Janis Joplin nets standing 'O' for Bowersox on 'American Idol' - recap

By April MacIntyre Mar 24, 2010, 5:07 GMT

Crystal Bowersox, courtesy of FOX

American Idol contestant Crystal Bowersox had a transcendent moment tonight on the reality TV show.

Her effort made a sometimes schlocky karaoke contest into a full-on star is born moment.  Mentor Miley Cyrus (age 17) gave her good advice in reaching for some elusive higher notes.

Bowersox is a 24-year-old musician and single mother from Toledo, Ohio, who earned the judges' highest praise, and favored son Andrew Garcia took another hit from the disappointed group on the Fox singing competition Tuesday. 

His awkward rendition and arrangement of Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine" made Simon say "you sucked the soul out of it...and made yourself really, really corny."

Simon ended it with, "You don't know who you are as an artist."

Bowersox just nailed Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" - and Cowell told her he wouldn't have changed a thing, but the other judges wanted more emotion, or something. 

Paige Miles was off-key and is a dead man walking based on her wincing performance.  Randy Jackson said her rendition of Mariah Carey's "Against All Odds" was "honestly terrible."

Another awful, pandering performance was given by Tim Urban, the Zac Efron doppelganger 20-year-old college student from Duncanville, Texas. He belted out Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and slid across the stage on his knees.

DeGeneres compared his stage exploits to a bad "High School Musical" audition, while Jackson declared: "The dopest thing that you did was the slide, dude." Randy is funny sometimes.

An amazing vocal performance was delivered first by 23-year-old Lee Dewyze of Mount Prospect, Ill., with The Box Tops' "The Letter." He is a dark horse.

Cape Cod girl Siobhan Magnus belted "Superstition," and she was terrific once again.  Bowersox's biggest competition.

Aaron Kelly of Sonestown, Pa., suffering with laryngitis and tonsillitis nailed Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing;" and Casey James,27, of Fort Worth, Texas, delivered Huey Lewis and The News' "The Power Of Love."

Another meh performance was given by Did Benami, 23, who sang Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good."

"It was like a musical," said Cowell, "the bad part of a musical."

Katie Stevens sang "Big Girls Don't Cry." She has a voice but something lacks here.

What say you all? Who goes Wednesday?