By April MacIntyre Jul 2, 2008, 19:25 GMT
It was family night on NBC's Nashville Star this last Monday, as Billy Ray Cryrus’ daughter Noah Cyrus introduced her dad onstage.
The nine remaining "Star" finalists performed two songs each.
First up was Ashlee Hewitt, who sang the pop hit, “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Jewel not so impressed, “I really liked watching you go from the piano to the guitar, but it still looks a little bit clinical.” Jeffrey Steele referenced “The Barbara Mandrell Show, and John Rich said, “You’ve got to start strong and finish strong.”
Her second song was “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” Judges were lukewarm.
Coffey sang country oldie, “Hey Good Lookin’.”
Judges have stopped loving the Coffey. Jeffrey Steele said, “Too little, too late.” John Rich lambasted him. “First of all, a cowboy hat don’t make you country. You can’t fake your way through country music. Every song up until now has been Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop. I think you got confused when you came to the auditions. There’s a show called American Idol…” "You’re not a country singer, brother,” Jewel said. Oof.
Coffey wasn’t having it; he claimed he was country and listed his farm chores and all. Then he performed “Take Me Home Country Roads.” Jewel was his only fan, “I know that you have great country roots.”
Navy veteran Tommy Stanley sang “God Bless The Broken Road.”
John Rich compared him to Coffey. “You have to concentrate on trying to sing country music. It seems like you’re concentrating on trying to go there.” Jeffrey Steele said, “I’ve been hanging my hat on Gave as our country guy. I saw something tonight.” Jewel said, “You seemed a little bit self-conscious tonight.”
His second song was Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” That sort of killed it for all three judges.
Trio Pearl Heart sang, “I’ll Still Be Loving You.”
Jeffrey Steele shared an intensely personal story about the loss of his son and what the song meant to him, so I was bawling my eyes out through all that B Roll. I had no idea.
John Rich said, “When you really got it right, it was really, really good. Now, what you’ve got to work on is getting it right top to bottom.” Jewel said, “When you guys started sitting down and then you stood it was a really easy mechanical thing that you can do to bring up emotion.”
Pearl Heart sang “One Way Ticket” for the second song.Jeffrey Steele said, “I need three girls giving 100% in order to make this one.”
Female favorite Melissa Lawson sang “This One’s For The Girls.”
Jewel loved her, “You did a great job tonight having a really warm, fat tone on the bottom, and you sang the high notes great, and you look cute.” Jeffrey Steele told her to make sure she got the low stuff- “just as important as you got the big stuff.” John Rich said, “If Nashville Star was over tonight, you would be the undisputed winner of this show.” (This was before Gabe Garcia hit the stage)
Her second song was “Landslide.” John Rich noted her nerves. “Whatever that has to be in your head, go there, because you are by far and away the greatest singer on this show right now.”
Shawn Mayer sang “Breathe.”
Jewel said her voice showed powerful vocals. Jeffrey Steele said, “I like when your voice gets less ambitious.” John Rich said, “I was impressed with that. I think that was some of the best singing you’ve done so far.”
For her second song, “Forever And Ever Amen.”
Judges noted she blew that one. One good performance, and one bad.
Crowd and judges’ favorite Gabe Garcia sang “Wanted Dead or Alive.” He nailed it.
Jeffrey Steele said, “What are all the hardcore country fans going to think when they hear you rocking like that.” John Rich hails Garcia, “You’re the best male singer on the show.” Jewel loved him too.
For his second song, Garcia sang “The Fireman.” Jewel praised his authenticity.
The remaining two artists, Alyson Gilbert and Laura & Sophie sang their songs each, and the bad news fell to Alyson.
After Alyson sang, John Rich summed it up: “I think you had moments of brilliance…moments, but moments don’t make it at this point.”
Gilbert was eliminated from the competition.
Monsters and Critics spoke to Alyson on Tuesday.
Can you offer a critique or commentary on the three judges – and where their strengths and weaknesses lay?
Alyson Gilbert: Sure. I think that as far as John Rich is concerned his strength is really just being a straight talker telling us exactly what he thinks. You never have to wonder if he’s sugar coating it. A weakness might be that he sometimes comes across as maybe arrogant which I don’t think he is. But I know I’ve had people say that to me.
Jeffrey Steele - his strength is really just being a tough critic but doing it in a real kind way and non-offensive way. And I haven’t had as much time to work with him so I don’t know I can’t say as much about him as I can John.
Jewel, I think she just brings a uniqueness, she’s kind of new to the country scene with her newest album. And I think she brings an aspect of experience in the pop and folk industry. And that can be helpful when trying to possibly make crossover hits.
I think that Jewel doesn’t know that much about me personally. I think she’s just basing it off what she’s seen. I respect her opinion. And I think she’s an amazing musician. But she doesn’t know me, know me. And so I think that it’s just one of those things. (I’m) like okay. I’ll go do some soul-searching I guess.
I think that probably we would get along just fine on a daily basis. I think we just -- as far as musically -- we don’t quite connect. People like different things about people for different reasons. And she just didn’t like me. And that’s okay.
I feel really honored to have been able to be critiqued by them because I think it’s going to really help me out.
What country music influenced you growing up? And what did you really love?
Alyson Gilbert: Gosh, when I was little my mom listened to the Judds all the time. And I always really loved them. And then it kind of morphed into I’ve always been a huge Faith Hill fan. And Faith and Martina and - have been two big influences in my life. And really they were the voices that made me want to sing country music.
So it seems Gabe Garcia is the preordained one that’s going win - just from watching it every week. I was wondering if that was your opinion or if you wanted to go on record and predict the winner?
Alyson Gilbert: Gosh I don’t ever want to, like, presume or predict. But I do think Gabe is a very strong frontrunner He just is straight up country.
And I think that the audience of Nashville Star is country fans. And they want to hear country singers and country music. And he’s country to the core. So I think he definitely has a huge, huge chance of winning.
Who else do you find compelling to watch and listen to that you really admire on the show?
Alyson Gilbert: I love Melissa Lawson. I think she has a powerful, amazing voice. And Pearl Heart - I’m always in awe of their harmonies. They just have this sibling harmony. And it’s just incredible. It’s like one person singing but yet it’s these three little teeny, tiny girls.
How tough was the experience for you?
Alyson Gilbert: It’s a very high pressure experience, You’re out of your comfort zone. You’re away from your intimate support system like your family and your friends. And you kind of have to go internally in yourself to find the strength to keep going.
I think that you don’t always have to do that in your everyday life because there’s people there to kind of encourage you and tell you - you did great.
It was tough. But it was an experience that I feel very fortunate to have been able to have. And I think it’s going to make me - or I think it did make me a stronger person within myself for sure.
What was the most important thing John Rich gave you?
Alyson Gilbert: John - the best thing about John was, he said, if you’re not tough enough to take my critique then you’re not tough enough to get beat up then you’re not tough enough for this industry. And you really need to think about it.
And I thought what? That is so true. And I tried to keep that mentality every time, , a judge gave me a tough criticism. I just had to say okay and get knocked down and stand back up. And (he’s) been really just kind of brought that to the forefront of my brain. And I think that helped me out a lot.
Did your mom’s presence help you - or did it give you added confidence?
Alyson Gilbert: Having my mom there - she’s been at a lot of performances since I was a little girl. And for me it wasn’t added pressure. It was just great to have her there.
I know that she’s 100% behind me period. And there isn’t any question. I never question whether or not she thinks I’m great. And that can really be a huge help in high pressure situations.
What were the time limits on the song performances?
Alyson Gilbert: I think we had about a minute and 45 seconds for our first song. And I think we got the longer time because there’s less people, So you get a little bit more time.
And then the 45 second one was, I think, just an opportunity to kind of get up and do a little something different than - and give the audience an opportunity to hear you one more time. And I think they did that because next week it is a double elimination. And so they really wanted people to have a little bit of added time to see what everybody brought to the table.
What would your second song have been?
Alyson Gilbert: I was going to sing Angels from Montgomery by Bonnie Raitt/John Prime.
Will you go back to like veterinary science at school?
Alyson Gilbert: Well, my schooling was always my second thing that - I mean I’ve worked - I do gigs on the weekends - Thursday on. And I would just go to classes. And it was something that I wanted to finish my degree in.
I thought if I didn’t do it soon I was afraid I would run the risk of never going back. And animals are something that I love. And so I wanted to get my undergrad in that. And I will finish it one way or the other whether it’s online or going back on a full-time basis.
Music is really in the forefront of my mind and what I love and what I want to do. And I’m going to continue to pursue that heavily - especially now.
Music business or Veterinary medicine, which is harder?
Alyson Gilbert: Gosh, the thing that is kind of nice about, , having the school and having music is it’s entirely up to me how well I do in school. And in the music industry it’s not always necessarily up to you how things go. And so it’s kind of been a good balance for me.
As far as similarities there’s pressures with tests and finals and doing well. And then there’s pressures with gigs and performances and doing well. They have their uniqueness and they have obvious differences.
But there’s always pressure when you’re doing something that is difficult and not everybody does. There’s always that level of difficulty. And I think that’s a similarity in the music industry and going into, the animal science field which is a very technical and difficult field.
Did you ever sing to your animals?
Alyson Gilbert: Yes, well I have a cat, Basia. And she and I we - she’s a kitten - loves to - when I sing -- whenever I sing -- she comes running and I pick her up. And we - and I just - if I’m rehearsing for something I just carry her around and sing to her. And she puts her paw in my face all the time. And that’s really fun.
I think animals very much respond to music. I know mine do. And I think they’re similar to people in that way if they’re stressed or it can - you can calm them down with music. It really does work.
Glad you did it?
Alyson Gilbert: To be honest, my smile at the end was completely genuine. I was so happy to have had that experience. And I was happy that if I was going to go out I got to go out and my mom was there. And I, , I knew that I was going to be able to see them at the end.
It was very bittersweet. But, I like to smile in my life. I think, too many times people don’t smile enough. I think you just have to any opportunity that comes your way take full 100% advantage of it. And that’s what I intended to do.
I really want to hit the ground running and work every angle that’s handed to me. And, , do every interview I can and really just continue getting as much exposure as possible. And I think that’s how you make it work, just stay in the public eye as much as you can.
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