Kellie Goes 'Extreme' and MUSICAL

Kellie has had quite a year from getting her first top ten country hit (Best Days of Your Life), to being part of one of the biggest groosing tours of the year (Taylor Swift's Frearless Tour),which she is rumored to be returning for its extention, but now she on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'. Also in an interview she said she is currently writing for a new album and hopes to be back in the studio before the end of the year, hence the MUSICAL part of the title. For more of an interview go to Comcast.net and look for her picture on the right side.

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Where Are They Now? : Kristy Lee Cook

Kristy Lee Cook she is the pride of Selma, the bringer of 'Shame', and Oregon's sole star on American Idol. So she had a number eight country album with her major label debut "Why Wait'' last year in September and a number twenty-eight chart hit with its sole single '15 Minutes of Shame' but before she could even get a second single out her label Arista Nashville, the same as Carrie Underwood, dropped her in December. Now the question that remains where is she now? Well she has done three major things and one good looking thing for fans. The first thing is early this year she signed with a management firm based out of Los Angeles called Morey Management, they are a talent spotting firm. She also started last winter a new charity foundation called Kristy Lee Horse Foundation a charity that raises money that is used to rescue, heal, and finding a new home for numerous horses (a link to the website for the foundation will be posted soon). She more recently has set up a deal with the Outdoor Channel to be a host on a show about hunting and the best locations. The show entitled 'Outdoors Ten Best' comes on the Outdoor Channel on Fridays at 10 pm. The final thing I'm going to tell you about is an extension to an interview I had with her earlier this year. In that interview she told me she had recently written songs with former country super group Lonestar and according to her Twitter she recorded a couple of songs in mid September which are possibly the songs she wrote with them. For those of you who are fans of her, like I am, I will try to post updates about what Ms. Cook is doing from time to time.

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American Idol meets Country Superstar

It was recently reported that country-pop superstar Shania Twain will be a guess judge at the Chicago auditions for this seasons AI. Twain who is the best selling female country artist of all time, has the best selling country album of all time (Come On Over), and has had three top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and seven number 1 hits on the country charts, last year divorced from her husband of fourteen years Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Late last year at the Cma Awards she made a surprise appearnce giving away the Entertainer of the Year award. At a fan meeting in Canada a label exec. from Mercury announced that a new Shania album is nowhere in sight. So for fans of Shania looks like the earliest would be late 2010 but hey in the meantime will get to see her on Idol in January!

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Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood

Carrie is trying a new formula everyone. Her last two first singles 'Jesus Take the Wheel' and 'So Small' were both inspirational mid tempo ballads but not this time. 'Cowboy Casanova' is an edgy country-rock song that Carrie has done before with 'Before He Cheats' and 'Last Name' which between the two have spent six weeks on top of the country charts. While 'Last Name' was depicted as a prequel to 'BHC' in the music video based off the lyrics 'Casanova' is going to be the sequel.

The song which starts with the line 'you better take it from me, that boy is like a disease' has strong verses where Underwood's vocals hit all the right spots. While the Chorus well what can I say it has one great hook with lines like 'He's a good time, Cowboy Casanova', 'He looks like a cool drink of water, but he's candy coated misery', and 'He's the devil in disguise, a snake with blue eyes'.

Although it is deffinently not her best song but her vocals shine tremendously on here and she has all the edge of Miranda Lambert but still has all the control she has had on songs in the past. Of the three edgy songs she has released as singles lyric wide I would put this second behind 'BHC', vocal wise I would personally put this first, and on the fun scale well I would have to say 'Last Name' is more fun but 'BHC' is not because of its semi-creepy destroying of the car hook.

So it's not a ground breaking song and it will continue her success but is it suppose to be breaking through new walls or just a have fun good time song?

Rating =B+

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Kristy Lee Cook (Yamhill Fair August 1st)

On August 1,2009 Kristy Lee Cook a former contestant on American Idol from Selma, Oregon played her first concert in her home state since last year when she was in Portland for the American Idol tour. Cook gave a solid performance in which she played for an hour. Here is a track by track review.

--- Not Tomight - A Great opening performance of a song co-written by her album producer Brett James and former labelmate Carrie Underwood.
--- Why Wait - Strong Performance of a great song to get people moving, it also proved she can sing.
--- Baby Believe - introduced as a song she fought for to get onto Why Wait written by Jamie O'Neal, delivered an elegant and strong performance.
--- I'm Outta Here -The first cover of the night was a well preformed version of Shania Twain's number one country hit and top five Australian pop hit.
--- Oh Baby - the sole new song in the setlist, it got all the girls moving. (read the news section interview for more info.)
---Plant The Seed -She sent this song out to all the teachers in the audience, gave an amazing performance of a touching song.
--- 15 Minutes of Shame - Fun performance where she confirmed the nature of "Jason" (an ex) and not only did she have a lot of fun with it but so did her band.
--- God Bless The USA - She started out by saying that both her parents are veterans, her performance got everyone up singing along.
--- Cowgirls - Kerry Harvick cover, Why Wait Itunes Bonus Track, and previous track on the AI tour, you could tell she loved this song.
--- Here For The Party - A song she's been performing since her Dallas,TX days, she gave a strong performance that got virtually everyone up.
Encore:
--- I Love Rock n' Roll - A fun performance in which she went into the crowd giving hugs and taking pictures with all.

Pictures from after the concert

Kristy Lee and I after the concert while she was signing autographs.

Kristy Preforming during the concert.

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Deck the Halls for a Carrie Christmas fa la la la....

.... la la la la la la. Yes, Carrie Underwood is doing something special for christmas, but its not an album. It is actually a Christmas Special to be aired on FOX on December 7. Although little is known we do know it will include preformances by Carrie, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, and fellow American Idol Winner David Cook. As info is released you will be informed.

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