Must be doing something right

[unionstation]

Miranda Lambert returned to the Nashville Star stage with a bright pink guitar and rather elaborate hair and makeup to play her brassed off single "Crazy Ex Girlfriend". Not exactly a "get in your head" type tune. She comes off as more of a Gretchen Wilson type now than the folksy balladeer I remember from her Nashville Star days.

We kept the same three judges, rather than adding a guest, thank god. Randy is becoming the technical judge. In some ways he's tougher than Anastasia. Blake is eh. I'm beginning to appreciate Phil Vassar.

Joshua Stevens was the first one through. He sang Brooks & Dunn's "Ain't Nothing about You". The judges still think he's one of the stronger male voices, but I'm not overly enthusiastic.

In a quirky clash of fandoms, Whitney Duncan is apparently dating Christian Kane of "Angel" fame. (Who also has his own band Kane and not a bad singer himself). I could barely understand half her lyrics in "Tulsa Time". I want to like her performances, but she needs to sing and not shout.

David St. Romain is still one of my early favorites. He ditched the guitar and focused on his lovely lovely voice on "Must Be Doing Something Right". Boy did he ever. He also put in a good "Who dat" shout out for the Saints fans. Jewel looked completely clueless.

Casey Mugraves really really is in trouble. Her version of Hank Williams "You Win Again" didn't impress anyone, especially the judges. Randy Owen thought the song was too mature for her and she didn't show she felt the lyrics enough.

Angela Hacker, on the other hand, sounded like someone who'd lived a little and gone through the hard times. Very raspy and soulful. The only complaint was that she'd picked a little too well known of a song. Still she's way up there in my book so far.

Her brother Zac improved his chances too with "Once in a Blue Moon". I liked his performance way more than the gimmicky song from last time around.

The ex-Marine budding country outlaw Dustin Wilkes was the next one eliminated.

That left Meg Allison as our last performer. If she was nervous to begin with, being the last one up couldn't have helped things. Her voice sounded strained on Alison Krauss' "Oh Atlanta". She received very contradictory advice and critiques from all the judges. Randy didn't know the song which didn't help matters. Anastasia wanted her to connect to larger audiences while Blake thought she did fine with her own style.