ECH! COUNTRY NIGHT ON AMERICAN IDOL. DID YOU SURVIVE?

Yee-to-the-frickin'-haw! Last night was country music night on American Idol and oh, how I have been dreading it. Aside from the fact that I am a rock chick, I still have not gotten over when Josh Gracin revealed himself to be an undercover cowboy a few years back, after we thought he was into rock-n-roll. More importantly, why did Kenny Rogers look so different? Was it the short hair and goatee vs full on beard?

Taylor Hicks: "Take Me Home, Country Roads-John Denver" I will admit, I looooved this song growing up..I used to listen to my mamma & daddy's John Denver record over and over again and sing my little heart out. I'll say this, Taylor definitely should not try to have a career in country music. But the more I listened to him, the more I enjoyed him. Granted, he hit a few sharp notes, but everyone gets a free pass on god awful country night in my opinion.

Mandisa: "Any Man of Mine-Shania Twain" First off, her outfit was horrible. Horrible! The song was horrible too. Now if someone with pipes like Mandisa can't pull off country music, then we know for sure it should be banned. My favorite moment was seeing Rachel Bilson from The O.C. (love her!) looking horrified that the cameras were on her at American Idol. Oh wait, no, my favorite part was Simon's crack to Ryan "With all do respect, I'm not the one trying to look like someone from Desperate Housewives...lose the beard." Ha!

Elliot Yamin: "If Tomorrow Never Comes- Garth Brooks" Gosh, if Elliot would just run his fingers up the front of his hair and make it stick up, I would be so much happier. Oh dear Elliot. You could tell he was struggling. He tried so hard to sing country well and I'll just say, he did the best he could with what he had to work with.

Paris Bennett: "How Do I Live Without You- Trisha Yearwood" This show is painful tonight. I am hearing horrendous notes coming out of these amazing kids voices. I love my little Paris, but someone needs to tell her when she sings the line, "how do I live without out you," the word is pronounced "live" not "leave."

Ace Young: Ahhh...just when I was about to lose my mind, Ace came on and sang this lovely ballad (sorry don't know the name of the song) that didn't sound at all like country. Me happy. Um, the announcement Ryan made that Ace was officially single was lame. Ryan mentioned on the radio yesterday that Ace told him that, but who cares? Does Ace think that's why he's been landing in the bottom three?

Kellie Pickler: "Fancy- Reba McEntire" First off, I don't care what she says, that bitch is totally faking the dumb act. She sounded fine singing country, but hello? That's what she does. Yuck. I cannot WAIT for her to be gone.

Chris Daughtry: I was talking with my friend earlier in the day about how if my boy Chris had to do country, I'd like to see him do a ballad. He not only performed a ballad, the song he did was "Making Memories of Us" by that hottie Keith Urban. I agree with Simon that the song was pretty boring, but hey, the voice was great.

Katharine McPhee: "Bringing Out Elvis- Faith Hill" Katharine, you hot bitch you! Damn, I loved her performance! She did a song with a bluesy country twist which I surprisingly liked. Katherine is sooo gearing up to be in the final 2.

Bucky Covington: "Best I Ever Had- Gary Allen" I already knew going into this that the Buckster was going to do pretty well tonight with it being country music and all. I LOVE the song he sang. Well, actually I love Vertical Horizon's version of the song that they did a few years back. Beautiful tune, pretty good job on Bucky's part. Not digging the hat though.