Full disclosure time: I freakin' love Dolly Parton! She is one of the premiere American songwriters, not just writing pop hits like "I Will Always Love You" and "9 to 5" but going back to her early hits like "Jolene" (one of my favorite songs of all time!) and her new stuff like "Travelin' Thru" from the soundtrack to Transamerica. Dolly is a legend and if you can sing well, you can sing a Dolly Parton track and blow people away. So, the fact only one person sucked doesn't surprise me.
First up was my girl Brooke White, doing my song "Jolene." It wasn't a stunning performance, but she sang and played well. I thought the small band was good idea, but I had one complaint, and it's the same I had for her "You're So Vain" she smiled too much. The song is about her man being stolen by that red-head slut Jolene, that's nothing to smile about! But if you closed your eyes and just listened, it was good. I wish she would blow me away again, but for now I'll take good.
OK, as soon as I heard "Dolly Parton on Idol" I thought David Cook will do one of two things: either cover her cover of either "Stairway to Heaven" or "Shine" or do the White Stripes' version of "Jolene." Both of which would have been disappointing. Instead, he continued his hot streak by doing the title track from my favorite latter-day Dolly album, Little Sparrow. This was the album that made me fall back in love with Dolly Parton, a stunning bluegrass collection that features the Collective Soul cover I mentioned as well as some of her best story-songs and a kicky version of "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and background vocals by Allison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent. And he did what he does well, a dramatic rock cover, with moody and stellar vocals. He never gets shouty like so many rockers have done on Idol. I will download this one, for sure. God, I friggin love David Cook and Dolly Parton so much!!!!!
We come to the part of the show where Ramiele Malubay sucks. We have this segment every week, and every week I pray to God I'm wrong, since I used to love her. But, lets be honest. Girl's voice is tired these days. Her vocals were lost in the band, it was like half-way decent karaoke. She looked awkward on stage, and I feel bad, 'cause she did have a good voice during the auditions. But now she's getting stale and boring, when she's not sucking.
Ever since "Hallelujah" Jason Castro has bored me. Until now, that is. "Travelin' Thru" was the perfect song for him, it showed that he can do an upbeat song and it was one of his best vocals. His voice never sounded so interesting and colorful. I loved it.
Carly Smithson has an amazing voice, no one can deny that! And her version of "Here You Come Again" was stunning with vocal acrobatics and both power and tenderness. I really liked this one too, it may have been the best performance of the night.
Lil' D. Arch needs to lighten up a bit. Seriously, I've never seen a 17 year old so earnest! His vocals were good, his stage presence was improved from the last few weeks, but I stopped loving him. "Smoky Mountain Memories" is such an old fashioned song for him, he needs to do some more teen friendly songs. But I'm pretty sure America loved him, they always do. Cuteness factor waning, though.
This is the week Kristy Lee Cook should have stood out more. And she did make an impression by dissing her mother in favor of Dolly Parton, right before singing one of the most emotional songs of the Parton songbook, "Coat Of Many Colors." Real smart, KLC. Vocals were OK, I think she may have been flat a couple times, but I really wish she would go away.
Syesha Mercado made the smart choice to do the Dolly version of "I Will Always Love You" at first, then powering into the Whitney Houston version for the end. I don't know if it's enough to save her, but that last note was longer than Titanic, that should help. Plus, she's the only diva left. A good performance, but I fear for her safety tonight.
I had never heard "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" before last night, but I just listened to a clip at iTunes, and Michael Johns definitely rearranged it into a much bluesier number. This is the first time I thought of him a star, not a karaoke singer. I'm not huge fan of blues, but that was really good, a little more free-form than I like, but good. I'm feeling it.
So, Dolly Parton gave them some hot songs to do, they did them well for the most part. There is only one who deserves to go home, that is Ramiele. I don't know if she will, but she should be bottom three. The others that will probably be there are Syesha and Kristy Lee, but Brooke may make a dramatic appearance there, too. We'll see tonight!
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