American Idol: Season 8 Randy Travis Mentors

Country music legend Randy Travis mentored the American Idol contestants this week. Ryan Seacrest mentioned Simon's distaste in the genre almost immediately. Simon Cowell has made no attempt to hide his hatred of country music, but he too shall struggle through. The American Idol: Season 8 top 11 are (for the most part) more seasoned that groups of the past. Only Allison Iraheta has the youth factor, and it showed slightly tonight.

There were no train wrecks tonight, which was nice for a change. There were a few very pleasant surprises.

Anoop Desai was the biggest surprise, showing why he did belong on the AI stage. He may not have done enough to stay in the competition though. Anoop Desai did quite enough to renew my faith in his singing ability. Performing a heartfelt, almost tearful version of Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind", Anoop pleased the audience and the judges tonight.

Adam Lambert had yet another love/hate performance, putting a middle eastern spin on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Randy Travis looked appalled by every aspect of Adam Lambert. He said he didn't know any men that wore fingernail polish. Adam did not impress Randy Travis in any way before or after tonight's performance. I really wanted to hate it... but I didn't. By the end I was sucked into his theatrical world again. Simon Cowell absolutely hated Adam Lambert's performance. He may just be playing up the "I don't like the favorite" card. If this is Adam's worst week, I am impressed.

Matt Giraud closed the show well tonight. He covered Carrie Underwood, scaring the ba-jeepers out of Randy Travis at first. Matt sold the new version with some really strong vocals tonight. This is definitely the first time I've considered Matt a front-runner for the AI: Season 8 title.

The disappointments were few tonight. Alexis Grace seems to have lost her early mojo. Her performance of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" left a ton to be desired.

Lil Rounds seemed completely out of her element. Then again, she was. Lil needs to learn to rearrange the music so she stands out more. She may not make it as far as I thought if the mediocre performances keep up.

Megan Joy Corkrey gets the 'Working While Deathly Ill' award tonight. Megan Joy was taken to the hospital earlier today (according to Paula Abdul) and missed the AI run through. Ryan Seacrest confirmed that Corkrey has influenza according to her doctor. She coughed through the entire judge comment part.

Michael Sarver is in real jeopardy this week. Not because he was bad, but he was forgettable. It is a tough guess at who will go home this week. I will go with the oil rigger Sarver.

For a full recap of the show and judge comments visit my blog.