American Idol's Hollywood Week began Sunday night (March 24), with the contestants who made it through auditions vying for spots in the TV singing competition's live performance rounds. Nineteen-year-old Colby Swift didn't earn one of those, but he's walking away from his Idol experience in Luke Bryan's cowboy boots -- literally.

After his Hollywood Week performance, Bryan called Swift forward onstage and asked him to show his boots to the camera; the country star and American Idol judge had noticed that the aspiring artist's cowboy boots had big holes in the bottoms. Then, Bryan pulled his own boots off and gifted them to Swift.

"Those boots are made for walkin' to the next round," Bryan quipped. Although Swift was later eliminated during group performances, he's leaving California with one heck of a souvenir.

Texas boy Swift charmed Bryan during the audition rounds, and earned a ticket to Hollywood despite never having taking voice lessons or professional music lessons. For Hollywood Week, he selected "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," a song by Freddy Fender, a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock artist who found fame in the 1970s and '80s.

It was Swift's younger sister, he says, who first got him to try singing the song -- Fender's first No. 1 -- including its Spanish verse. He offered those lines up a cappella, earning a standing ovation from the judges, as well as cheers of approval from the crowd.

American Idol is currently in its second season on ABC, after being canceled by Fox following 15 seasons. Hollywood Week auditions continue on Monday night (March 25).

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