Nashville Star Week 7

Blame Nashville Star Radio for my lack of blogging lately.

Mondays I go to the tv show. It's a late night, so I usually go into work late, which knocks down my productivity. Tuesday I write the show and work on soundbites, which usually kills my entire day. Wednesday nights we tape the show (usually at 8:30 but a couple nights it was 10:30) so that's another wacky day. My schedule is completely off kilter. And in the middle of all that we were relocating. And my laptop died. I can't say that I'm going to be sorry to see this show end. Although I have to say, I'm really happy with the way the radio show has turned out. This was a show I got to create from a blank sheet of paper, which has been a lot of fun. And exhausting.

So just catching up on all things Nashville Star, I have to tell you that I'm liking the TV show much better now that they've weeded out some of the riff raff. There were definitely people who didn't deserve to be there. And the crew didn't deserve having to put up with them. I'm totally surprised that Ashlee was sent home. I'd predicted Ashlee, Gabe and Melissa in the final show. Now I've officially given up predicting.

The radio show this week takes a little different turn. We take the contestants in one by one, instead of by mentor groups. They each get a chance to make their case for why THEY should be the next Nashville Star. And they all brought their guitars!

I've gotten a few questions about particular contestants, and given that I've spent many a late night hour (and plenty of Oreos) with them, I thought I'd just share a few thoughts about the Final Four.

Coffey -- Quite possibly the most charming human being I've ever met. He's just a doll. He has an amazing spirit, the kind of person you want to hang around because he makes you feel good. He was also incredibly sweet to Delaynie (as were Ashlee and Shawn) which always adds bonus points. Then this week, he asked me to tell my daughter hello from him and told me how beautiful she was. Wait until you hear what he's doing for his hometown concert, it totally gave me goosebumps. I could go on and on about some of the neat things he does. He inspires me. I don't think he's the best singer on this show, but I do think he's the best entertainer, and I think he could be an amazing ambassador for country music if given the chance.

Shawn Mayer -- I can't wait to go see her sing somewhere. A bar, an amphitheatre, an arena - wherever. I think she's underdelivering on what she's capable of, but it's hard to tell in a minute and a half song. I want to see more from her. She has a great respect for the music, and has worked really hard to get this far. She's also somehow the most "real" to me. Today we had a conversation about tattoos. (One of us has one, one of us doesn't.) She's doing something pretty neat for her hometown visit too. Maybe that's why we get along so well -- she's from a town even tinier than my hometown. You need to tune in to this week's NSRadio just to hear her studio performance. She is also just stunningly beautiful in person. She looks the part of the winner.

Gabe Garcia - He's Mr. Guy Next Door. He's the one always hanging out in the green room talking to the crew. SOO laid back. I think he has a good voice and he looks good, but I'm still hoping he steps up and wows me. The time I liked him best on stage was the opening cast sing of "Life Is A Highway." He HAD to move across the stage, no guitar, wasn't tied down to one spot, and he was a lot of fun. He'll be the first to tell you he wants to be like George Strait and just stand there and sing, but I'll be the first to tell you I'd love to see him run from one end of the stage to another. He also could do a lot to broaden the appeal of country music. He has a manager here in Nashville.

Melissa Lawson -- Melissa has really warmed up to us over the past couple of weeks. In the beginning she was very quiet when they came in for the radio show, I didn't have a lot of interaction with her. Which is probably good, because had I been able to get her attention and get her alone those first couple of weeks, I'd have asked for her hubby's email address so I could just drop him a note and tell him I'd seen her and she was fine. LOL. But I would have loved to have had a conversation mom-to-mom about this crazy business. She's smart about the business, and she's a fighter. If this contest was judged solely on vocal talent, she'd far and away be the winner. Unfortunately, this is all about which fan base can best be mobilized to click, text, or call. I said I wasn't making predictions, but if I was, I'd put my money on an upset.

Now that I've made you read all that. What you really want to know...

Jon asked each contestant the same series of questions for this week's show -- why them, hometown visit, what they'll be performing next week, etc. They each will be doing 2 songs. Melissa named one and then said something real generic like "and another great song..." (She knows how to give those evasive answers already - see that star potential?) However, I know how to spot those evasive answers, so I asked her afterwords about her second choice, and she said they hadn't picked it yet.

So I flat out told her that a few friends and I had been discussing how we were dying to hear her belt out a Trisha Yearwood power ballad. She kind of sighed and said "I know!" She said she'd been trying and trying, but they kept telling her no. SHE brought it up that she wanted to do "Real Live Woman" a couple of weeks ago because it fit her so perfectly but they told her it wasn't a big enough song. So I told her I was going to come see her on the Nashville Star Tour and she'd have to sing it for me.

I can't say at this point that I'd be unhappy if any of these four won. Regardless of what people might say about the show - and first and foremost, this is a TV show - they are four pretty neat people.