Nashville Star - Season 6

[tapper01]

Gabe was great too


Coffey was so sad

[Google]

 

[tapper01]

Please let Laura and sophie go.. They should have gone last week instead of Pearl Hearts

[Unklescott]

They sound about as bad as Taylor Swift does live.

[tapper01]

Good job JOHN...called them on the eye roll

[tapper01]

bout time Laura and Sophie babys are going home...YEA

[surviorwannabe]

Originally Posted by Unklescott

According to John Rich NBC picked the talent.

that explains the problem with the talent. he likes to give people without any talent a chance.

[surviorwannabe]

Originally Posted by tapper01

Please let Laura and sophie go.. They should have gone last week instead of Pearl Hearts

i agree.. i did like how jeffery told pearl heart that they knew his number and where is studio was. i thought that was cool.

[liedenfrost]

July 14, 2008: The Top Six

1. Melissa Lawson. “Best” is a subjective term on these shows; a reflection of personal taste and artistic preference, but in my mind, Melissa is a complete singer: very musical, strong pipes, engaging personality, reliable if not perfect pitch, and for the most part, projects her lyrics with honest emotion; so, yes, I think she is the best singer on the show. She might have trouble cracking the top of the charts though. I’ve read Billboard for more than thirty years but can’t recall a #1 song recorded by a weight-challenged female country artist. Country music, more than any other genre, is loaded with shapely, thin, sexy, and extraordinarily beautiful women; e.g., Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Rimes, Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Terri Clark, and Shania Twain. The best country singer ever (in my opinion, one of the best singers on the planet), Martina McBride, is a very serious singer so is not concerned with image; but even she is thin…and very beautiful. Even the girls in the band are thin and beautiful; I don’t know the words to a single Sugarland or Little Big Town song, but I know Jennifer Nettles and Karen Fairchild. In an era dominated by thin, beautiful women, Melissa’s road to country superstardom will not be easy. Adding to her struggle is the fact that country music, like rock, is a male-dominated genre (R&B and Pop are too but not so one-sided as country and rock). Twenty-five country songs topped Billboards Country Music Charts in 2007 (Big & Rich’s Lost in This Moment is among them; lets give John some love; dude is mean and surly, he needs it), but only four from female artists; e.g., Carrie Underwood (Wasted, So Small); Taylor Swift (Our Song), and Sugarland (Settlin). In case you’ve wondered, 2007 is no anomaly; that’s the norm in country and rock music.

These are only two of the problems in Melissa’s future. John, Jeff, and Jewel know this business; they know what Melissa is up against. The show’s producers know it; recording execs, producers, and A&R reps know it too. They know Melissa will not be an easy sell. Finally Nashville Star does not have a good track record; its winners don’t sell well. Most labels say an artist must sell about 500,000 cds to break even (typical 2006 pop music models put the break even number at 250,000 units so the company figures are somewhat inflated ), and Buddy Jewel, the best singer this show has ever produced, is the only winner to sell more than 500,000 units. Can Melissa surpass him in sales? Probably not, but she won’t care; she after something else: a good living doing what she loves. She knows the real money is in gate receipts; not cd sales. Touring is what sustains most musicians; this must be true for all previous Nashville Star winners, since most have been dropped by their label. If Melissa wins, she must also learn to balance motherhood and family obligation against life on the road. It sounds like a hellish career for a budding singer, but the drive to succeed is not limited to musicians; it’s a universal struggle.

Back to the show….Melissa did an excellent job with Martina McBride’s My Baby Loves Me. It displeased the judges, but I liked what she brought to the stage. Unlike Anne Murray’s Danny’s Song, where Melissa strangled her lyrics in runs, Martina’s bouncy tempo and joyful lyric permit, even demand, individuality and playful personality. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes melisma can be an asset. I like this kid and I loved this performance.
2. Gabe Garcia. I doubt we’ll hear a more accurate cover this season; Gabe offered a faithful and pitch-perfect version of Billy Currington’s Must Be Doing Something Right. But there’s a problem. Gabe impressed John and Jeff, who focused on his singing, but not Jewel, who, because of a different chromosome, was focused on something else. I’ve seen how women react to Billy Currington and to this song; they get weak in the knee, and frankly, mushy and romantic. Based on Jewel’s tepid and lukewarm response, I’d say Gabe has work to do with the ladies. He might want to study live performances from Billy Currington, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Trace Adkins, Dirks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, or even the Emerson Drive gang. I’ve never understood women so I won’t pretend to speak for them; so I’ll just employ the IT factor. I can’t define IT either but I know it when I see it, and I know IT requires more than looks and/or personality. You won’t find Rodney Atkins’ name on anybody’s Most Beautiful list, but he’s insanely popular and the ladies love him. Whatever IT is, Rodney has. Brad Paisley is an annual member of the Most Beautiful club (a handsome fellow), and that dude has the personality of six-day-old road kill, but he’s got IT, and not just ordinary IT; he's got extra-ordinary IT. Gabe doesn’t. That’s a problem because his diminished sex appeal could limit record sales and introduce added financial risk to music execs; something no record company wants to contend with.
3. Ashley Hewitt. Cowboy, Take Me Away was a typical Ashley Hewitt performance: decent but flawed vocal, weak pipes, missed notes, and a slightly inaccurate melody, but none of it matters much. Flawed or not, she’s got all the right intangibles; in my opinion, the only remaining Nashville Star contestant with any real commercial appeal. This girl is beautiful and infinitely likeable.
4. Shawn Meyer. A playful, sexy, and entertaining version of Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats, but my least favorite performance. Unlike the judges, I like her better when she's bleeding; emoting and projecting the heart-felt passion of a romantic ballad. That’s her home; where she belongs, in my opinion. She looked the part of a tough and scorned lover, and except for a few bars, sang it well, but for whatever reason, it didn’t feel authentic, and for the first time this season, I didn’t believe her.
5. Coffey. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s It’s Your Love? This wasn’t the Coffey of the last few weeks. I believed him tonight; felt his pain, but that passion was not enough to compensate all the bad notes. Coffey will never be a singer’s singer; will never be a romantic balladeer; he has neither the pipes nor the musical acumen. He’s got bad habits; e.g., his vocal production is bad; he gets no support from his diaphragm and utilizes a head voice throughout, so can't generate crystal clear notes or rich tone. But he's an excellent entertainer; a consummate and natural born entertainer; fun to watch. That’s enough; he doesn’t need anything new. I hope the old Coffey’s back next week, because I didn't like the new Coffey very much. Bad advice, Jewel.

[Unklescott]

Originally Posted by liedenfrost

I’ve read Billboard for more than thirty years but can’t recall a #1 song recorded by a weight-challenged female country artist.

How about Trisha Yearwood?

"She's in Love with the Boy" (1991) · "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)" (1994) · "Thinkin' About You" (1995) · "Believe Me Baby (I Lied)" (1996) · "Perfect Love" (1998)

[Aceon6]

I had to fast forward through both Ashley and Cawfay, painful! To my ears, Melissa, Gabe and Shawn were the best of the night.