Nashville Star hopefuls descended upon Lower Broadway for the first night of only three to narrow down the field of the 56 remaining artists.
The stakes and hopes were flying high on Lower Broadway last night as the remaining field of 56 hopefuls began their final auditions for the producers and judges of USA Networks upcoming season of Nashville Star. The final auditions are taking place over the course of the next three days in downtown Nashville at the well-known honky-tonk, The Stage with about 20 artists performing two songs on each night.
Local WSIX DJ, Newman was the evenings emencee and began by letting the audience know that this year's Nashville Star Judges will consist of returning judge, Anastasia Brown, along with Randy Owen of Alabama) and Blake Shelton.
The night's entertainment started with Mike Rodgers, a local honky-tonker that has performed for thousands over the years in Downtown Nashville. Odds are that if you've ever been to Lower Broadway, you've been entertained by Mike, better known as the Honkytonk Hitman. Hats off to whomever placed the Honkytonk Hitman as leadoff for the night cause he held true to his local reputation of getting the night off in high-energy style.
As the evening progressed and the artist performed one by one to a standing room only crowd, all were good but we thought that several did stand out above the rest and I was glad that I wasn't one of the judges sitting up on the balcony that night because the amount of musical talent in the room was just incredible. All were different in their own way, whether it be vocals or songwriting and each contestant brought their own unique and individual style swinging the entire pendulum scale of talent.
Tonight we noted several returning artists from prior years who had made the regional finals once again including Carrie Furman, who has actually made it to the regionals every year since the inception of Nashville Star and once again her incredible vocal skills blew the audience away as she performed an original tune entitled, "Because I Want To." Other returning regional finalists included: Ashley Grutter, Josh Helms, and Mike Rodgers.
Another performance that stopped us in our tracks came when Meg Allison performed an original entitled "Somebody's Angel", a song she wrote after watching a TV show and although it was written about a lonely boy with Turrets syndrome, it has a wide potential to reference just about any lonely child who just needs a friend.
The overall big news of the night for avid Nashville Star fans, other than the formal announcement of the upcoming season's judges was the confirmation of taping date of Nashville Star's first show which will be on January 5th, 2007.
In other news we were told that Rose Falcon would not be performing so it looks like Nashville Star is already down to 55 regional finalists, with more hitting the axing block in the near future.
Scene & Heard:
In the crowd, were Jewels Hanson, former Nashville Star finalists and one of this years open call judges; this years regional finalists Bob Neace who performs on Thursday and John DeLucia, also known as Johnny D who is scheduled to perform on Friday.
We got the chance to talk with Johnny D and were surprised to find that he was a former member of Tequila Sunrise and more amazingly was the fact that the person who took his place after he left them was none other than former Nashville Star finalist Sean Patrick McGraw.
Also spotted in the crowd were several local Music Row management representatives scooping out the entertainment along with the owners of a printers alley club, Ms Kelli's, which also hosted an impromptu after-party in which fans were further entertained later that night, by several of the performers.
Set List
*Denotes original song
More Nashville Quick Tips
The stakes and hopes were flying high on Lower Broadway last night as the remaining field of 56 hopefuls began their final auditions for the producers and judges of USA Networks upcoming season of Nashville Star. The final auditions are taking place over the course of the next three days in downtown Nashville at the well-known honky-tonk, The Stage with about 20 artists performing two songs on each night.
Local WSIX DJ, Newman was the evenings emencee and began by letting the audience know that this year's Nashville Star Judges will consist of returning judge, Anastasia Brown, along with Randy Owen of Alabama) and Blake Shelton.
The night's entertainment started with Mike Rodgers, a local honky-tonker that has performed for thousands over the years in Downtown Nashville. Odds are that if you've ever been to Lower Broadway, you've been entertained by Mike, better known as the Honkytonk Hitman. Hats off to whomever placed the Honkytonk Hitman as leadoff for the night cause he held true to his local reputation of getting the night off in high-energy style.
As the evening progressed and the artist performed one by one to a standing room only crowd, all were good but we thought that several did stand out above the rest and I was glad that I wasn't one of the judges sitting up on the balcony that night because the amount of musical talent in the room was just incredible. All were different in their own way, whether it be vocals or songwriting and each contestant brought their own unique and individual style swinging the entire pendulum scale of talent.
Tonight we noted several returning artists from prior years who had made the regional finals once again including Carrie Furman, who has actually made it to the regionals every year since the inception of Nashville Star and once again her incredible vocal skills blew the audience away as she performed an original tune entitled, "Because I Want To." Other returning regional finalists included: Ashley Grutter, Josh Helms, and Mike Rodgers.
Another performance that stopped us in our tracks came when Meg Allison performed an original entitled "Somebody's Angel", a song she wrote after watching a TV show and although it was written about a lonely boy with Turrets syndrome, it has a wide potential to reference just about any lonely child who just needs a friend.
The overall big news of the night for avid Nashville Star fans, other than the formal announcement of the upcoming season's judges was the confirmation of taping date of Nashville Star's first show which will be on January 5th, 2007.
In other news we were told that Rose Falcon would not be performing so it looks like Nashville Star is already down to 55 regional finalists, with more hitting the axing block in the near future.
Scene & Heard:
In the crowd, were Jewels Hanson, former Nashville Star finalists and one of this years open call judges; this years regional finalists Bob Neace who performs on Thursday and John DeLucia, also known as Johnny D who is scheduled to perform on Friday.
We got the chance to talk with Johnny D and were surprised to find that he was a former member of Tequila Sunrise and more amazingly was the fact that the person who took his place after he left them was none other than former Nashville Star finalist Sean Patrick McGraw.
Also spotted in the crowd were several local Music Row management representatives scooping out the entertainment along with the owners of a printers alley club, Ms Kelli's, which also hosted an impromptu after-party in which fans were further entertained later that night, by several of the performers.
Set List
- Mike Rodgers -
Born to Boogie - Something Like That - Ashley Grutter
Can't Let Go - Bottle of Good Wine* - Andy Eutsler
Better Life - Drinkin n Cryin* - Brigid Kaelin
Jambalaya - Future Mr. Used-to-Be* - Patrick Vandiver
Wherever You Are - Love You for a Long Time* - Marcy Hook
Can't Let Go - Full Figure Woman Song* - Johnny Orr
Last Day of My Life - Flying High* - Jesse Lee
Born to Fly - The Bottle Broke* - Meg Allison
Walkin' After Midnight - Somebody's Angel* - Larry Bagby
Born to boogie - Player With A Heart* - Deborah Cade
Can't Let Go - Thing of the Past* - Matt Stell
Lonesome Onry n Mean - *Original - Amanda Leigh
Leave the Pieces - New Strings - Josh Helms
Burn Me Down - Can I Get a Witness* - Allie Holroyd
Thing Called Love - Baracuda - Marc Fortney
Dust on the Bottle - Beer Gut* - Marcy Reynolds
Why - Fancy - Carrie Furman
Sin Wagon - Because I Want To* - Tim LaRoche
Jambalaya - Southern Belle*
*Denotes original song
