David Cook Sings Dolly Parton on American Idol

David Cook is one of the top contenders of American Idol 7, so it was interesting to see how he'd deal with singing a Dolly Parton song. Country is not exactly the music you'd associate with the likes of Cook, who over the weeks became known as the rocker of the lot, following his AI inspiration Chris Daughtry and taking over from Michael Johns.

For this week's performance, the contestants had to choose one of Dolly Parton's songs. David Cook went for one of her lesser known songs, Little Sparrow. Not a surprising song for the performer who took the most risks in this competition so far. Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie aren't the most obvious choices but Cook performed them with a charisma as if he had written the songs himself.

After a rather difficult start where David had to convince the judges (especially Simon) that he could be America's next Idol, he seemed to suffer from the Archuleta-virus during the first few live weeks. Seeming slightly agitated with all the attention some of the other contestants got, his performances weren't the most impressive of the lot. Whatever it was, something changed in his head and from being the arrogant one whose only intention was to prove Simon wrong, he became one of the most solid performers who gave some of the most memorable performances over the last few months.

For his Dolly Parton performance, David not only changed his style, but also his looks. From the somewhat rebellious mohawk, down went the hair and the black threads were changed for a clean white shirt. After last weeks version of Billie Jean, which was nothing short of stunning and was one of the highlights of the competition so far, everybody expected more magic to follow this week. Yesterday's performance wasn't of the same high standard we've become to expect of him, but even on a lesser day it's still obvious that David Cook is one of the favorites to go all the way in this contest. His voice was solid as ever and if it's one thing Cook's not lacking of, it's confidence.

Together with other favorites like the other David (Archuleta), Michael Johns and Jason Castro, David puts the bar higher and higher week after week and already made this edition of AI one of the most memorable ever. It wouldn't surprise me if this year's final turns out to be an all male event. There might be a female outsider (Carly Smithson, if any), but my money definitely goes to a male candidate this year, and if David Cook keeps performing the way he has been lately, there is no doubt whatsoever he'll be performing live on stage for the big finale as well.