The fourth season of America's Got Talent, an American television reality show talent competition, premiered on the NBC network on June 23, 2009. Country singer Kevin Skinner was named the winner on September 16, 2009. This season is the first season to be broadcast in high definition.

This season's host was Nick Cannon, who replaced Jerry Springer. Springer had said that he could not host due to other commitments. All Season 3 judges returned for the fourth season, despite rumors that Sharon Osbourne would be leaving the show.

Season 4 was David Hasselhoff's final season as a judge.

This season started broadcasting live on August 4, 2009.

Season 4 carries over Season 3's audition process. Out of the over 160 acts that passed through the preliminary auditions, 48 went on to perform in the live shows. This season, the callbacks were renamed "The Vegas Verdicts". Unlike previous seasons, the acts were not given a chance to perform a second time, unless prompted by the judges to as a challenge. The judges re-watched audition tapes and created a Top 40 based on the acts' preliminary performances, similar to the format used on sister show Britain's Got Talent. However, it was revealed during the first performance show that the judges, when prompted by executive producer Simon Cowell, called back eight acts that they previously had cut. This brought the total number of acts up to 48. Last season, the acts who passed through were divided into four groups, who performed over the course of two weeks with the acts who passed through from the previous night being announced before the next group of acts' performances. This year, each group in the Top 48 was divided into four groups of 12, but only one group performed per week, as a separate results show for the group aired the next day. This season was the first to feature results episodes lasting one hour on a weekly basis since Season 1.

America's Got Talent (also known as AGT or Got Talent) is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of one million dollars. The show debuted in June 2006 for the summer television season. From season three onwards, the prize includes the one million dollars, payable in a financial annuity over 40 years (or the present cash value of such annuity), and a show as the headliner on the Las Vegas Strip.

Among its significant features were that it gave an opportunity to talented amateurs or unknown performers, with the results decided by an audience vote. The format is a popular one and has often been reworked for television in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The current incarnation was created by Simon Cowell, and was originally due to be a 2005 British series called Paul O'Grady's Got Talent but was postponed due to O'Grady's acrimonious split with broadcaster ITV (later launching as Britain's Got Talent. As such, the American version became the first full series of the franchise.

Patrick Kevin Skinner (born February 25, 1974), better known as Kevin Skinner, is an American country music singer from the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky. He was the winner of the fourth season of America's Got Talent.

Skinner is from the Dublin community of Graves County. He began playing the guitar when he was 12 years old. He has been playing, writing, and singing his songs ever since he learned the art of music from his musician father, Joe, who is a fan of Hank Williams.^{[citation needed]} Skinner is married and has two children, a girl and a boy.

Kevin Skinner performed in a live audition on the August 4, 2009 episode of America's Got Talent. He became a fan favorite in the show after his performance of Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes".

Kevin received the $1 million prize, which was put into an annuity so it will be paid out over 40 years, and a headline show in Las Vegas, premiering in October 2009 and hosted by Jerry Springer. He performed "If Tomorrow Never Comes" on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on September 17, 2009.