Nashville Star - Week Five

In case I haven't mentioned this before, the winner of this season's Nashville Star will be performing during the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  Which will be about a month.  That means the winner has just four short weeks to transform theirself into a mega performer in order to be able to pull off an Olympic performance.  All I can say is with the contestants left, good luck.  Tonight two contestants were eliminated. 

Tommy Stanley - eliminated 2 minutes after the show started.  He didn't even get to perform tonight before getting the boot, thank goodness.
Melissa Lawson - sang "Danny's Song" by Anne Murray.  Sang a ballad with power and control; good enounciation; good version and arrangement of the song.  Made the song her own.  Will still be in the final two. 
Laura and Sophie - sang "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline. Walked out on stage holding hands after getting into fights all week long. Still act like they're singing in front of the mirror in their bedroom; slurred too much; dance moves were awkward.  Horrible version of an awesome song. Made it through this week by a miracle.
Gabe Garcia - sang "Somebody Like You" by Keith Urban. Great vocals; made the song his own. More at ease on stage this week; good crowd interaction; moved around more on stage; biggest response from the crowd during this week's show. Still the only true country singer on the show. Will still be in the final two.
Shawn Mayer - sang "First Cut Is The Deepest" by Sheryl Crow. Terrible version and arrangement; took a few lines to figure out what the song was. Tried to sound like Dolly Parton; vocals were weak; looked like she was going to burst out in tears.
Coffey - sang "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner. Blues version of the song was cool but it wasn't country; too much vibrato and way too many gimmicks (tossing the guitar to the side, knocking over the mic stand; running through the audience). Too much audience interaction and not enough emphasis on vocals.
Ashlee Hewitt - sang "Take The Money And Run" by Steve Miller Band.  Not country enough; tried to sound like Taylor Swift - there's already one Taylor Swift and country music doesn't need another one; performed barefooted. 
Pearl Heart - sang "Ain't Going Down Till The Sun Comes Up" by Garth Brooks. Excellent arrangement; could hear all of the words clearly on the fast song; good harmonies; electric guitars were a cool addition; their best performance so far.

After Tommy Stanley was eliminated, Ashlee Hewitt and Pearl Heart remained in the bottom two, but Pearl Heart got the boot.  I was very disappointed - they have natural talent and have potential that can be molded into great performers. 

Listening to Ashlee Hewitt talk her way through her song a la Taylor Swift almost made my ears bleed, but this week Laura and Sophie are the winners of the Performance That Made My Ears Bleed.  I have a rule that nobody other than Patsy Cline should sing Patsy Cline songs. And Patsy Cline is dead.  Nuff said.