Thursday, March 10, 2011

Paul McDonald picks up a Ryan Adams tune




Being the alt.country guy that he is, Paul McDonald idolizes Ryan Adams. He says Adams is the kind of artist he wants to be more like. He's chosen Come Pick Me Up, from Adams' great album Heartbreaker, and recorded the studio version with Don Was. "You've just got to nail this chorus," Jimmy Iovine tells him. "It's about the intensity." Iovine thinks Paul is the kind of voice Idol has needed for a long time.

Paul's got a cool new jacket, black with red trim. Vocally, it's not so cool, though: Frankly, he sounds like Macy Gray but not as strong. And the dance he does when he hits the chorus will makes lots of people think of Taylor Hicks.
Paul's also got to do some fancy footwork with the lyrics: "Mess" me up. "Lose" all my friends. And some other line I didn't catch.
"I love the character and the rasp in your voice," says Steven, but he warns him to watch the pitch next time.
"You're just so unique, there's just something about you," Jennifer says. She noticed that the audience dug him and hopes the TV viewers get him.
"What I love about you is ... the character of who you are," says Randy, who makes sure people know that he knows who Ryan Adams is, dropping the name of Adams' old band, Whiskeytown.
In other words, they want to like him so much they can't admit to themselves that it was awful.
Ryan asks Paul about his dance. "You have to practice really hard to do it," Paul says, then tries to get Ryan to join him.


No comments:

Post a Comment