Casey Abrams and James Durbin Shine on 'American Idol' On April 27, 2011

Fox, Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 8 PM (ET) The "American Idol" performances of Carole King's song book by the 6 remaining contestants featured good work by all, but outstanding work by two contestants in particular.

First to perform was Jacob Lusk, who sang "Hold On, My Baby", and attempted to do a bit of dancing as well as singing. Steven Tyler, following Jacob's performance, said, "I wondered when you were going to shake your tail-feathers." Jennifer Lopez said that Jacob had "killed it" while Randy commented that it was "a little sharp here and there," but ended with positive comments. Jacob's outfit was quite odd: a plaid jacket, a bow tie, and a yellow shirt with a blue vest. It looked as though Good Will had made a house call with threads from the '70s. I think Jacob is in big trouble.

Lauren Alaina sang second and performed the lyric "Where you lead, I will follow" with her hair straightened this night. She had on an attractive one-shouldered dress. Jennifer Lopez felt that Lauren was "proud and pushing." I felt the song and its performance were lackluster. At one point a young man (Brett, age 19) sat next to Lauren on the steps to the stage as she sang. Steven Tyler commented on "the character in your voice" but, to the rest of most viewers, Lauren-who is undeniably talented if rather young---is getting boring.

Third performer was Scotty McReery, who sang his usual countrified version of "You've Got A Friend." The one thing different about Scotty's performance tonight was that he was encouraged to start softly and in the tenor range, which all judges commented on. Randy, however, cautioned Scotty, "Don't fall off the high notes." Jennifer Lopez commented on how much better Scotty was this week, saying, "That's why we couldn't let you get away with what you did last week." I liked the post-song banter, when Ryan Seacrest commented that Scotty seemed to be singing the song to just one special person out there (picture Scotty arching his eyebrows) and Scotty asked, cluelessly, "Well, who is it?"

Fourth up was James Durbin who chose "But Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" a far better known song from Carole King's catalogue. (Now is not the time to break out obscure songs nobody has ever heard of.) The a capella beginning, with James accompanying himself on guitar, was riveting and beautiful. He hit a high note on the lyric "tomorrow" that was beautiful and marked him as not just a screamer and a rocker, but someone who can sing with the best of them. Steven Tyler felt it necessary to share with the world that he first made out with a girl in a bowling alley to the strains of "But Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and leaned over to Randy and said, "And, no, Randy. I didn't strike out." Jennifer Lopez called the performance "magical' and said to James, "You were the star of the night with that one, for me." I agree. Randy said James was "bringing it hard" and even went down onstage to hug James and scream, "This guy might just win the whole thing." Holding his hand above James' head while pointing at him and screaming "Crazy!" might have been politically incorrect, but James probably also picked up some votes by saying that everything he was doing was for Heidi, the mother of his son.

Right after James' tour de force performance came Casey Abrams, who reprised David Clayton Thomas' singing of "Heidi Ho". The group helping shape Casey's performance, including Don Was on guitar and BabyFace, also on guitar, jammed with him until his funky growl was in good shape. The judges said things like, "Every time you sing you take the show in a different direction." Randy pronounced him to be "exciting and entertaining." Steven Tyler commented on how Casey "worked the stage well. Beautiful. You made my scalp itch, it was so good. The whole thing really, really worked."

Haley Reinhart of Wheeling, Illinois was last, singing with some Mariah Carey-like runs. She did a nice job with the song "Beautiful." Steven Tyler said, "Haley, you are so beautiful. You nailed it just now. Jennifer Lopez said, "You have one of the best voices in this competition." Randy, however, rained on her parade a bit, saying, "I didn't love the beginning but the end was good.

Interspersed with the actual competition that occurred were performances by the contestants in groups. The best of them featured Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart singing "I Feel the Earth Move." Haley had on a great dress and looked gorgeous. The couple moved about and even did some scatting. Steven Tyler said, "There wasn't anything about that that I didn't like." Ryan Seacrest asked the embarassed couple about their romance, saying something like, "Just how much do you love Haley?" Awkward. I read recently that Ryan and his honey are in couples counseling to see if "she's the one," so maybe Ryan should confine his remarks to the singing and not be quite so nosy about something so personal.

The other performances of the night featured James Durbin and Jacob Lusk singing "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good." and Lauren and Scotty dueting on "Up On the Roof." Lauren and Scotty were just dull, while Jacob and James were actively bad, primarily, I think, because Jacob's vibrato does not lend itself to unison singing. When the two sang harmony the dichotomy was not so apparent, but when they tried to sing in unison, it was rough. It was also awkward when you have James paired with the much-more androgynous Jacob. Maybe not the best song choice for the pair. It did not go well. Steven Tyler even said, "Man, where were you goin' with all that?" (Good question.)

The bottom three this week will probably be Jacob, Lauren and possibly Haley. It is almost inconceivable that the rabid C&W fans will not dial up to vote for Scotty. The ones who should be "safe" are Casey, James and, (given the remark in that last line, Scotty.) Stay tuned for Thursday night's results.If I had to pick one that will be packing his bags, I'd say it will be Jacob, despite the fact that he has an outstanding voice and probably doesn't deserve to go home before at least one of the others (who shall remain nameless, so that I don't get hate mail.)