Country Night No No's

I will admit that I was very excited for this week’s show as one of my favorite country artists, Martina McBride, was mentoring the remaining seven. However, once the show began all that quickly faded.

I guess those of us that listen to and like country music understand that it takes a certain type of singer, someone who really wants to be singing country music, to actually pull it off. Martina said it herself, that country music is basically story telling and I believe that if you do not understand the ‘hook’ as the industry likes to call, you really do not understand country music at all. The judges provided heaps of praise for song choices last night, but I was not impressed at all. There are probably at least a hundred better country songs that could have been performed last night, Clint Black, Reba McIntire, George Strait, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, Faith Hill, the list goes on. I didn’t like any of the song choices with the possible exception of Blake’s selection of Tim McGraw. To be honest I wasn’t impressed by any of the performances or even the show itself last night.

The talk of today seems to be that only two of the remaining seven performed well based on public opinion. I say that all seven have an equal chance of being sent home tonight and not because they necessarily performed poorly. But let’s recap anyway!

Phil started the evening off by singing his version of Keith Urban’s ‘Where the Blacktop Ends” and received rave reviews from the judges. Randy even noted that Phil ‘could have a career in country music’. Ack! For me it was boring and bland and not what country music is even remotely about.

Jordin followed Phil with Martina McBride’s ‘Broken Wing”. For me this song is one of those that I needed to listen to maybe 20-30 times before I came around to it. Sorry Jordin, I wasn’t moved or entertained. The judges however fawned all over it and gave her solid remarks. Again I just wasn’t feeling it.

Sanjaya. What the hell was on your head? Not a good look bro! His performance was terrible. I felt bad for Bonnie Raitt. He started out fine but just lost it somewhere in the performance. Simon was especially cruel stating the ‘vocal was utterly useless.” I needn’t say more.

Lakisha performed Idol superstar, Carrie Underwood’s ‘Jesus Take the Wheel’. Again I felt like it was another lackluster, sedated, performance. This song was huge for C.U. and Lakisha just didn’t do it justice. The judges were not overly thrilled either. But Lakish’a boot choice was very interesting. I guess that was the country part of her performance.

I held out hope that Chris would bring something to the show tonight that no one had yet up to that point. Disappointed again! He chose Rascal Flats’ ‘Mayberry’, and I tell ya I didn’t even recognize it at first. Probably the most awkward moment of the show occurred when Chris and Simon were bantering one second and Chris was giving condolences the next. Chris you tried to get tough with Simon, but he was right, you were nasally and performed badly. Take it like a man! No pun intended.

Melinda gave what the judges quipped as another ‘solid’ performance. But again, I just didn’t get any country feel from her performance. I’m beginning to wonder if any of the remaining seven really were excited for the country show? Her ‘Trouble is a Woman’ was a good choice, it just didn’t make me feel all ‘down home like.’

Blake sang Tim McGraw’s ‘Stars go Blue’. Blake kept it in his sort of comfortable style. He was smooth and melodic but definitely could have powered out some more of the chorus. Randy and Paula really liked and felt that he had chosen a good arrangement. Simon however said he ‘wasn’t jumping out of his seat or anything.’

That’s basically how I felt about the entire show. It was nothing to write home about and definitely not as country as I would have liked. We will see who goes home tonight. Stay tuned.

TV Tim