It’s Country Week on Idol, Randy Travis is the mentor and we get to listen to Simon critiquing songs that he doesn’t understand to begin with.
Tonight, I’m following along with a song spoiler list I found on the internet. It will be interesting to see how many they get right. According to the list, Megan had a bit of a “wardrobe malfunction” during dress rehearsal so her song didn’t appear on the list. But some of my favorites are on the list and I hope this group does the Opry proud.
On with the small talk and introductions so we can get to the performances already!
Michael Sarver “Ain’t Going Down til the Sun Comes Up” (Garth Brooks) – This is a fast fast song and as someone who has performed it before, I can vouch for its toughness. And note the date on your calendar because I’m going to quote Simon. This is like a bad karaoke performance. And I’ve seen more than a few bad karaoke performances in my life.
Allison Iraheta “Blame it on Your Heart” (Patty Loveless) – Great start, bringing out the attitude this song calls for. The rocker girl almost reminds me of a younger Carrie Underwood tonight. Love the performance.
Kris Allen “To Make You Feel My Love” (Garth Brooks) – Mentor Randy Travis says Kris made this song his own. That may be, and to some an extent I would agree. But Kris’ performance tonight just felt like cookie-cutter country to me. He sounds good, but I can turn on my radio at any given time and hear the exact same sound. With that out of the way, I’ll say…well done, Kris. It was one of his better performances so far.
Lil Rounds “Independence Day” (Martina McBride) – Lil has the pipes to blow the roof off the place with this one, so I’m a little concerned to hear that she’s planning on holding back. Maybe that’ll work for her…let’s see. Well…I thought it was good, but perhaps too restrained, if that’s possible. Not the best song choice, I think. Paula nailed it in her critique – the second verse lost me. I was ready to hear her bust into the chorus, but no, she took the second verse instead.
Adam Lambert “Ring of Fire” (Johnny Cash) – Randy Travis is scared. Can’t say that I blame him, LOL! Oh my…To quote Randy, I don’t know what to say. Adam, I’m a fan and all, but not tonight big guy. This could be a judge’s save situation, but I think Adam’s fans will pull him through. I guess it depends on your point of view. For the country purists, I’ll agree with Simon. This was garbage. But I also think it was done in a style that Adam’s true fans will love.
Scott MacIntyre “Wild Angels” (Martina McBride) – Randy didn’t care for this one either at first, but it sounded like Scott won him over. Right off the bat, I’m still not sure about this. It starts out as a slowed down version, but then he picks up the tempo a little bit and it starts to kick. Not bad. I give it a thumbs up.
Alexis Grace “Jolene” (Dolly Parton) – Based on Randy’s recorded comments, I’m trying not to look at the tv and just listen to Alexis’ performance. Wow…It as if I’m listening to a blend of Dolly all over again. I loved this one, even though I find myself agreeing with Simon’s comments. Hopefully, though the “dirty girl” will be back next week…
Danny Gokey “Jesus Take the Wheel” (Carrie Underwood) – Off the bat, this one makes me nervous. Anytime a guy wants to do one of Carrie’s songs, I think “uh oh - train wreck”. And unfortunately for Danny, I think that’s what we’ve got. The studio audience liked it, but it just didn’t sound right to me, and even a little boring. If it comes down to it, I think the judges will save him.
Anoop Desai “You Were Always on my Mind” (Willie Nelson) – He impressed Randy in the mentoring session and he impressed me too. I think Anoop just punched his ticket to the Idol tour, and not to sit in the audience either.
Megan Joy Corkery “Walking After Midnight” (Patsy Cline) – Well, I like it better than last week’s Rockin’ Robin. But I don’t think it was good enough to beat some of the others we’ve heard tonight.
Matt Giraud “So Small” (Carrie Underwood) – Oh boy…here we go again. Blah blah blah. The judges liked him, I thought it was so-so.
So who’s my bottom 3? Michael Sarver, Megan Corkery, and (gasp!) Adam Lambert. Oh relax, you know as well as I do Adam will be safe and someone else shocking, possibly Danny, will be in the bottom 3. Either way, I think that person will be safe, Megan will get the sympathy vote and Michael will be heading out, narrowly missing the tour.
Of course, I could be wrong.
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