American Idol Infuriates John Rich
- In an effort to pump up awareness for Nashville Star John Rich attacked American Idol, saying the show infuriates him as an artist.
“You can tell when somebody’s comment was scripted. You can tell when they told an artist, ‘Wear this, and sing that, and do that.’ That’s not the way it’s going to work on this show,” he said of “Nashville Star.”
Fox responded with the following statement:
“John Rich’s ungentlemanly and opportunistic comments are particularly disturbing considering the fact he attended a taping of ‘American Idol’ last April, told producers, judges and performers he enjoyed himself and also did an interview with a crew from ‘American Idol Extra’ where he was extremely complimentary toward the show.”
- Tickets for Willie Nelson’s annual Fourth of July concert are now on sale.
- Alison Bonaguro says the second video for Ashton Shepherd’s “Takin’ Off This Pain” shows another side to the budding country singer.
- Gretchen Wilson dropped out of school at age 15 to get away from a troubled home, but when her daughter entered school she wanted to be a good role model and began work towards her GED, which she recently earned at age 34. Linda Zettler traces the events of Wilson’s early years to her rise as the “Redneck Woman.”
- Merle Haggard thinks today’s country music is more about belly buttons than guitars.
- KSON posted a pretty cool interview on YouTube with the Randy Rogers Band from the Stagecoach Festival in California. Their new album, titled Randy Rogers Band, is expected to drop on September 23rd.
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a food Q&A with Trisha Yearwood about her new cookbook and the kind of recipes you can expect to find in it.
- Check out Jamey Johnson’s MySpace blog for an audio file of him talking about “In Color.”
- Kenny Chesney’s concert in Austin, TX on Thursday was primed by Austin’s Curtis Grimes and LeAnn Rimes, who Michael Hoinski describes as wearing a “form-fitting short-skirt dress that left little to the imagination.” Chesney’s setup was bathed in corporate advertising, right down to his steel-toe boots.
- In a CMT Insider interview he recounts the events that led up to, and followed, his foot getting smashed.
- Frank Scheck and Ben Ratliff agree that Dolly Parton’s medley of vintage rock hits at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday was excessive, but her voice remains pristine.
- The Spoof posted a fictitious story about a Nashville singing legend named Buford T. White who died in bed at the age of 87.
Police Investigators say that evidence shows that Billy Joe Jim Bob Stevenson returned home from his job at the feedlot to find his wife in bed naked with White. His first shot was the fatal one, hitting Buford in the heart. A second shot in the crotch was eerily reminescent of the famous White hit “Put Down the Gun, Son, And Please Don’t Blow My Pecker To Heaven.”
- USA Today and the Los Angeles Times have great wrap-ups of Stagecoach Festival.
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May 5, 2008 at 11:47 am Permalink
John Rich’s comment = blatant publicity stunt for Nashville Star. Loved Fox’s reply though.
Having Nashville Star on network TV just scares the hell out of me…
May 5, 2008 at 11:59 am Permalink
Nashville Star always feels so scripted, stilted and awkwardly overproduced.
May 5, 2008 at 12:01 pm Permalink
“John Rich said American Idol infuriates him as an artist.”
Ummm, who was it that had a show where he tried to teach rappers, etc. to be “country stars”?
Thanks, I needed a good laugh today. :-) Tear ‘em down John. lmao
May 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm Permalink
I relented and attended the Stagecoach Festival on Saturday. I was drawn primarily by the Bluegrass and Americana artists and completely avoided the sets by Luke Bryan, Sucky Covington, Talor Swift, Dierks Bentley, and Rascal Flatts. I could hear the thumping from the main stage down at the Bluegrass and Americana tents, but the sonic interference wasn’t near as bad this year as the previous year.
It was great to see The Judds back together and Dwight Yoakam put on a great show as well. Crystal Shawanda was okay and Jypsi displayed a lot of musical talent. 16 year old Jypsi lead singer Lillie Mae wore a classy black and white mini-dress that made her look like a ’60’s Mod, a vast improvement over their usual circus get ups! I asked Lillie about the delay in the CD release of their debut album and she wasn’t even aware of it! Sheesh….
Other acts I caught included The Riders In The Sky, The Greencards, Cherryholmes, Sam Bush, and the legendary Earl Scruggs who brought along Jon Randall to sing and pick a mean acoustic guitar. Earl had his two sons with him and Opry fiddle player Hoot Hester and a cute little young brunette on the dobro who looked like a teenager. Definitely a highlight..
I got a slight taste of the Teaxs Red Dirt scene with Ryan Bingham (do some people really consider this music?) and Cross Canadian Ragweed. These bands were way too rocky for my tastes, but I can see how young folks could like them. Hayes Carll was by far the standout artist with a homespun set and sense of humor that really sucked the audience in. He is a fine storyteller and treats the audience like they were an old friend. Highly recommended! The Kentucky Headhunters are still cranking out first rate southern fried boogie rock and were a lot of fun to listen to. The kicked the ass of CCR when it came to playin countrified Rock N’ Roll…..
News Alert! Los Angeles gets an Americana Festival!!
Junior Brown, Dale Watson, Wayne Hancock, The Hacienda Brothers, Dave Alvin, Rosie Flores, Jesse Dayton and more will be featured at “The Ink and Iron Festival” in Long Beach by the Queen Mary June 6 through 8. Bikers, tattoos and Americana/Roots Music, what more could you ask for? Well, I sure would like Jesse Dayton to bring Brennen Leigh along…
Website: http://www.ink-n-iron.com
Hey, It may not be the ACL but its better than no Americana Festival at all! (lol)
May 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm Permalink
John Rich is an embarrassment to Nashville. I hope we can get an disclaimer on the screen every time he speaks on his new TV contest that states he’s from Texas and NOT Tennessee or we are all going to look like bigoted hicks.
May 5, 2008 at 8:20 pm Permalink
John Rich infuriates me, pretty much comprehensively.
May 5, 2008 at 10:15 pm Permalink
Don’t forget EW’s review of Stagecoach. Pretty entertaining (and honest).
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/country_yall/index.html
I thought about going, as it’s practically in my backyard, but I’m glad I didn’t. Sometimes, reading well-written reviews is more entertaining than paying a FORTUNE to fight massive crowds to listen to a bunch of your not-so-favorite artists sing 50 minutes of their biggest (but rarely their best) hits over a bad sound system.
Maybe next year… :)
May 6, 2008 at 7:14 am Permalink
Rick:
Are you sincerely asking if Ryan Bingham’s work is actual “music”? What aspect(s) of his performance compells you to ask such a headscratching question? He has very little to do with Cross Canadian Ragweed musically and has one of the stronger fan-bases outside of texas of any artist that folks might consider “red dirt”. The promoter of the festival picked Bingham as the artist to watch from the weekend based upon his performance even (usa today), so I have a hard time imagining it could be that bad, especially since I have seen him display his talent live also…please give some insight!
May 6, 2008 at 7:42 am Permalink
I was at that Dolly show at Radio City and yes I could have done without the oldies segment, but you knew Dolly was going to let her backing singers have some time in the spotlight.
She was amazing!
May 11, 2008 at 4:10 pm Permalink
Who is John Rich? Another one of those dico singers who claims to be a country singer. Country music has hundreds of them nowdays. Country music is anything but, I don’t even listen to the radio anymore. I play my old tapes and, new CD’s from the 50’s 60’s & early 70’s. I’ll take George Jones, Willie, Cash, and all the other real country singers!
May 11, 2008 at 4:35 pm Permalink
Gretchen Wilson dropped out of school at age 15 to get away from a troubled home, but when her daughter entered school she wanted to be a good role model and began work towards her GED, which she recently earned at age 34.
That’s an interesting comment. I’m a professor and former high school teacher and I know a little about the GED. It’s really great Wilson got hers, even if she waited until age 34. But it’s also telling about her. Assuming average intelligence and attention, it should take a 34 year old less than a day to successfully study for the GED. If it really required a lot of “work towards her GED” it might explain her career fizzle and her inability to get past the “redneck among rednecks” perception. She might be one of those people who is anti-education, and most adults understand that an attitude like that will hurt most careers.
May 11, 2008 at 4:40 pm Permalink
“You can tell when somebody’s comment was scripted. You can tell when they told an artist, ‘Wear this, and sing that, and do that.’ That’s not the way it’s going to work on this show,” he said of “Nashville Star.”
Say what you want about John Rich but this statement seems right to me. I am surprised if anyone thinks AI isn’t extremely scripted and the performers guided in what they say and do.
I have enjoyed watching many episodes of this season but I’ve never once thought of it as spontaneous in any way. That’s just what AI is and it does very well because of it. Plus, many of the performers are relatively young and amateurs. They aren’t probably true artists yet even though most are very talented. They have yet to develop their internal voice and full artistic personality.
So what exactly is wrong with what Rich said?
June 7, 2008 at 2:59 pm Permalink
You know what? It’s about time someone stood up to that show! Is it even a competition now? Its not like the Oscars where they have a company count the votes! Plus Country music has hotter chicks anyway! I’ll be watching Nasville Star this Monday on NBC!
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