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By Bret Federigan
MSN TV
Charley Jenkins was the first finalist to be booted off the
sixth season of "Nashville Star" as the judges
sent him packing during the show's season premiere.
The 29-year-old
resident of Murray, Utah delivered a spirited rendition of Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It," mugging directly
to the judges before walking through the audience. Stopping to hug some female
fans during his performance, Jenkins appeared to win over most of the audience
members at Nashville's Acuff Theatre in the Opry Entertainment Complex. But the
three judges -- country singer-songwriter John Rich, fifth-season host Jewel, and songwriter and producer Jeffrey Steele -- were underwhelmed, choosing to
send Jenkins home. In subsequent episodes, the contestants' fate will be decided
by the voting of home viewers.
Harsh criticism rang from all three
judges. Jewel said of Jenkins' performance, "I love that you're willing to come
out here and work the crowd. I just don't buy it ... It's just not working all
together."
The most strident commentary came from John Rich, one half of
Big & Rich. "I can make it real simple," opined Rich. "First of all, I like
you a lot, and I like your voice a lot ... when you're not running around
like you're a Garth Brooks impersonator in Las Vegas or something
like that."
In a phone interview, MSN TV asked Charley Jenkins about his first --
and last -- performance, his favorites to go the distance and what it takes to
win over the finicky judging panel.
MSN TV: Did you feel the
judges were unnecessarily harsh?
Charley Jenkins: The reality
of it is that there's so much that you can and can't control. I was criticized
for the way I went down into the audience, and that was a big criticism. That
was beyond my control. That was something that was suggested and I was asked to
do. When the judges criticize the contestants, it's kind of a jaded criticism on
our side because some contestants didn't have a choice on some of those
scenarios. I think they were a little critical of the contestants for the first
show. They could have worked it in a little bit. They all had very strong
comments.
Do you feel like you did enough to stick around for
another week?
I definitely felt like I didn't win the night, but I felt like honestly I
wasn't in the bottom two. I don't think Alyson should have been in the bottom
two. It's disappointing. You never know what exactly the agenda is. You just
have to run with it.
Do you think judge John Rich went overboard
with his comments?
John is very opinionated. In his own career,
he has received a lot of great and a lot of very negative criticism. John is
responsible for taking the winner and producing the album and also writing the
songs that he's going to sing. If that one particular judge feels that you are
not the artist he wants to work with, he can really sway the competition away
from somebody he doesn't believe in personally.
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