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unionstationNashville Star has returned for a sixth season. Instead of hiding out in the obscurity of USA Network, it's front and center on Monday nights on NBC. CMT has the reruns too. Jewel has exchanged her hosting duties for a judges slot, along with John Rich and Jeffrey Steele. Billy Ray Cyrus is the solo host. So far I'd say John Rich is the toughest critic. For someone who comes off so over the top music wise, he takes it very seriously. He's already ripping it up against Jewel, which is fun to watch.
They opened the show by showing us some of the auditions, including an all-military audition with members from each of the different branches. They've gotten away from the audition process in recent years, so we've never had a chance to see how they got there and why. Then came the final auditions. I was very very tired of "Drift Away" by the time it ended.
Taylor Swift opened up the show with a performance of "Picture to Burn", an angry girlfriend song in the vein of Miranda Lambert "Kerosene"/"Crazy Ex Girlfriend". She was a little screechy and irritating for my tastes, but she's popular. What do I know?
The final twelve opened with their first group number of my old favorite "Life is a Highway". It's a nice way to showcase everyone and see whose personality pops out immediately.
First up was the trio of sisters called "Pearl Heart" singing the Dixie Chicks' "Wide Open Spaces". They had some nice natural harmonies. They're going to need a little umph in their performances.
With energy to spare was the navy engineer from the USS Kitty Hawk, Tommy Stanley, who sang Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis". I swear I thought he was going to burst out of his shoes. He was a lot of fun to watch. The judges cautioned him not to overdo it. It's all about channeling the adrenalin.
Shawn Meyer came off as a Gretchen Wilson tough girl in her opening clip, so I was a little surprised when she pulled out the Faith Hill version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart". It felt like a little bit of a disconnect with her image.
Third Town was the only all male trio. Little Tony looks like he should be in a punk band or something with that haircut. They performed "Elvira" and instantly the judges pulled out the "too dated" criticism. For a genre that is so fascinated with its history, it can also turn around and slap it aside. The other criticism was no one was stepping up as the lead voice, so there was no distinct voice. I'm not sure if I completely agree with that part of the criticism, but I sorta understand what they were going for.
Like I said, enough of "Drift Away" already! The sad part about Coffey was I loved him in the audition clip when he changed the tempo up. In this, he was slightly less country and more generic. It's a shame because he brings a welcome diversity to the group with Gabe. (As an aside, damn, he's fine.)
And then there is sweet Laura and Sophie, aged 16 and 18, singing Tanya Tucker's "Stand by Your Man". Yeah, I'll let you think you think about that one. They have good voices, though, though not as harmonious as Pearl Heart.
John Arthur Martinez was one of those Nashville Star alumni I'm glad is doing well since the show. If anything though, I loved Gabe Garcia's voice even more. I just loved his voice and his performance of "All My Exes Live in Texas" sounded so authentic and country. I hope he does well.
Poor poor Alyson. I swear "Suds in the Bucket" is cursed a live song, because I've never heard it done well. She started badly and almost finished strong but even I could tell she was having pitch issues. She was cautioned against being a "pageant singer" rather than an artist. At least she's not another blonde.
Ashlee strangely reminded of a young Jewel singing Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly". She was very low key but very effective.
Charley went over over over the top playing to the crowd with Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It". Sometimes you can play too much to a crowd, who knew?
Justin picked the wildest choice by turning Train's "Drops of Jupiter" into a country song. It did work. However, they're right, when you're model pretty, you have to step up with an even better voice. And he missed the mark a little.
And then they saved the best for last with brassy 32 year old mother of five Melissa Lawson who sang Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About" with every inch of attitude. The minute she walked out onto the stage she had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand.
Tonight the judges sent one home. They narrowed it down between Charley and Alyson. Sadly Charley won't be around next week. Sorry Charley. Hopefully Alyson will improve next week.
This group is definitely interesting. There weren't any really unique instrumentalists that we've seen, just guitarists, unless they're hiding those talents for later. Next week is worrying because they're doing the whole groups thing. I like the idea of mentoring but I'll have to see how it works in practice. Some are better at taking the advice and working with it.
They opened the show by showing us some of the auditions, including an all-military audition with members from each of the different branches. They've gotten away from the audition process in recent years, so we've never had a chance to see how they got there and why. Then came the final auditions. I was very very tired of "Drift Away" by the time it ended.
Taylor Swift opened up the show with a performance of "Picture to Burn", an angry girlfriend song in the vein of Miranda Lambert "Kerosene"/"Crazy Ex Girlfriend". She was a little screechy and irritating for my tastes, but she's popular. What do I know?
The final twelve opened with their first group number of my old favorite "Life is a Highway". It's a nice way to showcase everyone and see whose personality pops out immediately.
First up was the trio of sisters called "Pearl Heart" singing the Dixie Chicks' "Wide Open Spaces". They had some nice natural harmonies. They're going to need a little umph in their performances.
With energy to spare was the navy engineer from the USS Kitty Hawk, Tommy Stanley, who sang Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis". I swear I thought he was going to burst out of his shoes. He was a lot of fun to watch. The judges cautioned him not to overdo it. It's all about channeling the adrenalin.
Shawn Meyer came off as a Gretchen Wilson tough girl in her opening clip, so I was a little surprised when she pulled out the Faith Hill version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart". It felt like a little bit of a disconnect with her image.
Third Town was the only all male trio. Little Tony looks like he should be in a punk band or something with that haircut. They performed "Elvira" and instantly the judges pulled out the "too dated" criticism. For a genre that is so fascinated with its history, it can also turn around and slap it aside. The other criticism was no one was stepping up as the lead voice, so there was no distinct voice. I'm not sure if I completely agree with that part of the criticism, but I sorta understand what they were going for.
Like I said, enough of "Drift Away" already! The sad part about Coffey was I loved him in the audition clip when he changed the tempo up. In this, he was slightly less country and more generic. It's a shame because he brings a welcome diversity to the group with Gabe. (As an aside, damn, he's fine.)
And then there is sweet Laura and Sophie, aged 16 and 18, singing Tanya Tucker's "Stand by Your Man". Yeah, I'll let you think you think about that one. They have good voices, though, though not as harmonious as Pearl Heart.
John Arthur Martinez was one of those Nashville Star alumni I'm glad is doing well since the show. If anything though, I loved Gabe Garcia's voice even more. I just loved his voice and his performance of "All My Exes Live in Texas" sounded so authentic and country. I hope he does well.
Poor poor Alyson. I swear "Suds in the Bucket" is cursed a live song, because I've never heard it done well. She started badly and almost finished strong but even I could tell she was having pitch issues. She was cautioned against being a "pageant singer" rather than an artist. At least she's not another blonde.
Ashlee strangely reminded of a young Jewel singing Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly". She was very low key but very effective.
Charley went over over over the top playing to the crowd with Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It". Sometimes you can play too much to a crowd, who knew?
Justin picked the wildest choice by turning Train's "Drops of Jupiter" into a country song. It did work. However, they're right, when you're model pretty, you have to step up with an even better voice. And he missed the mark a little.
And then they saved the best for last with brassy 32 year old mother of five Melissa Lawson who sang Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About" with every inch of attitude. The minute she walked out onto the stage she had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand.
Tonight the judges sent one home. They narrowed it down between Charley and Alyson. Sadly Charley won't be around next week. Sorry Charley. Hopefully Alyson will improve next week.
This group is definitely interesting. There weren't any really unique instrumentalists that we've seen, just guitarists, unless they're hiding those talents for later. Next week is worrying because they're doing the whole groups thing. I like the idea of mentoring but I'll have to see how it works in practice. Some are better at taking the advice and working with it.
