 4 yeses and another chance to prove herself in Hollywood.