Nashville Star - Week 5

Nashville Star - Week 5 7-7-08


Melissa Lawson performed first, right after the show cut the Navy guy, Tommy Stanley. He totally reminded me of the little sailor on the Cracker Jack box. Melissa is looking soooo good. I’m not in love with her or anything, but aside from being the show’s best singer, she’s lost even more weight this week. She couldn’t really hit the high notes without some a strained, pinched sounds, but otherwise, she was perfect.

Then Laura and Sophie ruined Walkin’ After Midnight. They’re having a hard time getting along. Jeffrey says he believes in them. With the “quality” product they’re putting out each week, it kind of makes one wonder what else he believes in. Easter Bunny, UFO’s…..

Gabe Garcia sang third. He took some dance lessons and kind of moved around a little. He wasn’t very awkward, his face remained kind of dead, but other than that, he was super. His singing didn’t suffer when he was concentrating on not moving like Frankenstein’s monster and I think that’ll keep him around for one more week.

Shawn Mayer performed after firing John Rich as her mentor since last week’s show. She sang The First Cut is the Deepest which has become a popular anthem in the past few seasons. She did more than a serviceable job, but John still said she was five on a scale of 1-10. For some reason he just doesn’t like her. He could back off a little. There is no need to crush her little spirit. He should save those comments for the folks who really suck. (Paging: Laura and Sophie. Pearl Heart….will you please report to baggage claim and take that crap back home?)

Coffey faired marginally better in the criticism department. But again, he didn’t sing a country song. He did Proud Mary and the crowd went wild. I’m not saying it was cheesy, but Up With People called and they could use a headliner. I like him as a singer and performer, but I’m beginning to understand what the judges are complaining about.

Ashlee Hewitt (under John’s guidance) performed a Steve Miller song. She had bare feet and a quasi-rockin’ attitude, but it wasn’t at all like her past performances. She is a breath of fresh air on this show, and tonight was slightly tortured. John Rich didn’t do well by her this week. Especially since she was in the bottom two from last week. A homerun would’ve been nice.

Pearl Heart was actually wonderful. Jeffrey had them all play electric guitar on Ain’t Going Down til the Sun Comes Up. I hate to eat my words but they were so good tonight. Even though only one of them really played guitar through the whole song, the girls looked good holding their props. But, they were sent home.

Contestants are being sent home at a faster rate than before, maybe so they can blow through this show after the Olympics and before the fall season starts. I can see this show working on USA, but I’ll bet the ratings are not good for NBC proper. If only there were more fans like me. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that...

Next week…another double elimination.