The Train Wreck that is Nashville Star - Page 2

geddins · June 17th, 2008, 12:28 PM

I'm still hanging in there. I thought the Hewitt girl did a fantastic job on Ring of Fire and I liked the Garcia kid's cover of the CCR tune. The others were "ok" at best IMO.

I STILL think John Rich is giving the best advice of the 3 judges and I'm hopeful that as the shows plays on some of the acts will at least begin to develop a bit more.....Oh yeah....what's up with Coffey (caw-FEY)?

?

Who in the world names a kid that!?!???

Daddydex · June 17th, 2008, 12:33 PM

Yeah, I watched all but the last 20 minutes (thunderstorms knocked out the cable). I thought the Hewitt girl sounded better in the key she originally chose. He had her change to A but I guess they settled on Ab.

The bad monitor theory is busted. Trace Adkins was in tune. Nice guy, not a fan of his music.

I can't believe that model guy is still around. He is awful.

Dan

superchicken_VI · June 17th, 2008, 01:29 PM

My DVR died yesterday, so I missed it. I'm going to try to find a reair.

Or was that fate saving me? ?

hekawi · June 17th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geddins

I'm still hanging in there. I thought the Hewitt girl did a fantastic job on Ring of Fire and I liked the Garcia kid's cover of the CCR tune. The others were "ok" at best IMO.

if justice prevails, Ashlee Hewitt and Gabe Garcia will be the final two this season. i think they really seperated themselves from the pack this week and should gain confidence as the competition continues. Garcia is the real deal, but Ashlee's my favorite just 'cause she's so darn cute.

RCinMempho · June 17th, 2008, 02:39 PM

I could walk through downtown Nashville twice and cast a better set of contestants. Once on a good day.

Theusla · June 17th, 2008, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCinMempho

I could walk through downtown Nashville twice and cast a better set of contestants. Once on a good day.

I agree. I like watching the show, but in a nation wide search that is the best they could come up with. Give me a break.

51mike · June 17th, 2008, 04:32 PM

Agreed with all!

hekawi · June 17th, 2008, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCinMempho

I could walk through downtown Nashville twice and cast a better set of contestants. Once on a good day.

Heck, RC, you're in Memphis!! there's probably more talent than on NS driving by your house right now!

geddins · June 22nd, 2008, 10:44 AM

Not to chunk rocks at Jewell here....but if you saw the last episode you got to hear Jewell tell Ashlee Hewitt that she thought it was "musically better" that Ashlee was using Barre chords instead of the capo....that was the thrust of her whole critique...

This morning I'm watching "Private Sessions" on A&E and Jewell is the guest today. She's sang 3 tunes so far; played guitar on 2....capo on both

I guess she's not worried about being "musically better".

FWIW, I don't buy the notion that playing with a capo makes you less musical...it's all about voicing as far as I'm concerned.

I just find it hilarious that she would make a statement like that to someone ELSE and then do the opposite.

/rant

superchicken_VI · June 24th, 2008, 12:54 PM

Okay, I caught last week's on a re-air and watched last night's show on the DVR early this AM.

Wow.

Are they kidding with this group of contestants? The two girl-groups are high school talent show acts. The harmony singing is good on the 3-girl group, and okay on the 2-girl. I wouldn't stop in a mall going by the foodcourt to hear either of them sing. Laser-eyes should be in Myrtle Beach at one of the venues doing a Martina McBride tribute show. Coughaaay sounds like a bad boy band singer without his autotune on. The Hewitt girl is the winner, just stop the show now.

Isn't country pop enough without having them sing pop songs? That was horrible. 2 Cyndie Lauper songs? WTF is wrong with these people? This really is a train wreck this year. The backup dancers were bizarre, the guest "artist" sucked out loud and had prerecorded backups...

This is BAD. As in NOT GOOD.

Daddydex · June 24th, 2008, 01:16 PM

I couldn't figure out the capo comment either. It I was playing that song in that key with an acoustic guitar, I would use a capo. It would sound much better.

Mercifully I fell asleep last night and didn't catch much of the show. Garcia and Hewitt are the front runners but if this was American Idol they wouldn't have even made it to Hollywood.

Dan

emu! · June 24th, 2008, 01:56 PM

It was a hard choice last night...Nashville Star or The Bachalorette.

I am a bit surprised the beefcake dude was voted off. Maybe the young girls didn't have time to vote last week...you know...with the proms and all. Who were those 5 girls that tried to be singers during the break? Vanity something-or-other. Hope THEY get voted off.

The judges still confuse me. Especially the black cowboy hat guy. He mentions to one contestant that it is supposed to be pop turned into country...then...he tells another contestant to bring on the rock, baby!

And, why do the judges get on the young girl groups for looking at each other when they sing? Is there a rule against this? The daisy duke girls dancing in the background were the only thing that made it worth watching.

superchicken_VI · June 24th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emu!

And, why do the judges get on the young girl groups for looking at each other when they sing? Is there a rule against this?

It wasn't that they were looking at each and grooving on what they were doing, but more like "oh crap, I just wet myself and I can't remember what the next verse is" while the other looked back like "are you forgetting the words again?".

I really didn't like the "Love Shack" thing...They never sang a verse. They were very uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable--not as uncomfortable as when laser-eyes was trying to walk in those shoes--but uncomfortable never-the-less.

MandyMarie · June 24th, 2008, 02:18 PM

I watched this last night (for the first time) and couldn't even BELIEVE it...holy mackerole that show is awful.

You know what bugged me the most? ...the judges telling the contestants to sing country - and giving them little ways to make it sound more country. ARGH! Sing the way you sing! Don't be FAKE! Plllllllllllllllllllllllllllllease don't be fake....just sing the way you sing, people. I swear if Jewel would have told me that I would have flipped out. THAT is the exact reason mainstream country music is so phony...and she's encouraging it!

Rant over...whew...I dunno where that came from *blush*

superchicken_VI · June 24th, 2008, 02:40 PM

Aww, c'mon Mandy, that's on page 78 of the "How to go Country" guidebook. It's the page after how to fold up the sides of your cowboy hat just so and the correct font to use for your name on your guitar strap.

Don't tell me you want them to be original, authentic people! Heresy! They need to conform to an A&R stereotype so that the computer knows what slot to put them in the radio rotation. It's just like when the next song is released with "Johnny Cash" in the chorus they have to use it to replace the previous song with "Johnny Cash" in the chorus. They do it with "Jimmy Buffet", too, or the gratuitious use of steel drums. But in this case, it's so that they know that the guy is to slip into the Keith Urban slot, or the Kenny Chesney slot.

I'm with you, girl.

Doug Matthews · June 24th, 2008, 03:48 PM

Well, I wasn't sure of the night and was too busy last night anyway but I'm grateful for these comments because I'm going to pass on it for the balance of the season.

I'm a country fan (I guess I'd have to clarify that as "classic" country fan).

The other day I was surfing YouTube for Vern Gosdin material and came across this wonderful clip that included Vern, Emmylou and Charlie Louvin singing with lots of 3 part harmony. The only instrumentation was Charlie on the acoustic and it was all "live".

This has the "wow" factor IMHO (including Emmylou's appearance).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2uy5DaoySY

Thanks,

Doug.

jjh37854 · June 24th, 2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeydean

if nashville star has anything remotely to do with actual country music, i am the queen of spain.

ha!

+1

and John Rich is a douche

superchicken_VI · June 24th, 2008, 04:13 PM

John Rich is doing a good job on the show. He's not pulling punches, and I think his criticisms have been right on. In fact, other than a few comments from Jewel, I think that all 3 judges have been pretty much on-target.

The problem isn't with the judges, the band, or with Billy Ray Moron, but with the low quality of contestant.

guitarzan13 · June 24th, 2008, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superchicken_VI

John Rich is doing a good job on the show. He's not pulling punches, and I think his criticisms have been right on. In fact, other than a few comments from Jewel, I think that all 3 judges have been pretty much on-target.

The problem isn't with the judges, the band, or with Billy Ray Moron, but with the low quality of contestant.

+1
I have seen nothing special so far at all!

drjordan · June 24th, 2008, 04:42 PM

I'm continually amazed at what a bad host Billy Ray is. Wow, he's terrible.

I'm not really taken with Gabe. He's "country" I suppose, but I still don't think he's a very good singer. Little too nasally for my taste.

I like Ashley Hewitt, too. But I also like Shawn Mayer. I think she tries a little too hard to stand out with her song choice, but I do think she has a decent voice. If she gets better choosing her songs, I think she might be pretty good. I also thought Melissa's song was pretty good this week.

I'm glad we got rid of the model dude. He might have improved over last week, but how could he not. No where to go but up. I also think Tommy Stanley is a little weird to watch, but has a decent voice...relatively speaking. I think that Coffey dude borders on tone deaf half of the time. And the two girl groups are really bad. It's almost offensive to other high school productions to say they are like a high school talent show.

I kinda hope the last two are Ashley and Shawn. I think they have the best voices...they're cute too.

Zac Hacker should have waited another year instead of going up against his sister. With his voice, his guitar playing, and his songwriting he would have walked away with this season.

telel6s · June 24th, 2008, 05:42 PM

Caught some of last night's show for the first time this season.

How do they pick these songs? While I think it makes no sense to have supposedly country acts sing non-country songs (that would be like judging Dave Grohl's rock-n-roll singing based on how he can cover Billie Holiday or Ethel Merman), where do they come up with these tunes? Are the contestants given a list to pick from? Do they all get the same list?

How do you make Girls Just Wanna Have Fun or Bye, Bye Bye into country (even modern pop radio country)? And then the folks who sing those two have to compete with the woman who gets True Colors which is a great but simple ballad and can therefore transition across genres pretty easily. All for the sake of TV I think they set up some of the performers to fail on purpose (although the producers may not care which one fails).

superchicken_VI · July 1st, 2008, 12:31 PM

Okay, last night's show...Wow, the two girl groups need to go home in a bad way. The 2 girls in the striped shirts sounded awful, looked completely uncomfortable, and have no place on that stage. Laser eyes went home, and while she had no chance at winning, she was much better than the high school talent show act gone bad. I feel completely uncomfortable watching the Navy guy, and I will not give support to anybody who walks out holding a guitar but doesn't play it--and the 4 chords he played on the bridge don't count. I can't figure out why Mr. Coffee is getting votes. Just because you're small-town doesn't mean you're country, and I've yet to hear anything country come out of him.

The cute blonde should be duking it out with the big girl for the title, and I much prefer the cute blonde. The first time I heard big girl, I figured she'd do a full season of Martina McBride covers. So far, all I've heard has been her singing like others, rather than being herself. I'm not a big fan of Gabe, but at least he seems to be himself rather than trying to be somebody else. His authenticity will carry him a long way.

All in all, last night was better than previous shows by a long stretch, but still not what it should be for this level of competition. I think the judges are baffled by how poorly the contestants are prepared. Not much "star" on that stage.

emu! · July 1st, 2008, 02:59 PM

OK

I am getting more and more convinced that the so called "judges" are told ahead of time to be nasty and rude. The two dude judges make me nausious when they lean back in their chairs, rest their chins on their fingers, and smirk at the contestants. They look like 2 creepy guys that sit at the foot of the main stage at a topless bar.

Jewel was telling the contestants to move more and put on more of a show on stage. Have you ever seen Jewel on stage? Me thinks she needs to take some of her own advice.

When John Rich told Coffey, "Wearing a cowboy hat doesn't make a person country", I couldn't stop laughing. That statement coming from a guy WHO WEARS A COWBOY HAT and was in a pop band (Lone Star) and now raps with Kenny Big...HOW IRONIC.

Gabe was the winner last night, IMO. The two high school girls were singing worst than me...and that's illegal in most countries.

June 17th, 2008, 12:28 PM	#41 (permalink)
geddins Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2005 Location: Texas Age: 46 Posts: 1,939	I'm still hanging in there. I thought the Hewitt girl did a fantastic job on Ring of Fire and I liked the Garcia kid's cover of the CCR tune. The others were "ok" at best IMO. I STILL think John Rich is giving the best advice of the 3 judges and I'm hopeful that as the shows plays on some of the acts will at least begin to develop a bit more.....Oh yeah....what's up with Coffey (caw-FEY)? ? Who in the world names a kid that!?!??? __________________ www.myspace.com/gregeddins

June 17th, 2008, 12:33 PM	#42 (permalink)
Daddydex Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,715	Yeah, I watched all but the last 20 minutes (thunderstorms knocked out the cable). I thought the Hewitt girl sounded better in the key she originally chose. He had her change to A but I guess they settled on Ab. The bad monitor theory is busted. Trace Adkins was in tune. Nice guy, not a fan of his music. I can't believe that model guy is still around. He is awful. Dan __________________ Teles are like Mr. Potato head

June 17th, 2008, 02:39 PM	#45 (permalink)
RCinMempho Tele-Holic Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Memphis, Tennessee Posts: 758 2 Photos	I could walk through downtown Nashville twice and cast a better set of contestants. Once on a good day. __________________ Thanks to sites like the TDPRI, I've gone from pentatonic wanking to vastly more sophisticated wanking.

June 22nd, 2008, 10:44 AM	#49 (permalink)
geddins Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2005 Location: Texas Age: 46 Posts: 1,939	Not to chunk rocks at Jewell here....but if you saw the last episode you got to hear Jewell tell Ashlee Hewitt that she thought it was "musically better" that Ashlee was using Barre chords instead of the capo....that was the thrust of her whole critique... This morning I'm watching "Private Sessions" on A&E and Jewell is the guest today. She's sang 3 tunes so far; played guitar on 2....capo on both I guess she's not worried about being "musically better". FWIW, I don't buy the notion that playing with a capo makes you less musical...it's all about voicing as far as I'm concerned. I just find it hilarious that she would make a statement like that to someone ELSE and then do the opposite. /rant __________________ www.myspace.com/gregeddins

June 24th, 2008, 01:16 PM	#51 (permalink)
Daddydex Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,715	I couldn't figure out the capo comment either. It I was playing that song in that key with an acoustic guitar, I would use a capo. It would sound much better. Mercifully I fell asleep last night and didn't catch much of the show. Garcia and Hewitt are the front runners but if this was American Idol they wouldn't have even made it to Hollywood. Dan __________________ Teles are like Mr. Potato head

June 17th, 2008, 01:29 PM	#43 (permalink)
superchicken_VI Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Monroe, NC Age: 36 Posts: 1,515	My DVR died yesterday, so I missed it. I'm going to try to find a reair. Or was that fate saving me? ?

June 17th, 2008, 04:32 PM	#47 (permalink)
51mike Tele-Holic Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Webster, NY Age: 58 Posts: 609 11 Photos	Agreed with all!

June 24th, 2008, 12:54 PM	#50 (permalink)
superchicken_VI Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Monroe, NC Age: 36 Posts: 1,515	Okay, I caught last week's on a re-air and watched last night's show on the DVR early this AM. Wow. Are they kidding with this group of contestants? The two girl-groups are high school talent show acts. The harmony singing is good on the 3-girl group, and okay on the 2-girl. I wouldn't stop in a mall going by the foodcourt to hear either of them sing. Laser-eyes should be in Myrtle Beach at one of the venues doing a Martina McBride tribute show. Coughaaay sounds like a bad boy band singer without his autotune on. The Hewitt girl is the winner, just stop the show now. Isn't country pop enough without having them sing pop songs? That was horrible. 2 Cyndie Lauper songs? WTF is wrong with these people? This really is a train wreck this year. The backup dancers were bizarre, the guest "artist" sucked out loud and had prerecorded backups... This is BAD. As in NOT GOOD.

June 24th, 2008, 01:56 PM	#52 (permalink)
emu! Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Location Location Posts: 1,127	It was a hard choice last night...Nashville Star or The Bachalorette. I am a bit surprised the beefcake dude was voted off. Maybe the young girls didn't have time to vote last week...you know...with the proms and all. Who were those 5 girls that tried to be singers during the break? Vanity something-or-other. Hope THEY get voted off. The judges still confuse me. Especially the black cowboy hat guy. He mentions to one contestant that it is supposed to be pop turned into country...then...he tells another contestant to bring on the rock, baby! And, why do the judges get on the young girl groups for looking at each other when they sing? Is there a rule against this? The daisy duke girls dancing in the background were the only thing that made it worth watching.

June 24th, 2008, 02:18 PM	#54 (permalink)
MandyMarie Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Indianapolis, IN Age: 28 Posts: 2,516 65 Photos	I watched this last night (for the first time) and couldn't even BELIEVE it...holy mackerole that show is awful. You know what bugged me the most? ...the judges telling the contestants to sing country - and giving them little ways to make it sound more country. ARGH! Sing the way you sing! Don't be FAKE! Plllllllllllllllllllllllllllllease don't be fake....just sing the way you sing, people. I swear if Jewel would have told me that I would have flipped out. THAT is the exact reason mainstream country music is so phony...and she's encouraging it! Rant over...whew...I dunno where that came from blush __________________ our wacky little hillbilly band

June 24th, 2008, 02:40 PM	#55 (permalink)
superchicken_VI Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Monroe, NC Age: 36 Posts: 1,515	Aww, c'mon Mandy, that's on page 78 of the "How to go Country" guidebook. It's the page after how to fold up the sides of your cowboy hat just so and the correct font to use for your name on your guitar strap. Don't tell me you want them to be original, authentic people! Heresy! They need to conform to an A&R stereotype so that the computer knows what slot to put them in the radio rotation. It's just like when the next song is released with "Johnny Cash" in the chorus they have to use it to replace the previous song with "Johnny Cash" in the chorus. They do it with "Jimmy Buffet", too, or the gratuitious use of steel drums. But in this case, it's so that they know that the guy is to slip into the Keith Urban slot, or the Kenny Chesney slot. I'm with you, girl.

June 24th, 2008, 03:48 PM	#56 (permalink)
Doug Matthews Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Brandon, Manitoba Posts: 137	Missed it Again Well, I wasn't sure of the night and was too busy last night anyway but I'm grateful for these comments because I'm going to pass on it for the balance of the season. I'm a country fan (I guess I'd have to clarify that as "classic" country fan). The other day I was surfing YouTube for Vern Gosdin material and came across this wonderful clip that included Vern, Emmylou and Charlie Louvin singing with lots of 3 part harmony. The only instrumentation was Charlie on the acoustic and it was all "live". This has the "wow" factor IMHO (including Emmylou's appearance). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2uy5DaoySY Thanks, Doug.

June 24th, 2008, 04:13 PM	#58 (permalink)
superchicken_VI Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Monroe, NC Age: 36 Posts: 1,515	John Rich is doing a good job on the show. He's not pulling punches, and I think his criticisms have been right on. In fact, other than a few comments from Jewel, I think that all 3 judges have been pretty much on-target. The problem isn't with the judges, the band, or with Billy Ray Moron, but with the low quality of contestant.

June 24th, 2008, 04:42 PM	#60 (permalink)
drjordan Tele-Meister Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Oxford, GA Age: 27 Posts: 154	I'm continually amazed at what a bad host Billy Ray is. Wow, he's terrible. I'm not really taken with Gabe. He's "country" I suppose, but I still don't think he's a very good singer. Little too nasally for my taste. I like Ashley Hewitt, too. But I also like Shawn Mayer. I think she tries a little too hard to stand out with her song choice, but I do think she has a decent voice. If she gets better choosing her songs, I think she might be pretty good. I also thought Melissa's song was pretty good this week. I'm glad we got rid of the model dude. He might have improved over last week, but how could he not. No where to go but up. I also think Tommy Stanley is a little weird to watch, but has a decent voice...relatively speaking. I think that Coffey dude borders on tone deaf half of the time. And the two girl groups are really bad. It's almost offensive to other high school productions to say they are like a high school talent show. I kinda hope the last two are Ashley and Shawn. I think they have the best voices...they're cute too. Zac Hacker should have waited another year instead of going up against his sister. With his voice, his guitar playing, and his songwriting he would have walked away with this season.

June 24th, 2008, 05:42 PM	#61 (permalink)
telel6s Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 1,176 80 Photos	Caught some of last night's show for the first time this season. How do they pick these songs? While I think it makes no sense to have supposedly country acts sing non-country songs (that would be like judging Dave Grohl's rock-n-roll singing based on how he can cover Billie Holiday or Ethel Merman), where do they come up with these tunes? Are the contestants given a list to pick from? Do they all get the same list? How do you make Girls Just Wanna Have Fun or Bye, Bye Bye into country (even modern pop radio country)? And then the folks who sing those two have to compete with the woman who gets True Colors which is a great but simple ballad and can therefore transition across genres pretty easily. All for the sake of TV I think they set up some of the performers to fail on purpose (although the producers may not care which one fails). __________________ Mama always said, "A little tone is good for the soul."

July 1st, 2008, 12:31 PM	#62 (permalink)
superchicken_VI Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Monroe, NC Age: 36 Posts: 1,515	Okay, last night's show...Wow, the two girl groups need to go home in a bad way. The 2 girls in the striped shirts sounded awful, looked completely uncomfortable, and have no place on that stage. Laser eyes went home, and while she had no chance at winning, she was much better than the high school talent show act gone bad. I feel completely uncomfortable watching the Navy guy, and I will not give support to anybody who walks out holding a guitar but doesn't play it--and the 4 chords he played on the bridge don't count. I can't figure out why Mr. Coffee is getting votes. Just because you're small-town doesn't mean you're country, and I've yet to hear anything country come out of him. The cute blonde should be duking it out with the big girl for the title, and I much prefer the cute blonde. The first time I heard big girl, I figured she'd do a full season of Martina McBride covers. So far, all I've heard has been her singing like others, rather than being herself. I'm not a big fan of Gabe, but at least he seems to be himself rather than trying to be somebody else. His authenticity will carry him a long way. All in all, last night was better than previous shows by a long stretch, but still not what it should be for this level of competition. I think the judges are baffled by how poorly the contestants are prepared. Not much "star" on that stage.

July 1st, 2008, 02:59 PM	#63 (permalink)
emu! Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Location Location Posts: 1,127	OK I am getting more and more convinced that the so called "judges" are told ahead of time to be nasty and rude. The two dude judges make me nausious when they lean back in their chairs, rest their chins on their fingers, and smirk at the contestants. They look like 2 creepy guys that sit at the foot of the main stage at a topless bar. Jewel was telling the contestants to move more and put on more of a show on stage. Have you ever seen Jewel on stage? Me thinks she needs to take some of her own advice. When John Rich told Coffey, "Wearing a cowboy hat doesn't make a person country", I couldn't stop laughing. That statement coming from a guy WHO WEARS A COWBOY HAT and was in a pop band (Lone Star) and now raps with Kenny Big...HOW IRONIC. Gabe was the winner last night, IMO. The two high school girls were singing worst than me...and that's illegal in most countries.