Country Week With Dolly - 4/1/08

:D Hello all and welcome to another week of American Idol. Ryan once again in a suit (He sure looks like an executive alot lately) says it is time for our Tuesday Night Fix and he is so right. Intros to our judges follow with Randy in gray, Paula looking quite lovely in her flowered flock and of course our Simon in his usual black shirt. I swear all of his shirts look the same only in different colors. Oh well, let's get to the show.

You have to give it up for Dolly Parton still looking great after 40 years in the business but of course she probably has had some work done but for 61 years old she is still a force to be reckoned with. This rural Tennessee girl has certainly had tons of success not only with her own career but imagine having penned over 3000 songs. What a delight seeing her tonight mentoring the contestants. While I am not big into country music I have to say in many ways tonight was quite entertaining. Loved that first meeting with the gang and singing "9 To 5". You could tell the contestants really liked her as she did them.

: First up to sing is Brooke White doing a basic acoustic version of Dolly's song "Jolene" released in 1974. Keeping in mind that this is a song about a girl stealing Dolly's man I felt Brooke seemed too happy during the song with all the smiling. However for the first time I was not bored by her performance. I think if she does get a contract, the country genre would be the way to go for her. Randy did notice some pitch problems (they were small ones), Paula went into a long drawn out speech about Brooke knowing who she is but did like it and Simon thought it lacked emotion. From the actual storyline of this song, yes Brooke kind of blew it with the smiling but overall it was alright. The praise fest between Brooke and Paula was a little over the top I think. My grade: B

David Cook is next and before his song does talk some about the covers he has done of other people however tonight's arrangement of the 2001 release of "Little Sparrow" is all his. Dolly loved it. Also singing with a guitar I was most impressed with the range that David showed during this song. Probably not as stellar as some of his other performances but I did like it and I honestly think he could have a hit with this song. Randy called it hot, Paula loved his haircut and thinks he is well-rounded with Simon saying not as good as last week but he thought it was good. I have to add that he did look better with the new haircut. My grade: B+

Ramiele Malubay is so cute but that outfit she wore looked kind of bizarre singing country. Doing Dolly's "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" from the 1982 album Heartbreak Express she starts off I thought a little rough but when she hits the big notes you can see this girl has so much potential she keeps hiding from us. True she did have some pitchy notes as mentioned by Randy but overall it was okay. Paula thought she connected with the audience however Simon thought it was cute but only worthy of being on a cruise ship. My grade: B-

Before he sings Ryan lets Jason Castro know he has many postcards from the same girl. She mostly feels his voice just melts the tension away. He is singing "Travelin Thru" off the 2006 Transamerica soundtrack and once again is playing his guitar. Dolly calls him funky looking but in reality it seems like he is singing the same song every week. I know I have said this before but honestly can he not change it up some. While singing he sounded to me like he was running out of air. Randy noticed the rough start but thought it was pretty good. Paula calls it one of his strongest performances (wrong Paula, it is the same all the time) and Simon flat out said he didn't like it. For me, his glow has definitely worn off. My grade: C

In spite of her ugly outfit especially those red tights Carly Smithson does a wonderful job with the 1977 hit "Here You Come Again". This is one song that was actually written by Barry Mann as mentioned by Dolly. Carly showed greatness I thought with this song. Her pitch was perfect and loved the big note. Randy thought it was hot and one of the best performances of the night. Paula calls her glorious however old sourpuss Simon thought it was good but not great. He then of course talks a lot about Carly's outfit since he does not like it. This was the only part of his remarks I agreed with. However I thought her singing was awesome. My grade: A

I am always amazed how rich and beautiful the voice of David Archuleta has. Tonight I just loved it as he sang "Smokey Mountain Memories". While Dolly did write this song, originally it was released by Roy Acuff in 1975. She did sing it on her 2004 album entitled "Live and Well", however I felt David made you really feel the emotion of the song. All the judges were impressed with Simon saying it was right on the money. If this kid releases a cd of ballads it would be a huge seller I think. Regardless I know for a fact I will be buying his music. My grade: A

Our country singer Kristy Lee Cook did look quite beautiful tonight in her outfit however I thought her hair should have been down to give off the total country look. Doing "Coat of Many Colors" released in 1979, she does a pleasant version of the song. Dolly thinks she made it her own but to me it sounded very much like the original. Randy thought it was a good song choice for her, Paula calls it her best performance with Simon saying pleasant but forgettable. Uh oh, I wrote the same thing down while she was singing. Gee I hate agreeing with Simon. I doubt she will be in danger this week especially since she blew a kiss to Simon (snotty I thought) but of course the country vote will keep her in. My grade: B

Syesha Mercado also looked beautiful tonight and as I thought she is singing "I Will Always Love You". She does a mixture of the country version with the Whitney Houston version. I did not care for the country part but once she got into the second half of the song, she sounded great to my ears. Both Randy and Paula liked it but Simon thought she made a mistake sounding like Whitney in the second half. I totally disagree with that statement. Overall, she did quite well I think. My grade: B+

Just a little trivia about Syesha's choice. I was surprised to find that after Dolly released this song as a single in 1974, that Elvis Presley actually wanted to do a cover of it. She turned him down because he wanted the copyright. It was not until 1992 that the song was featured in the movie "The Bodyguard" with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner and once again it struck gold. In March of 2007 United World Chart ranked Houston's cover of the song the most successful single by a female artist. This single alone by Houston sold over 10 million copies. WOW!

Now back to our final performer of the night. Michael Johns is singing "It's All Wrong, But It's Alright" released in 1977. When I heard him singing this with Dolly I groaned however when he got on stage I just fell in love with the bluesy vibe he gave as he performed it. This makes two weeks running that I have finally been impressed with this Aussie. Randy thinks he brings it up a knotch every week with Paula loving it and Simon calling it his best performance. I so agree. My grade: A

Overall a good night for our contestants with only Ramiele and Jason not doing their best in my opinion. I will be surprised if they do not make the bottom 3. Who's the third, good question as I felt the others did fairly well with of course Carly, David A. and Michael being the best for me personally.

What do you think?

another great review CC,

I thought last night was OK, not a country fan but who doesn't love Dolly P? Her personality alone is a delight and she is always so upbeat and happy and you are so right, about her being as good today as she was 40 years ago.

I did not like Brookes performance, (sorry Brooke fans) I thought she sang it to slow and it was just boring to me, JMO

David C, I didn't know this song so not sure how it was done orginally but for him I think it was again to slow, it's not his style and again to me the judges praise was a little over the top

Ramielle- I was so hoping that she'd step up her game this week, she is as you say cute as a button and she does have a great voice but for some reason she is really struggling lately, I honestly think the girl is homesick.

Jason- Ok heres were we differ, I liked Jasons performance, I thought it suited his voice and i really thought he did a good job with the song, I personally thought it was the best of the night or almost anyway JMO

Carly- she did ok but could have lost that super high note at the end of the song, I don't think it fit and I also think she's trying to hard now, I agree with her outfit YICKEE..

David A- Yeah the kid can sing very good but I really wish he'd show a little emotion while doing so, nothing more to say about him'

Kristi- I thought she did pretty good but Liked her performance last week better. I think Simon was right about that, I really thought she'd do super great last night and was suprised when she did just ok.

Syesha- She did look super great, loved her dress.. Did not care for her performance, but I think it was better than the judges gave her credit for.

Micheal_ LOVED this performance and I think the David's better watch out because I think that Micheal really passed them up the last couple of weeks, Loved it.

It was a good night but did you hear what Simon said?? All of a sudden he said he LOVES country music and 2 years ago he hated it ha I had to laugh at that one.

:D Hey Sandi. Yeppers I thought that comment from Simon was strange about his liking country. Maybe he is trying to re-new his admission into Dollywood. :)

Overall though I thought most of the contestants did fairly well. I do think Ramiele or maybe Syesha may be going as there is a lot of negative about Syesha this week. Personally I liked her. Oh well, guess we will find out tonight. I read on the AI site that tonight's results show will feature Bucky Covington, Bo Bice and Phil Stacey. Looking forward to that!

;) Thanks for responding.

Oops forgot to mention that it appears David Cook had to go to the hospital after performing last night. No mention of why just that he was not feeling well. However, he was treated for whatever and is now back at the hotel. Sure hope no problems are brewing as in the case of Bo Bice. He definitely is a contender in this competition.

wow it'll be great to see Bucky, I haven't been over to AI yet so if you had not posted that It would have been a suprise. ALL of them are going to be there? Wow and with Dolly too. strange isn't it. Good but strange.

Yeah I'm sure Simon is up to something with his remark about country music, but honestly he doesn't look like the type that would like country he's to into his own style ha..

Yep we'll see how the votes go down this week I wouldnt' be surprsied if Rami, Syesha and Kristi are in the bottom three, I really don't think Rami will make it much further. I read a google alert today that said the writer (of the article) really DISLIKED Kristi's performance last night and I thought it was pretty good. So I guess we'll see soon huh>

To bad about David C, wonder what happen? Unless someone tells we'll never know,
I thought they'd mention something about Elliotts mom last night to but they didn't, I mean they pretty much made her part of the show 2 years ago and Ryan really liked her so I thought they would. Ya right...

Taylor singing Country Roads during Country week 2 years ago.

Maybe I should have my head examined but for once there was a comment Simon gave that I totally agreed with about Raimielle's performance. Again, for me it was another sleeper. ~sigh~ Even though I really liked her in the beginning she started slacking off for me. I just couldn't get into any of her music over the last few weeks. (Sorry Ramielle)

As far as David A and David C are concerned, I was so happy with both of their performances. So agree with you CC, David A's voice was so smooth and I really felt the music while he sang. (I actually cried alittle bit too. I'm so sappy)

Is it just me or is David C looking so much better than when he first started? He was looking good with that new "do". Nice job David!

I remember when Taylor sang Country Roads. How time flies, huh?

Give it up to Dolly P, looking better than ever. She is one of my favorite country singers. I, too, am not a "big fan" of country music but there are some artists I do like and Dolly is one of them.