32 replies to this topic

[TWoP Gadget]

NBC:

Multi-Platinum singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy nominee Jewel, who hosted Nashville Star last season, continues her commitment to the show, making time in her busy tour schedule to once again join the search for the next great music artist. With her success as a mainstream rock/folk artist as well as her recent crossover into the country genre, Jewel will provide a unique insight into the music industry and will be an experienced mentor to the competing musicians.

Country music star, singer-songwriter and acclaimed producer John Rich has signed on to find the next "Nashville Star." Rich will be one of the judges and mentors on NBC's music competition series, and his experience on and off the stage is sure to put some heat on the budding artists.

Multi-award winning songwriter and hit-making producer Jeffrey Steele rounds out the panel of accredited celebrity judges/mentors for NBC's "Nashville Star." If you listen to the radio you've heard one of his songs; in fact, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) recently awarded the veteran songwriter for over 30 million airplays of his hit songs, recorded by artists such as Montgomery Gentry, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts, VanZant and many other top names in music.

[Pleasesendpants]

I'm an old-time fan of the Jewel. I've heard the Jewel speak before. I know the folklore tale. And I don't remember any of it taking place anywhere near the Mason-Dixon. I get that her career is one big affectation, but when exactly did she become southern? Alaska really is the most north you can get in America, right? Her accent is so fake, I feel like Madonna would even be like, "Pip, pip, love. No one is buying that. Now just close ye mouth and shake your jubblies."

[GoodyGoody]

I'm a casual country fan and I thought Jewel was Miranda Lambert. The accent was off-putting when I realized it was in fact Jewel. John Rich I figured out, but does seem a bit full of himself. The other guy I thought was from VH1's "I Love The..." series, as they had a blond shaggy haired guy also.

I guess I'm pretty casual....

[sassykath]

I love how Jewel's bio is all "I'm VERY BUSY you guys! I can make time in my schedule for this if you really want me to, but I DO have other things that I do, you know." I notice the other two guys are content to just say they are a "star" and "award-winning". I basically kind of like Jewel, though, I guess. Jeffrey Steele is clearly there to be "The Randy Jackson" and John Rich is "Country Simon Cowell".

[CaffeinatedTV]

John Rich, to put it simply, is an ass. I can see where they're going with his role -- he's as close as Nashville Star can get to a Simon Cowell parallel. However, as an avid American Idol follower, I tend to believe that for the most part Simon actually presents at least a bit of actual value in his criticisms. Mostly. John Rich, however, was just outright rude.

Jewel, as I alluded to in the first episode's thread, talks more about herself than she does any contestant. During her criticism of Shawn's performance, you know she enjoyed proving that she could hit the high note that Shawn didn't. Bitch. What's sad is that I genuinely like Jewel as a host last season. She had a few kinks, but those could easily have been worked out in a second season of hosting. But as a judge? Nope.

Jeffrey Steele seems to be the only one who has any idea what the hell is going on. John and Jewel, who were at each other's throats two seconds before, are off dancing in the aisles while Steele is left watching the performer to critique the performance on his own. To be fair, he got up for some booty-shaking of his own later in the show, which I think we all could have done without. All in all, though, it looks as if he'll be critiquing the show singlehandedly this season.

Edited by CaffeinatedTV, Jun 10, 2008 @ 10:48 PM.

[SweetPeaSurry]

I've always loved Jewel. I would have to say it's possible that she's gained a southern accent spending so much time with Ty in Texas. They're accent's a bit different in that state anyway. I like her as a judge too. Keep in mind with all the tornado warnings and storm warnings I got to watch all of 10 minutes of the first episode, so I may change my tune there. Let's just give them a shot, they're getting their feet wet here just like we are.

[Rachel RSL]

I'm looking forward to seeing how Jewel does as a judge. Last season, as a host, she was better at critiquing the performances and offering advice than any of the judges. Plus, she seemed to genuinely want the contestants to do well. While I really don't think I'm gonna like this whole "mentoring" thing (Do we really need to make this a competition for the judges too?), I think that the contestants who get Jewel as their mentor will have a big advantage over the others. Whoever gets John Rich is screwed.

[Petunia]

I haven't seen every week, but Jeffrey Steele doesn't seem to have had much kind to say. In fact, I had him pegged as a [nasty] useless pud before reading the other comments here.

[amelia7196]

out of all the judges the only one I could stand to be around for more than about 2 minutes would be Jeffrey. John Rich is just a horse's ass and Jewel is strange.

At least Jeffrey seems to give suggestions for improvement. John just seems to bitch and be mean. Yeah for Shawn firing his ass. I would have either fired him or broken my guitar over his head by the second meeting.

[aquarianmoon]

Yep, John Rich just seems mean and pervy and to be full of delusions of grandeur. BTW, here and there I keep seeing references to John Rich's "short man's complex." Anybody know how tall he actually is; how much, how short we talkin' here?

As for Jewel, I kinda like her kinda don't. I join the ranks who are irked by her affectation of a southern accent, and much more irktation ensues as a result of her sudden claim to being a country artist. I mean, sure, people can cross genres, but her being in the position of judging would-be country artists when she barely just found Nashville on a map herself? I don't know.

Edited by aquarianmoon, Jul 12, 2008 @ 1:46 PM.

[mooncreek]

I'm not sure of Jeffrey as a judge but he's a great coach. He's dealing with the younger acts and has been giving solid pointers both to help get votes and for later in their careers. He actually has the toughest task (even before cry-on-a-dime Shawn joined in) because of the ages and the group aspect (plus Laura & Sophie are at a maturity level of age 12).

John is clearly pushing his favorite student to the front, whether deserving or not. That was utter nonsense when he praised Ashlee for what was a crap choice in song and performance style, just to show that he didn't deserve to get fired by Shawn. Yet he might have the winning horse in Melissa and he's done absolutely nothing to help her move forward to being a viable artist outside of NS.

[starcrossed]

BTW, here and there I keep seeing references to John Rich's "short man's complex." Anybody know how tall he actually is; how much, how short we talkin' here?

IMDB lists his height as 5'10". If that's accurate, then he's not really all that short. My husband is only 5'9".

[mooncreek]

From the photos, I don't actually think he's short. But when your group consists of a much taller guy with a high box-shaped hat and Cowboy Troy, people will think of you as the short one.

[Rachel RSL]

Maybe he should start standing next to the midget during performances.

[NYCBadGirl]

Jeffrey constantly amazes me with his talent. He is SUCH a nice guy in person. I was actually surprised that he would be the one with so much negative to say. I mean honestly, he's written MANY of the most popular country songs in the last few years. He's a great performer himself. I would prefer him to perfom When The Lights Go Down, What Hurts The Most, Hell Yeah, These Days, any of them to the recording artist. His opinions are very well earned.

[amelia7196]

Where have you heard Jeffrey perform these songs NYCbadgirl?


I would love to hear a song by him and hear his voice.

Edited by amelia7196, Jul 21, 2008 @ 1:23 AM.

[aquarianmoon]

I'm not NYCbadgirl but there are a number of clips of him on YouTube.

[amelia7196]

Just got to hear him and thought he sounded really good.

As much of a horse's ass as John Rich is he did get the crowd going.

I saw he and Big and the rest of the gang on one HOT summer night and they were so damn GOOD. That everyone was up and slamming the entire night. I knew their music but a friend had never heard of them or Cowboy Troy and she was up and dancing and singing too. At then end of the night everyone was absolutely dripping wet with sweat but we had all had such a wonderful time. They were one of the best times I had ever had that didn't involve sex. LOL

[NYCBadGirl]

Sorry I didn't respond faster... I have seen him live a bunch, but you can check out his site...

JeffreySteele.net

Or...

Something In The Water - Boy Howdy (His old group)

What Hurts The Most

My Wish

Chrome

These Days

Help Somebody

My Town

Something To Be Proud Of

If you like him, I would suggest getting a CD. He is really crazy talented.

Edited by NYCBadGirl, Jul 21, 2008 @ 8:42 PM.

[amelia7196]

Wow thanks, I will check everyone one of these out right after the Mole tonight.

I was really impressed when he sang on the show tonight.

THere are many songwriters that can't sing a lick and he really hadn't said much about his performing skills he kept pushing his writing. But he impressed me tonight.

[NYCBadGirl]

He was on a show called The Hitmen of Music Row. It's Jeff and other great Nashville songwriters. (They are getting ready for the second season, I think.) They interviewed Tim and Faith and Faith said, "The best part of getting a Jeffrey Steele song is getting to hear Jeffrey sing it."

[amelia7196]

Ordered my first JS cd. Can't wait for it to arrive.

I found out that he was in my state a few months ago performing so I am hoping he will be here again and I will get to see him. I bet he is fantasitc.

[NYCBadGirl]

For anyone in the NYC area, Jeffrey is playing Joe's Pub next month.

[Ninja Bunny]

One - literally ONE - good thing about this season: I never heard of JS before but I'm glad I managed to tune in because he's pretty great. I'm going to get his album also.

[mooncreek]

I agree, Ninja Bunny. Jeff has been a bright spot this season and I never would have known who he was without this show. I guess the show can succeed in promoting an artist after all.

[CaffeinatedTV]

I agree with everyone here that Jeffrey Steele has an excellent voice. I was extremely impressed with his vocal talent, but am I the only one who was a bit put off by his performance skills (or lack thereof)? It was almost like his eyes were going to pop right out of his head. Which would have been an interesting twist in an otherwise boring show, but that's not the point. Moral of the story: I was underwhelmed and a bit scared by his performance, but I still think his voice is in a completely different league than that of anyone else on the show. And the man knows how to right a song; that's for damn sure.

Edited by CaffeinatedTV, Jul 30, 2008 @ 4:15 PM.

[aquarianmoon]

One - literally ONE - good thing about this season: I never heard of JS before but I'm glad I managed to tune in because he's pretty great.

Ditto that! I could not agree more!

[PinkTurtle]

Hearing Jeffrey sing was such a pleasant surprise! Great voice! He seemed really nervous but he did a great job and was way better than Jewel or John. Jewel really disappointed the hell out of me and John is more of a shouter than a singer. Jeffrey also seems like the only one of the 3 who is down to earth.

[The Small Print]

Jeffrey Steele was the only judge worth a damn. I didn't think it was possible to hate Jewel any more than I already did but this season upped my loathing of her. I miss Nancy O'Dell!

[aquarianmoon]

I think I read that Jewel eloped to the Bahamas sometime in the past few days??