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So next week on American Idol is Country week. My head hurts already. Not because I hate country. Hey, you all know me (hopefully) enough to know I love my country. What I fear is the influx of over-poppified songs that come from kids who have no clue that "modern" country is just pop with fiddles. (Cause dude, Rascal Flatts has a couple of songs that are country, but for the most part they're a boy band that can't dance.)
Here are my predictions though on what they'll sing, based on the inanity of incomprehensible song choices that will be considered most marketable.
Faith Hill - Breathe or This Kiss
Leann Rhimes - I Need You or her version of How Do I Live
Patsy Cline - Crazy
Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places or The Dance
Shania Twain
Dixie Chicks - Landslide (I know, but they're dumb enough to think that the Chicks originated it)
Martina McBride - Broken Wing
The last one is a damn great song, which makes it odd for the list (The Dance is great too, as is Crazy, but they're easily massacred songs), but it's sung a lot in the early auditions. When done right, it's amazing to hear someone sing it. The problem is that it's originally by Martina, and for anyone who knows Martina, they know she has a massively huge voice, great control, and she feels the song (it's a song about escaping domestic abuse). Martina is huge into fighting domestic violence. So stick some kid up there to sing it who has no clue about the emotional relevance of the song, and it's just wrong. (I have seen a 14 year old sing it though and she felt it nearly as well as Martina. Tear inducing fabulous. So young people can do it.)
Last night during a study break I started thinking about what they *should* sing next week, as opposed to what they will sing. And lord have mercy, I came to some serious conclusions, bordering on hysterical/inspired.
Latoya
She should sing either Independence Day or Broken Wing. She has the control, the maturity, and the pipes to pull off either of those Martina McBride songs about domestic violence. Plus she needs to do a stunner of a song after last week.
Amy
She should sing either Maybe It Was Memphis by Pam Tillis or Stand By Your Man. I think her voice would be too pretty for the last song, but it would also make her work her vocals some. And the former song is beautiful and sexy.
Camile
She should sing either Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter or Nothing at All by Allison Krauss. Because those are songs for women who aren't power singers and who have smokier voices. Plus they're not the difficult songs by those singers (I would never, ever want any of these kids to try a hard Allison Krauss, they'd kill it).
Jasmine
She should sing something more haunting and understated, but by one of the really good female singers of more modern country, so I think it should either be There You Are by Martina McBride or Walkaway Joe by Trisha Yearwood. I'd really love to hear her sing Trisha, because the song is so sad and is about a 17 year old and her bad decisions. I think Jasmine could do it wonderful justice.
Diana
She should sing either Down On My Knees by Trisha Yearwood (if she can control the smile some) or When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues by Martina. Dude. The Martina one she could kick ass on, because it's a fun, high tempo, rocking song about a woman who gets pissed when her man cheats on her.
Jennifer
She was by far the hardest for me, because I don't see her doing country well at all. So I decided that she should sing something by a country woman who is all personality, Fancy by Reba. And as a backup, because if she could work the control it might work, Blue by Leann Rimes (a legitimately good song, before Leann went downhill).
Fantasia
The nice thing about this group is that they can work some uptempo songs. I like that. In the past we've had lots of balladeers, but not many who can actually do uptempo in an entertaining way. For that reason, I'd like to hear Fantasia do Long Time Gone by the Dixie Chicks or The Lucky One by Allison Krauss. The former plays to her roots and vocal strength. The latter strong would be a stretch, but it would slow her down some and let her show off vocally and let her be more sedate (and let us see something beside the bouncy girl).
George
My dad said first thing that George should do Charlie Pride, but I disagree. Charlie's voice isn't low enough. Personally, I think there are a couple that he could do that would work for him. First is King of the Road, either version. Randy Travis has a lower voice, plus, it's a mid tempo song that's not really depressing, so smiley George would work with it. For a major change though, and a way for George to show off his serious side, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Delia's Gone by Johnny Cash. I saw Wyclef Jean do a remake of that one time and it was astounding. I'd like to see George give the Man in Black a try, because Johnny is low enough and the song is just bitter as hell, completely not a George thing, but it could showcase his diversity.
John
He's a hard one to choose for, vocally. My original thoughts were George Strait or Alan Jackson, but those guys have an advantage: they play the guitar, which gives them a reason to stand still. So I'm going to say Lady by Kenny Rogers, because it's a great ballad, or Bluest Eyes In Texas because it's a haunting song and within his range.
Jon Peter
Well, there's only two ways he can do country: either pick a silly country song and just have fun, or pick a serious country song and showcase his voice with the simplicity and heartfelt emotion that can be inherent to country. So on that note, my choices for him are either Travellin' Soldier by the Dixie Chicks or the Dukes of Hazzard theme. Hey, either he finally proves to me that he can sing (and country would be a great outlet for him to prove that) or he better have fun.
Matt
Because of my love for Matt's personality, but the fact that I'm not crazy about his voice (other than when he's doing opera), I'm just going to flat out say that he should only do uptempo songs. And my two choices for him would be All My Rowdy Friends by Hank Williams Jr. (dude, football theme song much?) or...
Who's Your Daddy by Toby Keith. Folks, I would vote for him 200 million times if he'd sing that. Seriously. It has nothing to do with vocals and everything to do with funny.
And on that note, during the results show I'd like to see the following songs sung by the group:
Thank God I'm A Country Boy
Goodbye Earl
And of course the Ford plug will have to include On The Road Again.
Here are my predictions though on what they'll sing, based on the inanity of incomprehensible song choices that will be considered most marketable.
Faith Hill - Breathe or This Kiss
Leann Rhimes - I Need You or her version of How Do I Live
Patsy Cline - Crazy
Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places or The Dance
Shania Twain
Dixie Chicks - Landslide (I know, but they're dumb enough to think that the Chicks originated it)
Martina McBride - Broken Wing
The last one is a damn great song, which makes it odd for the list (The Dance is great too, as is Crazy, but they're easily massacred songs), but it's sung a lot in the early auditions. When done right, it's amazing to hear someone sing it. The problem is that it's originally by Martina, and for anyone who knows Martina, they know she has a massively huge voice, great control, and she feels the song (it's a song about escaping domestic abuse). Martina is huge into fighting domestic violence. So stick some kid up there to sing it who has no clue about the emotional relevance of the song, and it's just wrong. (I have seen a 14 year old sing it though and she felt it nearly as well as Martina. Tear inducing fabulous. So young people can do it.)
Last night during a study break I started thinking about what they *should* sing next week, as opposed to what they will sing. And lord have mercy, I came to some serious conclusions, bordering on hysterical/inspired.
Latoya
She should sing either Independence Day or Broken Wing. She has the control, the maturity, and the pipes to pull off either of those Martina McBride songs about domestic violence. Plus she needs to do a stunner of a song after last week.
Amy
She should sing either Maybe It Was Memphis by Pam Tillis or Stand By Your Man. I think her voice would be too pretty for the last song, but it would also make her work her vocals some. And the former song is beautiful and sexy.
Camile
She should sing either Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter or Nothing at All by Allison Krauss. Because those are songs for women who aren't power singers and who have smokier voices. Plus they're not the difficult songs by those singers (I would never, ever want any of these kids to try a hard Allison Krauss, they'd kill it).
Jasmine
She should sing something more haunting and understated, but by one of the really good female singers of more modern country, so I think it should either be There You Are by Martina McBride or Walkaway Joe by Trisha Yearwood. I'd really love to hear her sing Trisha, because the song is so sad and is about a 17 year old and her bad decisions. I think Jasmine could do it wonderful justice.
Diana
She should sing either Down On My Knees by Trisha Yearwood (if she can control the smile some) or When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues by Martina. Dude. The Martina one she could kick ass on, because it's a fun, high tempo, rocking song about a woman who gets pissed when her man cheats on her.
Jennifer
She was by far the hardest for me, because I don't see her doing country well at all. So I decided that she should sing something by a country woman who is all personality, Fancy by Reba. And as a backup, because if she could work the control it might work, Blue by Leann Rimes (a legitimately good song, before Leann went downhill).
Fantasia
The nice thing about this group is that they can work some uptempo songs. I like that. In the past we've had lots of balladeers, but not many who can actually do uptempo in an entertaining way. For that reason, I'd like to hear Fantasia do Long Time Gone by the Dixie Chicks or The Lucky One by Allison Krauss. The former plays to her roots and vocal strength. The latter strong would be a stretch, but it would slow her down some and let her show off vocally and let her be more sedate (and let us see something beside the bouncy girl).
George
My dad said first thing that George should do Charlie Pride, but I disagree. Charlie's voice isn't low enough. Personally, I think there are a couple that he could do that would work for him. First is King of the Road, either version. Randy Travis has a lower voice, plus, it's a mid tempo song that's not really depressing, so smiley George would work with it. For a major change though, and a way for George to show off his serious side, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Delia's Gone by Johnny Cash. I saw Wyclef Jean do a remake of that one time and it was astounding. I'd like to see George give the Man in Black a try, because Johnny is low enough and the song is just bitter as hell, completely not a George thing, but it could showcase his diversity.
John
He's a hard one to choose for, vocally. My original thoughts were George Strait or Alan Jackson, but those guys have an advantage: they play the guitar, which gives them a reason to stand still. So I'm going to say Lady by Kenny Rogers, because it's a great ballad, or Bluest Eyes In Texas because it's a haunting song and within his range.
Jon Peter
Well, there's only two ways he can do country: either pick a silly country song and just have fun, or pick a serious country song and showcase his voice with the simplicity and heartfelt emotion that can be inherent to country. So on that note, my choices for him are either Travellin' Soldier by the Dixie Chicks or the Dukes of Hazzard theme. Hey, either he finally proves to me that he can sing (and country would be a great outlet for him to prove that) or he better have fun.
Matt
Because of my love for Matt's personality, but the fact that I'm not crazy about his voice (other than when he's doing opera), I'm just going to flat out say that he should only do uptempo songs. And my two choices for him would be All My Rowdy Friends by Hank Williams Jr. (dude, football theme song much?) or...
Who's Your Daddy by Toby Keith. Folks, I would vote for him 200 million times if he'd sing that. Seriously. It has nothing to do with vocals and everything to do with funny.
And on that note, during the results show I'd like to see the following songs sung by the group:
Thank God I'm A Country Boy
Goodbye Earl
And of course the Ford plug will have to include On The Road Again.