American Idol hits Dollywood

Tonight is Dolly Parton night for American Idol. Going in, Kathi Lee Cook looked like a sure thing and everyone else was on their own. But as they say in football, the game is not played with statistics but on the field. Were the remaining 9 able to get their groove on with Dolly?

Brooke White led off with a passionless take on "Jolene" adding a KT Tunstall arrangement to the mix. Nice arrangement, but every time White tried to portray embittered anger her eyes would roll around like a seizure. A so-so start to the show.

David Cook took a lot of flak for using Chris Cornell's version of "Billie Jean" last week so he did his own arrangement this week for "Little Sparrow". A softer arrangement than he's demonstrated in recent performances actually adds depth to his bag of tricks. I thought it had a bit of a Latin feel while my wife heard Bad Company all over it. A solid performance that should sustain his momentum.

Ramiele Malubay did a song I think is "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind". Her performance seemed a little hesitant but she did seem looser than usual and punched up the vocal in spots. A light, bouncy ditty with the first Country sound of the night.

Jason Castro gave a fairly upbeat performance which by his measure was downright manic. "Travelin Thru" sounded a lot like Castro was channeling Richard Marx. It was OK and likeable but also shows stagnation creatively. I think he's most likely to go.

Carly Smithson delivered the first stand out performance with her late 70's soft rock take on "Here You Come Again". A great vocal, somewhere Sheena Easton is kicking herself for not recording this first.

David Archuleta went with "Smoky Mountain Memories", a melancholic ballad that lets Archuleta do his thing. Choirboy quality vocals, Archuleta is slowly regaining traction in his performances.

Kristi Lee Cook sang "Coat of Many Colors" in traditional 70's Country Star garb. She gave a decent vocal but singing in her own genre seemed to underscore that she is only an OK singer, not a phenom. This should have been the performance of the night, but she was overshadowed by half the contestants instead. Still, she should have enough support from the prior week to avoid elimination.

Syesha Mercado performed "I Will Always Love You" a la Whitney. Normally performances like this get blasted for not living up to the original (and it was), but I actually can accept Mercado as a stand in for Houston. This is probably because Houston has been so tore up on drugs for so long that she probably doesn't sound like "Whitney" anymore either. The constant return to Whitney's songbook will keep Syesha from establishing her own identity though.

Michael Johns went for a song that sounded like the title was "It's All Wrong, But It's Alright" and recast it as a Claptonish blues ballad. Johns delivered what was for me the first performance of his I liked outright. No cliffnote mashing of two or three songs or editing down of ten minute songs, just a bit of a Joe Cocker vocal over Slowhand style guitar. The best of the night.

Dolly seemed a pleasant and cheerful mentor. Johns had the performance of the night while Smithson and Archuleta stood out as well. David Cook has enough mojo to keep going. Castro, Mercado and Lee Cook will probably be the bottom three. Now let's see how far off I am!