American Idol Week 9 - Country Week

I am 7 for 15

Or as Karin Tabke would say, “OH.MI.GAWD. Sanjaya sings with a country accent.” I think that translates in to, “Lord have mercy on us all.”

Martina McBride is one of my favorite country singers, and if you wonder from where I speak put on her Christmas album and listen to Oh, Holy Night I dare you to listen only once. Wow, she is breath taking. Her song Concrete Angel, released in 2006 is heart breaking and beautiful. So I was pleased to read McBride would be mentoring the American Idol wannabees this week. And while she wasn’t bad, except for in one or two instances I didn’t see where she really gave much critique to her mentorees. But then that tends to be the case for more mentors on AI. How sad, so bad. Come on guys it should be more than just a photo op.

We’ll get to the break down in a minute, but first some 2006 American Idol Alum news. Bucky Covington fans will rejoice to know their favorite country son has released his self titled debut. Covington gets some help from Sawyer Brown’s Mark Miller, who not only appeared on the set but produced. Covington’s first single, Different World is still in the chart's top forty (which translates into somewhere outside of the top 10.)

Elliot Yamin’s self titled debut effort sits atop the Independent Album charts. His first two singles Moving On and Waiting For You are radio ready with an infectious sound that will have you tapping your feet and memorizing the words.

Chris Daughtry remains at number one on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts with It’s Not Over for it’s eighth week. Carrie Underwood has just hit number one on the Hot Country Tracks chart with her single Wasted (her fourth number one Country hit.) And of course Underwood dominated the ACM awards Monday night for the second year in a row. Her song Before He Cheats won the top "CMT Music Awards Video of the Year" and the "Female Video of the Year" while the video also snagged a win for the "Video Director of the Year" for director Roman White.

It has been a good year for American Idol.

So back to this week and our American Idol wannabees. How did they stack up in my humble opinion? Hmmm It was a mixed bag at best. There were those who absolutely shined, those who were abominable, and then there was Sanjaya. Codeine anybody?

Phil, kicked off the evening with a cover of Keith Urban’s Where the Black Top Ends. My favorite Keith Urban cut, it’s not the first time it’s been covered on AI, in 2003 Carmen Rasmussen sang it as her Country offering, and then in 2005 the song was done as a group performance. How did Phil Stacy do? Wow, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t like the ending, but Phil really nailed the song, he looked happy, comfortable, and in his groove.

BTW did you see Simon grab Paula’s nose during Phil’s performance?

Jordin Sparks, every Tuesday evening I look forward to seeing what this mind boggling talent is going to perform. She became everything a singer should be when singing A Broken Wing. Wow, she became the song – in tone, voice, and emotion. I was blown away, and didn’t she look fabulous? I want that dress. Every week when Simon says, “For just 17…” I think of the Janis Ian song, At Seventeen. But in the Jordin Sparks version it’s all about being a winner.

In every year of American Idol someone has gotten up and covered Bonnie Raitt’s Something to Talk About. This year it has actually be done a few times, and the only person who has ever nailed it was Sabrina earlier in the season and she’s gone. The reason she is gone sang it tonight, err, wrong choice of words, caterwaul his way through the song making me rue the song having ever been written. Ugh. The absolute worst performance of the night.

Before the judges give their comments and critiques I jot down my thoughts really fast so I won’t be influenced by what they say. I’m always surprised when my thoughts differ so vastly from theirs. And proud when my thoughts are close to theirs. The next two really under score this.

Lakisha covered Carrie Underwood’s Jesus Take The Wheel. I liked the start of the song, you could tell Kiki related to the first verse. But then came the chorus and the whole thing fell apart for me. Kiki needs to learn to tone down her power - She was too much for the song.

Chris chose Rascal Flatt’s Mayberry. His performance was nasally and it didn’t work for me. During the critiques after Simon commented, Chris said it was suppose to be nasally, that is a singing style. Well nasal isn’t a singing style and I thought he was being defensive, until I watched the recap at the end and realized that he was trying to sound just like Gary Levox…and failed.

Melinda sang Julie Reeves Trouble Is A Woman. While I have heard of Julie Reeves, I’d never heard of the song. What I have to say about the performance is this. Melinda shouldn’t sing country, but what she did do is take the song, make it her own and have a hell of a good time. I thought the song and Melinda were entertaining – when I wasn’t thinking how hideous that top was – but I didn’t care for the ending.

Beat Box Blake covered When The Stars Go Blue, while it was country week and they were all thinking he was covering Tim McGraw the wascally wabbit was really covering Bono’s interpretation of the same hit two years yearlier. For the most part I liked his performance, but it had some really rough spots for me. And Dude! You don’t wear argyle during Country Week, I mean that is just begging for fashion bad karma.

I voted for Jordin, like a gizillion times tonight, that is why I am late getting this online. Please forgive me, but it was important. Like Ryan says, vote to keep your favorite in the contest.
Tonight I thought Jordin stole the show, I agree with Simon she has a shot to win this, but the other person holding the cards is Melinda.

Tonight I give my kudos to…
♫ Jordin
♫ Melinda
♪ Phil gets this week’s honorable mention the guy rocked it.

And please I’m getting really tired of writing Sanjaya’s name here as the TOTAL loser, but because he’s still here that makes us, the unhappy viewers at home the losers. Please vote for your favorites. A.LOT.

Sith