Nashville Star: The Finalists (CD - 2003)

Personnel: Vicki Hampton (vocals); Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar); John Jorgenson, Pat Buchanan (electric guitar); Robby Turner (steel guitar); Aubrey Haynie (fiddle); Terry McMillan (harmonica); Matt Rollings (piano); Randy McCormick (synthesizer); Chad Cromwell (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Cindy Walker, Curtis Young, Dennis Wilson , Jon Mark Ivey, Gretchen Wilson, Jim Chapman, John Wesley Ryles, Lisa Cochran, Lisa Silver, Miranda Lambert, Neil Thrasher, Anthony Martin, Wes Hightower, Bergen White, Liana Manis (background vocals).

Recording information: Emerald Entertainment; Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN; Soundshop Studios, Nashvill, TN; The Compound, Nashville, TN; The Sound Kitchen, Franklin, TN; Westwood Studios, Nashville, TN.

Photographers: Erick Anderson ; Rhett Butler.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show NASHVILLE STAR, just imagine the Reality TV concept of the ubiquitous AMERICAN IDOL transferred to contemporary country music. Then again, though the NS entrants are trying to propel themselves into the world of Toby Keith and Shania Twain, the material they cover on this disc of songs by the finalists leans heavily on some relatively traditional fare. Travis Howard, for instance, takes on Willie Nelson's classic weeper "Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain," and Brandi Gibson channels her inner Patsy Cline via the classic "Walking After Midnight." Other artists reach back to the catalogues of Buck Owens (Brandon Silveira's "Act Naturally") and the grandaddy himself Hank Williams (versions of "Hey Good Lookin'" and "Your Cheatin' Heart"). Would that such respect for country tradition was inherent in all of the current country singers who've already climbed the slippery slope to fame. minimize