Live Blog: Nashville Star, Season Six, Episode One

It seems a bit anti-climatic to be watching Nashville Star auditions when the finalists have already been announced, but NBC doubtless has some tricks in store to make the network debut of Nashville Star entertaining nonetheless. Tonight’s premiere will also feature a live performance by Taylor Swift, though I don’t know how NBC plans to integrate the live and recorded portions of tonight’s program nor how much live material they plan to include. Find out by visiting The 9513 tonight at 8 p.m. central for our live blog of the good, the bad and the ugly of the season premiere of Nashville Star.

11:16 - Matt C:

Wrap-up: I think we’ve just watched the beginning of the end of Nashville Star. The premiere was even worse than I feared, with several contestants performing not country-pop songs but bona fide pop songs, none of the contestants sounding like they belonged outside of the karaoke bar, and NBC staging a nauseatingly heavy-handed feel-good sob fest. I think that we can say goodbye to classic country covers, original songs, and all of the other things that made USA Network’s version at least somewhat enjoyable.

Worst performance: Charley Jenkins, “I Like it, I Love it.” The judges got it right when they eliminated Jenkins. His performance exhibited a remarkable lack of control and some of the strangest vocal runs that I’ve ever heard. I didn’t hate his performance as much as I did the Colbie Caillat and Train covers, but those songs were better performed.

Best performance: Gabe Garcia, “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.” The question of the week is, is Gabe Garcia for real? I thought Angela Hacker was real after her stunning performance of “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am” on last season’s premiere, but then she followed that up with “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “When Will I Be Loved,” essentially performing the same song three times, and didn’t have a decent performance thereafter. She turned out to be a one-trick pony, and I fear that Gabe Garcia will turn out to be the same thing. If not, Nashville Star may have found a legitimate artist.

Should be eliminated next week: Tommy Stanley. The sailor’s performance was just barely better than the Charley Jenkins debacle, but I suspect that his military status will earn him enough sympathy votes to stick around for a few weeks.

Will be eliminated next week Alyson Gilbert. I’d like to hear more from Alyson because I think she could do much better with a different song. However, her performance on the premiere was quite weak. She’s a beautiful woman but not a pretty young man, and thus she won’t get any crush votes from the teeny boppers in the show’s audience, and her performance was neither strong nor remarkable enough to earn the support of the real music fans who watched tonight’s episode.

10:56 - Matt C: Thanks for coming, folks. I’ll post a wrap-up at the top of this live-blog in a few minutes, including my choices for best performance of the night, worst performance of the night, and who I think should go home next week.

10:55 - Matt C: The judges got it right in the end, however. I agree that Charley was the weakest of the twelve, if you give those who sang pop songs a pass on preparing for the wrong competition.

10:53 - Matt C: It’s a shame that two contestants who actually sang country songs wound up in the bottom two, thus further concentrating the pop-wannabes.

10:52 - Matt C: Charley and Alyson are in the bottom two. The judges got that one right.

10:49 - Matt C: The 9513’s own Brady Vercher declares: Ok, we’re taking bets on who will be the first person kicked off. Who will it be?

10:47 - Matt C: I was expecting Melissa to have Wynonna-type pipes, but that performance was surprisingly airy. It was good, but very unremarkable, not nearly what the judges are making it out to be. I kept expecting to hear a growl in her voice that just never came.

10:44 - Matt C: That’s right, Melissa: you don’t have to be a size six to be a superstar; you have to be a size zero.

10:43 - Matt C: Sorry, but Melissa Lawson gets an ‘F’ in the marketability category on a show that seems to be obsessed with that.

10:41 - Matt C: So, get this:
Jeffrey Steele: “I didn’t like that performance.”
Jewel: “Why?”
Steele: “I don’t know. It was kind of pitchy.”
Steele seems to have lucked in to being on the right side of most of the performances so far, but he’s the least articulate judge that Nashville Star has had yet, even worse than Randy Owen on last year’s premiere.

10:38 - Matt C: Really, I was expecting lots of Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift, but this year’s Nashville Star isn’t even giving us that. Justin Gaston sings “Drops of Jupiter,” another song that has no apparent connection to anything related to country music. He doesn’t sound half bad, but he’s in the wrong competition.

10:36 - Matt C: Check out this sob story: JUSTIN GASTON AGE: 19 HOMETOWN: Pineville, Louisiana CURRENT HOME: Los Angeles, California Originally from Louisiana, Justin left home at age 17 to pursue a career in music, while supporting himself as a model. Only after suffering heartbreak from breaking up with his long-distance girlfriend did Justin realize how isolating living on his own can be at a young age. With his good looks and great voice, Justin is the ultimate teenage country heartthrob.

10:35 - Matt C: The judges were way too kind towards Charley Jenkins’ voice. That was a great example of complete lack of understanding of one’s vocal limitations.

10:33 - Matt C: Charley Jenkins is confusing twang with pitchy, warbly awfulness in his version of “I Like it, I Love it.”

10:30 - Matt C: I guess that I’ve lost my ability to be surprised by what passes for country music these days. Blake Shelton, one of the most reliable country singers left, covered Michael Buble and I was scared when I kind of liked it. I’m saddened to think that “Bubbly” might be next.

10:26 - Matt C: On the other hand, what’s the difference between Colbie Caillat and Jewel?

10:24 - Matt C: Wow, Colbie Caillat is one artist who I thought I’d never hear confused with country music. Boo, Ashlee Hewitt.

10:17 - Matt C: John Rich seems quite determined to attribute every instance of bad singing to “nerves.”

10:15 - Matt C: I’m impressed with Alyson Gilbert’s beauty, but not her voice. I can hear how she could be good, but “Suds in the Bucket” is the wrong song for her. It’s too up-tempo and in the wrong key.

10:14 - Matt C: Sam G. is right: Gabe Garcia: Could ya tell he was from Texas at all? Voice was good, but I want to hear how he does outside of the honky tonk arena. A surprising number of the acts that sound good on the first night turn out to be one-trick ponies. See last year’s winner, Angela Hacker.

10:12 - Matt C: I’d hate to see NBC market this guy as Tex-Mex, because he’s not, but he is a good country-western singer. He’s poured from the George Strait mold.

10:10 - Matt C: Gabe Garcia singing, wow, a country song. “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.”

10:07 - Matt C: Baron Lane: Taylor (Swift) could learn a thing or two on vocal styling from mating house cats.

10:04 - Matt C: Laura & Sophie give a surprisingly classy performance of “Stand By Your Man” but, unfortunately, it’s more “cute” than “good.”

10:01 - Matt C: Jewel just had a pitch issue while challenging Steele about pitch issues.

9:59 - Matt C: Really, I ask: when did “Give Me the Beat Boys” become a country song? Coffey loses major points on song selection. That’s the third time we’ve heard this song tonight.

9:56 - Matt C: Steele was right about Third Town sounding like a county fair routine, as they basically performed an Oak Ridge Boys imitation. Of course, that reality makes Rich’s criticism sound all the more stupid: the lack of a “lead vocalist” didn’t seem to hurt the ORB’s hit version of “Elvira.” He’s right in general about the group needing an identifiable leader, but wrong about that particular performance.

9:53 - Matt C: Things are getting better. Third Town looks rather odd, but that’s the best performance so far.

9:51 - Matt C: Third Town is singing the Dallas Frazier-penned “Elvira,” which I guess qualifies as “classic country” given that Dallas put it out in the 60s.

9:49 - Matt C: The judges’ criticisms here are well-founded, but it’s odd that they reserve them for the first singer that we’ve heard tonight.

9:48 - Matt C: Shawn Mayer is performing “Piece of My Heart” Faith Hill style and, to my ear, she’s the best artist that we’ve heard so far. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much.

9:48 - Matt C: Chris N. has made the best discovery of the night: I’d like to call your attention to Megan Mullins, who plays fiddle in the NS house band. She’s about eight times more talented than any of the contestants. www.meganmullins.com

9:45 - Matt C: John Rich and Jeffrey Steele tried to offer some (very poorly expressed) criticism of Stanley, but it seems rather two-faced when you smile your way through the performance and then tell him he did “a good job” and give him a standing ovation. Where’s the curmudgeon with the British accent and acerbic wit? This is a feel-good show, through and through.

9:40 - Matt C: Tommy Stanley is a study in interpretive blindness. He has no idea what he’s singing about and I don’t think that he particularly cares.

9:37 - Matt C: Jewel is (implicitly) right. Just because you’re a trio doesn’t mean that you have to harmonize every second of every song. I expect most of this show’s duos and trios to fall into that trap.

9:36 - Matt C: Pearl Heart really look like the stars of the next Disney show.

9:34 - Matt C: Pearl Heart sings first.

9:30 - Matt C: So, Nashville Star has made it pretty clear that Taylor Swift is its muse. That doesn’t bode well for what is starting to look like a very long season.

9:28 - Matt C: The really sad thing is that all of the contestants are backstage taking notes right now.

9:27 - Matt C: This deal of the judges dancing through every performance is going to get old really quickly. Kind of blows the whole objectivity thing out of the water as well.

9:26 - Matt C: No, I should have never doubted myself. Taylor sounds even worse than the contestants.

9:22 - Matt C: Comments after the first couple of segments:

• I’m glad that there were no spectacles among the auditions, but disappointed that we barely got a chance to hear the contestants
• NBC’s approach to marketing this show is shamelessly exploitative and contrived
• This year’s “Nashville Stars” seem remarkably untalented

9:21 - Matt C: NBC just set a new standard for corny.

9:20 - Matt C: Good Lord, Jewel’s playing along. All of the judges are enjoying this very poor performance way too much.

9:19 - Matt C: So far, the first 20 minutes of this show have been like the end of every bad movie that I’ve ever seen.

9:17 - Matt C: Jewel: “it’s all like high school good. It’s not big league good.” God, what I’d give to hear her say that to Taylor Swift later tonight.

9:15 - Matt C: Wow, someone knows a Tammy Wynette song. Wanna bet they learned it from Hillary Clinton?

9:13 - Matt C: “Give Me the Beat Boys” has now been performed twice. Surely, that’s a country song.

9:10 - Matt C: It seems like NBC is a few years behind in the country formula. They’re stuck in the era of overwrought childhood cancer ballads of triumph over trials when the story of the last few years is artists like Julianne Hough who don’t even know how to spell adversity.

9:09 - Matt C: Another one of our commenters, Sam G., has the formula all figured out: One of the contestants is apparently in the Navy. If he has a wife with a young child at home, they may as well crown him champion tonight and be done with it.

9:08 - Matt C: Looks like NBC had a few fireworks left over from “American Gladiators.”

9:08 - Matt C: John Rich wins the early irony award: “I will not accept any artist on this show who is fake about anything.”

9:07 - Matt C: I love me some sailors, but the navy man isn’t nearly as talented as they made him out to be. Brady has it right: It seems like they’re searching out marketable stories rather than genuine talent.

9:05 - Matt C: I think that BRC is the only person who hasn’t cried on camera yet. Just wait, it’s coming.

9:04 - Matt C: Jeez, think the producers are going for “drama” this year?

9:00 - Matt C: Looks like we’re live to start with.

8:45 - Matt C: Things will be getting underway here in just a few minutes, so before the show starts, I’ll summarize what I’ll be watching for. Despite what the NBC trollers that dropped by seem to want us to pay attention to, I have no interest in the Charla Corn vs. Thirdtown controversy. Instead, I’m interested in:

• On which side of the pop/country divide the judges (and, implicitly, the producers) will fall
• The early years of Nashville Star showcased many traditional singers, but the show has become progressively more pop-oriented. Will any auditioning singer perform what could be described as a “classic country” song? How many of those auditioning will even perform country songs?
• Whether the auditions will showcase the 12 finalists and other competitive candidates or American Idol-esque weirdos
• How NBC will manage to integrate the show’s live and recorded portions and tap-dance around the fact that there is absolutely no suspense in the audition process now that we know the identity of the 12 finalists

See you in a few minutes!