Hockenberry Performs Live Tuesday Night on ‘America’s Got Talent’

Mill Valley singer-songwriter Tim Hockenberry stands on the precipice of a potentially life-changing event.

He performs live Tuesday night on America’s Got Talent on NBC from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, hoping to impress judges Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel and voters across the country to advance from the show’s Top 48 contestants to the semifinals. At stake are a $1 million prize and a headlining slot on a 25-city national tour.

As a 50-year-old musician whose career has ebbed and flowed over several decades and a number of personal challenges, Hockenberry acknowledges the gravity of the moment, but has a decidedly healthy dose of perspective on the whole thing.

“It’s been a thrilling ride so far, but at the end of the day, I’m not saving lives here,” Hockenberry says with a laugh from Newark. “I’m really looking forward to this. I love everybody in Mill Valley and I can’t wait to see my kids on Thursday.”

Hockenberry can’t say what song he plans to perform Tuesday night (NBC, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. PT), but after blowing away the judges with renditions of Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” and Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” he’s promising a more modern tune.

“I don’t want to be labeled as the guy that does nothing but yesterday’s hits,” he says. “So I’ve created another bookend. It was a song that was written in this century.”

Hockenberry – and his friends, family and supporters in Mill Valley – will find it out if he advances Wednesday night on NBC at 9 p.m. PT. But he's already got noted follower of the show predicting he'll win. In ranking the top 10 contenders to win the $1 million prize, AGTNews.com concluded: "We’ve learned this from the past four seasons: most AGT voters are in the Heartland of America — and they love male solo singers. Tim has an amazing voice and a powerful back story. America will rally behind him. It is Tim’s contest to lose."

Hockenberry’s journey on the massively popular talent show began in January, when a local booking agent offered to let him take her place in front of one of the show’s preliminary audition panels.

“I thought I was way too old for these talent shows but my (9-year-old) daughter (Lola) talked me into it,” Hockenberry says. “We went through the auditions together.”

Just a few weeks later, after he waited for nearly three hours while performers in an almost comically diverse array of mediums did their thing, Hockenberry performed “You Are So Beautiful” in front of the three judges and a packed audience of “crazy San Franciscans” at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

By all accounts, Hockenberry killed it, with Stern calling him “a breath of fresh air” and saying, “It was moving and you’re different and I love you.”

“You are a phenomenal talent,” Mandel added. “Sir, your life is about to change. You are being born her tonight on America’s Got Talent as a star.”

Before Hockenberry’s life changed any more, he jumped on the road with the Mickey Hart Band, or as he calls it, “the Mickey Hart death march,” with a 15-member band packing into a bus that slept 12 for a marathon set of dates in which Hockenberry sang most of the vocals and played trombone.

When an exhausted Hockenberry returned to the Bay Area, he headed to Las Vegas for the next round of America’s Got Talent in the antithesis of the adrenaline-laden SF audition. Hockenberry performed the McCartney track, with Macca’s permission via email, in an empty room with just Stern, Osbourne and Mandel in front of him.

“Vegas was very intimidating because there was no audience – just me, the judges and a bunch of cameras,” Hockenberry says. “That was the most nerve-racking.”

After that, Hockenberry declined playing with Hart for the , hoping to relax a bit before heading to Newark. He has a regular Tuesday night gig at the Broadway Grill in Burlingame, but otherwise has kept it low-key in recent weeks, spending time with his girlfriend Bronwyn, his newborn daughter Sonia, Lola and his two sons, 16-year-old Max and 18-year-old Jack.

Hockenberry did his soundcheck for the show Sunday and spent much of Monday getting prepared for the big night.

“I’m excited to put this night behind me – it’s been nerve racking,” he says. “

The 411: Tim Hockenberry performs on America’s Got Talent Tuesday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on NBC, and finds out if he advances on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Voting info here and at the end of Tuesday night's show. Hockenberry then performs with Tal Morris and Vince Littleton at on July 21 at 8 p.m. Click here for tickets and more info.