Nashville Star - Season 6

[paridy]

aww Ashlee Hewitt was eliminated, wth is Coffey still doing there?

[Google]

 

[tapper01]

all of the songs were pretty good tonight

I would not know the first thing about writing songs

[estygal4]

Not being a huge country fan and hating John Rich I have not seen much of this show this season. However, I tuned in tonight and Shawn's ballad "I'm not looking Back" blew me away...have already rewatched it several times on my dvr...wow what a song....

I did watch "Gone Country"...and was disappointed with Rich's choice there and hated his know it all "more country than anyone" shtick and his country pimp clothes and furs...what a jerk.

IMHO Coffey sucked, Gabe's song was OK, but a bit mechanical, I thought all the women were pretty good but Shawn was wow....I think she has the best shot at a real career in songwriting and today's country...also maybe crossover to pop. I loved the timing in that song of hers, like the songwriter guy commented on.

If the judges do the picking my guess is they will pick Gabe....John Rich seems to want to capture the growing Hispanic market for country music....but in the long run I think Shawn will be the one to watch. I want to buy her first cd.

[JLuvs]

Yet another disappointing elimination. Ashlee was certainly my favorite female left. Anyone other than Coffey being eliminated, at this point, is just horrifically wrong.

[liedenfrost]

July 21, 2008: The Top Five

1. Melissa Lawson. Not the best original lyric; that honor goes to Shawn Meyer, but vocally, Melissa separated herself from the competition tonight with Ready to Stand, a song about holding fast to your dreams. Don’t have a clue if she’ll win it all; American can be very unpredictable at times, but I thought her the best singer two weeks ago and didn't hear anything tonight that changed my mind. I hope she wins.

It’s difficult to critique Melissa’s song writing since art is so subjective and relative, and, all the kids are new to the game, but its safe to assume that nothing we heard tonight belongs in the same league with truly great lyricists; e.g., John Lennon’s Imagine, Bob Dylan’s Blowin in the Wind, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, or Train’s Drops of Jupiter (rock); or Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Mercy, Mercy Me (the ecology), Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, or even Kanye West’s Jesus Walks, and Tupac Shakur’s Thugz Mansion (R&B/rap). I won’t list the best lyrics in pop music because I think its’ universally accepted that honor belongs to Paul McCartney and John Lennon (insert Beatles favorites). I am not a diehard country music fan, but I’ve heard hundreds of country songs with meaningful, intelligent, and very clever lyrics: e.g., Johnny Cash’s Give My Love To Rose, Bill Anderson and John Randall’s Whiskey Lullaby, Tim Nichols’ Live Like You Were Dying, Keith Urban’s You’ll Think Of Me, and Gretchen Peters’ Independence Day, but the best country lyrics ever penned, in my opinion, belong to Steve Goodman’s City of New Orleans. If these songs are benchmark, nothing we heard tonight can be termed great, but its unrealistic and unfair to expect greatness from budding musicians. I hoped for good, well-written, cogent, and intelligent lyrics; and I think Shawn Meyer, Melissa Lawson, and Ashley Hewitt delivered.
2. Shawn Meyer. She's back in form; this was a serious and emotional peformance but I have to be honest. Although I enjoyed it, like Jeff, I couldn’t help picturing and wishing for Martina McBride or Faith Hill. Shawn did a good job telling her story and I beleived her but I’m Not Looking Back contains strong lyrics; lyrics that demand big pipes and power vocals, attributes Shawn simply does not own. Kudos to the composer; I liked the arrangement; flowing from a haunting melody in the verses to wailing blues guitar riffs at the bridge. Major props to whoever played electric guitar; some powerful, haunting, and awesome guitar riffs; that dude is seriously good. Did Shawn write the music too?
3. Ashley Hewitt. Was it Mike’s Hard Lemonade or Max’s Hard Lemonade. I assume the “hard lemonade” was an alcoholic beverage that loosened inhibitions and led to some otherwise prohibited foolin around? A song of lost innocence and unrequited, blameless lust! I loved it! Especially Ashley's coy and playful delivery. And I loved these lyrics; very similar to Carrie Underwood’s equally naughty Don’t Even Know His Last Name. I’m sad Ashley gone, but America has spoken, and as always, I never argue with a voting public; that's an argument you cannot win.
4. Gabe Garcia. There was nothing wrong with Lost Weekend but this performance, and especially these lyrics, reminded me of Kenny Chesney; a perfect role model if your goal is to become a first rate entertainer, but Gabe appears to be a serious musician, so channeling and emulating Kenny Chesney is not something any aspiring artist should be doing. Kenny is a cool dude; a real Bohemian; a lot of fun to watch; and the ladies love him, but he’s no artist and seems to take great pride in the knowing.
5. Coffey. He’s back! This is the Coffey we know and love! This was an energetic, fun, highly entertaining, eclectic, and uniquely tongue-in-cheek performance; Coffey at his best. Yeah, his Southern Man lyrics were silly, but tasteful and playful. Unlike Gabe, the ladies in the audience seem to really like Coffey. His contribution to country music is entertainment, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Not every musician aspires to be an artist. Look no further than Kenny Chesney; he’s a superstar; he entertains us, and more important, he’s filthy rich. I don’t think John Rich is a serious artist either, but I love his music and like the hell out of Big and Rich. Those guys are consummate and natural entertainers who owns the stage; did you notice how John shamelessly upstaged Jeff and Jewel in the medley?

This is my first season watching Nashville Star. The judges are mean to the kids, a bit pompous, and determined to defend traditional country music (guess they never heard of alternative country), but I like this format; especially the way the proceedings get moved along so quickly.

[Harmony2000]

I wish I could have understood the lyrics better. I love original song night on this show and was so irritated that once again the sound engineer has fouled things up and I could not understand over half the lyrics because of how loud the music was, horrible. What I could understand of the lyrics? I thought they all did a respectable job with a few being stellar stand outs. Shawn was great and Melissa's was pretty catchy especially for her being so new to song writing.

I thought the singing from the judges was dreadful and fast forwarded through most of it. They would vote themselves off the show! They were that bad, especially Jewel, her voice sounded dreadful.

For some reason Gabe keeps giving me a Brad Paisley vibe (he should wish to be so good), I don't know what it is about him but every time he gets up there? I think of Paisley. Meanwhile Melissa keeps reminding me of Gretchen Wilson, I think she is trying very hard to copy her style and flavor and it shows. The sheen has worn off that particular pearl for me. I'm not exactly a fan anymore for some reason. Right now? I would have liked to see Ashlee win but I'd be happy with Shawn...mostly because I hate the judges and don't want whomever they like to win....ornery...I know.

[Aceon6]

Ashlee may have been TCO, but she blew it by not enunciating as she was told. I understood maybe one out of three words, and suspect I understood as much as I did from the pre-performance package, not from her singing.

Gabe, Melissa and Shawn did fine and deserve to move on. I wish they had let Melissa finish when they asked her about co-writers. Seems she was wanting to give some credit, but they cut her off. IIRC, they didn't let Buddy Jewell thank his posse until the last show.

Why oh why is Caw-FAY still there?

[Misty8723]

Originally Posted by estygal4

If the judges do the picking my guess is they will pick Gabe....John Rich seems to want to capture the growing Hispanic market for country music

If that's the case, they should have given john Arthur martinez a better shot at it. He's about a zillion times better than Gabe.

[surviorwannabe]

i can't believe coffey is in the top 4.. i had him going home a long time ago... as for shawn i don't like her she needs to go. if i had to choose i would want to coffeey and shawn to go.

[tapper01]

I am betting either a GAbe or Melissa Win and I am fine with either one!!!