American Idol Goes To Dollywood!
American Idol kicked off Dolly Parton week tonight with a bang as each contestant took on some of Dolly’s biggest hit songs. The show began with an unfunny Ryan Seacrest making an April Fools Day joke followed by a brief but cute video segment highlighting Dolly’s vast career as a singer/songwriter followed by her singing “9 To 5″ at a piano with all the contestants. Most contestants gave decent, or as Simon Cowell would say, “unmemorable” performances of Dolly’s songs with a few notable exceptions: Michael Johns ended the show with an powerful rendition of “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right” to which all the judges loved. Carly Smithson gave “Here You Come Again” a more mellow yet emotional touch with mixed reviews from the judges. Jason Castro made a good song choice by picking Dolly’s Oscar-nominated “Travelin’ Thru” which fit his folksy singer/songwriter voice. But the performance of the night was David Archuleta as he belted out an emotional “Smoky Mountain Memories”, receiving high praise from the crowd and judges with Randy Jackson calling it the best performance of the night and Simon Cowell saying he was “absolutely on the money”. Here is the full list of tonight’s performances:
- Brooke White - “Jolene”
- David Cook - “Little Sparrow”
- Ramiele Malubay - “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”
- Jason Castro - “Travelin’ Thru”
- Carly Smithson - “Here You Come Again”
- David Archuleta - “Smoky Mountain Memories”
- Kristy Lee Cook - “Coat Of Many Colors”
- Syesha Mercado - “I Will Always Love You”
- Michael Johns - “It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right”
All performances from tonight’s show, both the live versions and full-length studio versions, will be available tomorrow for download on iTunes. Tune into American Idol’s live results show tomorrow night at 9 PM to watch Dolly perform her new single “Jesus & Gravity” from Backwoods Barbie. Here’s a clip from tonight’s show:
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 am
wow dolly is so adorable in that satin dress shes just as beautiful now as she did then on hannah montanna
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Dear Dolly
I watched you tonight on American Idol. You are without a doubt a beautiful, intelligent, amazing and enthusiastic performer. I viewed a bio on A&E…your stamina and persistence was so impressive. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my husband has had 2 back surgeries. He is 100% disabled but refuses to collect disability for monetary reasons…he’s my hero…Watching you tonight made me forget the problems in my life.
Thank you Dolly, you are truly an inspirational woman.
Love Theresa
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Hooray for Dolly!!!! We just watched the show and have never been more proud to be a Christian. We loved the fact that she sang about Jesus on such a high profile national show!!!! And she approached Simon with “Halleluia!! How are you doin’ Simon?” She used the opportunity to witness and we love her for it. Simon has been so negative toward anyone who professed Christianity through all these seasons. It did our hearts good to watch her. What a lady!!!! We love you Dolly. Great is your reward.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 am
Dolly made me proud last night. As a Christian, I know it took a lot of courage and boldness to sing about Jesus in the American Idol arena. I know Christian songs haven’t been well received by the judges in the past (case in point, David Archuleta’s song last week). I don’t know if Dolly knew that, but she sang about her Savior anyway. Wow! Thank you for representing us Christians who can’t sing in that type of venue, Dolly.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:06 am
Dolly, write a song for Michael John.