[StrictTime]

The smartest contestant will choose to do a song by the Mavericks. Raul Malo is one of the best vocalists in any genre today, and every one of their songs showcases his talents. Plus, many of their songs have a latin feel behind the country, which is fab for crossover success! : ) Here's a list of songs:

All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down
Dance the Night Away
Here Comes My Baby
I Want To Know
What a Crying Shame
From Hell to Paradise
All That Heaven Would Allow (Springsteen wrote this one. Actually, there are a lot of Springsteen songs that could be considered country. Chris or Taylor --- call me!)

I would also love to see some of our Texas musicians chosen for next week's show. Nancy Griffith's "Outbound Plane" would be GREAT for Mandisa! Cory Morrow or Pat Green (again) for Bucky. The Old 97's have some great alt-country.

Can't wait to see what they all choose!

[maggief]

Teri Hatcher Is Dating 'American Idol's Ryan Seacrest!!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1606158/posts

[Lil'freeper]

a song by the Mavericks. Raul Malo is one of the best vocalists in any genre today,

AMEN!!

I love the Mavericks. Right on about Malo.

[FreedomForce]

Not sure about them performing something by the Mavericks. Malo(like Orbison) has an ethereal quality to his voice that adds a lot to the Mavericks' songs. I like the Mavericks' version of "All the Heaven Would Allow" even better than Springsteen's. I think the Mavericks are great, but the Mavericks without Malo--not so great.

While I'm on the subject of what probably shouldn't be done, everyone should steer clear of bluegrass(although Taylor would have an excellent voice for it) because there's no way the Idol house band could pull it off.