'American Idol' Top 11: Gone country

Hey y'all, it's time for our live recap of "American Idol" on country night! So sit back, grab your girl, your dog and the keys to your pickup truck and follow along live with us. Don't forget to keep hitting refresh and commenting on the action as we go!

Ryan starts the show by wishing us a Happy St. Patrick's Day and points out that the show might get better after a couple of pints. Truer words have never been spoken, Mr. Seacrest. Unfortunately, I'm stone sober. After the usual meaningless judges banter, Ryan cuts to a package on the incomparable Grand Ole Opry. Seeing as I just moved to Nashville, I'm more excited than reason allows to see my newly adopted hometown on the boob tube. After the prerequisite pimping of Carrie Underwood, Ryan introduces country legend Randy Travis, who gives the gang pointers on the ins and outs of country and takes the time to say these contestants are perhaps the best group of finalists yet. Isn't that what they say every year?

Michael Sarver, "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)"
Up first is resident roughneck Michael Sarver singing a song with more words in a 30 second span than most songs have in their entirety. He tries his hardest but the sheer pace of the song and his attempts to work the stage make the song come out like he just ran a marathon and was forced to immediately sing karaoke at the finish line. Not bad, but definitely not his best.

Randy likes the song for showing Michael's fun side but didn't think it showcased his voice. Kara gives him props for remembering all the words but misses the big notes he normally hits. Paula thinks the genre suits him. Simon didn't understand a word he said, which tickles me. That crazy Brit and his not understanding our country music.

Allison Iraheta, "Blame it on Your Heart"
Allison picks probably the perfect song for her voice and, to top it all off, looks really cute in her red leather jacket. It matches her hair! I love the rocker edge she brings to the song. Overall, just a really solid job.

Kara kicks things off by telling her she brings it every week and was great. Paula praises the power of her voice and the rock edge she brings to the songs. Hey, that's what I just said! Agreeing with Paula frightens me a little but, but okay. Simon thinks it was good but it seemed like she was struggling to find the lyrics at times. Allison disagrees. Randy thought it was "dope." Oh, Randy.

Kris Allen, "To Make You Feel My Love"
Kris starts off earning my ire by saying he's singing a Garth Brooks song, which I suppose he technically is but can someone please remember that Bob Dylan originally wrote and recorded this song? Thank you. Chris sings without his guitar tonight, perched lounge-style on a bar stool. It's nice, and pretty, and controlled, and he's very pretty himself. The falsetto note at the end, however? Not so pretty, but maybe that's just my ears.

Paula is pleasantly surprised by his honest, vulnerable performance. Simon thought it was terrific and a great choice of song. Kara didn't even think it sounded country. Hmm...the Bob Dylan thing rears its head again!

Lil Rounds, "Independence Day"
Lil gets the Ryan stool sit-down treatment, which sounds a lot nastier written out than it did in my head. She's singing AI staple "Independence Day," which is a pretty risky move considering how much Carrie Underwood absolutely OWNED this song during her season. Seeing as Lil has a great voice, nothing she sings sounds terrible but it's definitely not her best.

Randy thinks the song choice was interesting but thought it didn't feel comfortable on her for him, and then actually says she should have chosen "I Will Always Love You." Stereotype much, Randy? Kara praises Lil for her great voice and says it was good Lil stood her ground as an artist even if it wasn't her best performance. Paula says everything was spot on, but she should have only sang one verse. Um, okay. Simon says she felt and looked uncomfortable and should have took a country song and made it fit her, not tried to make her voice fit a country song. That's pretty good advice, actually.

Adam Lambert, "Ring of Fire"
Adam is the second stool-ee of the night. (Coming up with weird ways to say stool is fun!) Adam is singing a Middle Eastern-inspired version of "Ring of Fire," and the look on Randy Travis' face when he gets a load of Adam, Adam's hair and fingernail polish, and Adam's offbeat take on this classic Johnny Cash song is priceless. Priceless. Okay, confession time. Adam and his carefully styled hair and carefully chosen outfits drives me batty. He's got a great voice, though, and this song is definitely another instant Adam Lambert classic, for better or for worse. At times during the song he reminds me of The Mars Volta, which is a good thing. Overall: strange, but also strangely interesting. At least he didn't pull out Live's version again.

Kara is rendered almost speechless at first, finally settling on "strange but I liked it." Paula praises him for staying true to who he is as an artist and says he sounded like a Kashmir Led Zeppelin. Wow, that's actually a really good description. Simon flat comes out and says "what the hell is that?" Ha! He thinks those of us in Nashville are throwing their TVs out the window, but Simon obviously doesn't realize that a good portion of the music scene here has nothing to do with country. Randy loved it and compares it to hearing Nine Inch Nails doing a country song. Not really, Randy, but thanks for trying. Paula even came up with a better comparison than you.

Scott MacIntyre, "Wild Angels"
Randy starts off doubting Scott's song choice of the Martina McBride classic, but by the end of their practice session comes around and thinks he's going to do a great job. Scott starts it off slow, highlighting his awesome piano skills, but picks it up at the verses and turns it into an uptempo, piano-bar styled take on the song. There were several bum notes in there, just like last week, and I hope the judges call him out on it. I enjoy piano-based music, though, so overall it was very pleasant for me.

Paula says he did a lovely job but the piano has become a bit of a crutch for him and wants him to mix it up a bit. Simon thinks that is a stupid thing to say, obviously because he thinks if Scott is out there onstage without the piano he'll fall into the audience or something. Who is being more offensive in this scenario, Paula or Simon? I think it's a toss-up. Simon says the performance was too similar to last week's and didn't stand out enough for him. Randy doesn't think it's Scott's song choices but the vocals that aren't strong enough. Finally, someone says it! Scott is a mediocre singer and a great piano player. Kara wants him to up his game, but thinks he brings class and poise to the stage.

Alexis Grace, "Jolene"
Alexis is the next one to get stooled and says that everyone backstage thinks the show is great so far. Ryan tries to get her to weigh in on the latest Paula and Simon fight, but she admits she didn't even see it. Ha! Foiled again, Seacrest. Alexis is singing one of my favorite country songs, because Dolly Parton is the greatest. Love you, Dolly! There are moments of greatness, but also some surprisingly bad moments as well. It will be interesting to see what the judges say.

Randy thinks she didn't hit all the notes and thinks her attempts to add some blues to the mix didn't quite work. Kara thinks she lost her edge this week. Paula thinks that song was more effective for her than the other judges might because she could show the vulnerable, soft side of her as a performer. Simon thought it was okay, but a bit sound-alike. Alexis doesn't know what sound-alike means, but Simon nicely explains. Hee.

Danny Gokey, "Jesus, Take the Wheel"
Danny takes even more of a risk than Lil by taking on an actual Carrie Underwood song, not just one she sang on the show during her season. Danny is obviously a fan of Randy Travis because he can barely get the song out in his presence. It's very cute. Danny comes out in a ridiculous white jacket very similar to one I bought at Express in college (many, many moons ago) which makes it hard for me to take him seriously. His song starts out only okay, and seeing as this song is all about the power chorus it makes me wonder why he sang so much of the boring verses. Fortunately for him the chorus sounds great. He's just got a quality to his voice that makes you want to listen to him.

Kara has to wait eleventy minutes for the crowd to stop cheering so she can get a word in edgewise. When she gets the chance to talk she says the beginning of the song was quite boring but halfway through he really kicked it into gear and made the song work. Paula liked the quiet moments so she could appreciate the powerful ones more, and thinks Carrie Underwood herself would buy that record. Simon doesn't agree with that, but does agree with Paula about liking the quiet parts. He then disses Danny's jacket, a point with which I have already stated my agreement. That's a bad, bad jacket. Randy agrees that he needs to work on the verses but he's a great singer, and likes the jacket (of course).

Anoop Desai, "Always On My Mind"
Anoop is worried about country because it isn't his forte, but he makes his first good decision by choosing the beautiful "Always On My Mind." Randy is pretty much blown away by Anoop's version of the song, and all of the talking up is making me anxious to hear it already! He comes out and absolutely kills it, infusing the song with emotion and gravity and hitting every last note to perfection. Go Anoop! This is what I've been waiting for all night and we finally got it: an unequivocally great performance.

Paula says he's back and says the song fit him like a glove and he touched her heart. Simon says he just managed to go from zero to hero, and calls it one of his favorite performances of the whole night. He even takes back his declaration from last week and says Anoop definitely deserves to be in the show. Randy says this is why they wanted him in the competition. Kara praises his ability to take a classic, untouchable song and do such a great job with it, calling it the biggest surprise and best performance of the night.

Megan Joy, "Walking After Midnight"
Randy immediately questions the song choice saying it's been done every way imaginable. Once Megan sings her version, however, Randy admits he hasn't heard it this way before and likes it very much. Megan looks gorgeous in her long dress (and amazing tattoo). The song is interesting, sort of a cross between Amy Winehouse and Bjork on a tame day. I think her style is a total love it or hate it thing, but I strangely can't decide which side of the fence I fall on. I might love it. But oh, those dance moves. They are terrible.

Randy thought it was going to be a train wreck, but ended up impressed. Kara gives her props for getting out there in the middle of having the flu. She says this over the sound of poor Megan's coughs, by the way. Paula also praises her fighting spirit, mentioning that Megan missed rehearsals because she was at the hospital. Hard core. Simon thinks she should have the flu every week because she sounded great.

Matt Giraud, "So Small"
Matt is also taking a risk by singing a Carrie Underwood song. These people have stones! I like it. I've actually never heard this song before so I can't compare it to the original, but his arrangement is really nice and takes the song from country to adult pop, which I like. The arrangement is especially nice in the chorus/bridge section. He hits some bad notes throughout, but none so bad as the last note. Don't go so high, Matt. Overall, though, my favorite arrangement of the night and one of my favorite performances. I'm a sucker for a good piano-based pop song.

Kara says it was amazing and she loves him. Paula loves the honesty he brings with his delivery and says he's "piercing people's hearts." Simon thinks he hasn't gotten enough credit for his vocals in the competition so far, and even says he outsang Danny tonight. Randy calls it his favorite performance of the night and says something about Justin Timberlake and Michael Buble that I don't fully understand. Stick to the dawgs and dopes, Randy.

Recap: Michael had his mouth full, Allison rocked it out, Kris was nice but bland, Lil bit off more than she could chew, Adam freaked everyone in the room out, especially Randy Travis, Scott missed some notes and was a bit boring, Alexis had some trouble with a Dolly classic, Danny struggled at first but found his footing in the chorus, Anoop brought down the house, Megan battled through the flu and won, and Matt turned a Carrie Underwood song into his own.

Who's in trouble? By my guess, Michael, Alexis and Lil might have a hard time tomorrow. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Adam or Scott up there either. I can never predict what America will do.

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