There was no joy in Idol-ville, as mighty Casey Abrams struck out on Thursday night’s (4/28) American Idol results show. After one near elimination earlier this season, the quirky multi-instrumentalist swung and missed for good this time.
On Wednesday’s (4/27) Carole King songbook-themed show, he chose “Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll),” a Blood, Sweat, & Tears hit which might have been a little too left field even for his fans. Still, his growly duet with Haley Reinhart on Tapestry opening track “I Feel The Earth Move” hit me in all the right spots so I’m a little bummed to see him go. Seriously, when’s the last time someone name-checked Oscar Peterson on Idol? Let me answer that: never. But as a fellow member of the “beardo” clan, I’m thrilled he took his unique sensibility this far.
Joining Abrams in the bottom three were Jacob Lusk and Scotty McCreery for his first trip. I originally figured Lusk’s number was up, after struggling so badly with “Oh No Not My Baby” AND the duet with James Durbin on “I’m Into Something Good.” I don’t really see him hanging around much longer, but I guess stranger things have happened this season (see also: Pia’s elimination).
No matter what the Bottom Three results suggested, McCreery gave a strong rendition of “You’ve Got A Friend.” He’s clearly trying to stretch himself as we approach the big finish, but in doing so he runs the risk of alienating his core voters. It’s a tightrope walk from here on out.
Reinhart and Lauren Alaina continue to give solid performances, and Reinhart seems to be gaining some ground since Stefano’s elimination. She’s had the most trips to the Bottom Three, but avoided it altogether this week after a strong take on King’s “Beautiful.” I’m still personally waiting for Alaina’s young age to cause a stumble, but she might make me eat my words if she keeps singing as well as she did on “Where You Lead (I Will Follow).”
For my money, it looks like Durbin’s game to lose. He’s consistently delivered every week, and he’s playing very smart. Clearly understanding that Carole King is the consummate songwriter, he opted to let the Shirelles hit “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” speak for itself–no pyro, no gimmicks, just the band and Durbin’s voice. And man, it was just electric.
Next week, the five remaining contestants perform a current song as well as one from the 1960s. On the results show, Jennifer Lopez will be joined by Pitbull to perform “On The Floor,” and Lady Antebellum will also perform.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, Easter sales added a 7% hip hop to Nashville’s weekly country album sales compared with the previous week, whereas all genre sales only boosted 2%. However, a lack of high profile releases has kept YTD country album sales quite a bit below the all genre benchmark. All genre album sales (YTD thru 4/24/11) are off a respectfully low 1.8%, but country album sales for the same period are down 9%. Total all genre digital track sales are also up 9% YTD. (Unfortunately country digital tracks were not broken out last year, so we don’t have comparisons yet.) Country tracks this week however, compared to the previous one jumped a healthy 12%.
So let’s take a look at the labels and artists which led the “up” week.
Albums
Alison Krauss continues to glide at the top of the country sales list for a second week (after last week’s debut) despite falling off about 49% to 42k units. Most everyone else saw strong unit gains. Filling out the Top 5 were Jason Aldean (No. 2, +31%), Taylor Swift (No. 3, +80%), Country Strong Soundtrack (No. 4, +13%) and ZBB (No. 5, +5%).
Putting country into perspective on the Top 200 all genre album chart finds Krauss at No. 6, Aldean at No. 13 and ZBB at No. 25. Topping the all genre list is Adele who has shifted 1.275 million units in a short 9 weeks. Her new album project 21 sold about 153k units this week.
Tracks
For country it’s all about the men who totally dominate the Digital Genre Country tracks top 5. Luke Bryan’s new “Country Girl” track debuts with over 105k units followed by Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” which adds almost 58k to its 245k total units-sold-in-three-weeks. ZBB, Aldean and Thompson Square nab spots 3-5.
Lady A’s “Need You Now” has passed the five million download mark after 68 weeks. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” also on the chart for 68 weeks is close behind at about 4.98 million downloads.
Meanwhile, looking at the all genre digital track chart, Adele and Katy Perry can teach the country acts about selling singles. Adele’s “Rolling In the Deep” logged 297k units this week and Perry added 270k downloads of her current single, “E.T.”

Jerrod Niemann’s “What Do You Want” is steadily climbing the charts and it has now become his second RIAA-certified Gold Digital Single. Written by Niemann with Richie Brown and Rachel Bradshaw, “What Do You Want” follows his previous Gold Digital Single and chart-topping hit “Lover, Lover.”
“It is unbelievable. I have loved country music since I was a kid, and I have read so many books, and bought so many albums, and really cared,” says Niemann. “Country music is so much bigger than all of us, so to have two Gold singles is one unbelievable thing, but to me, in country music, that makes it even more special.”
Niemann will soon wrap the final dates on his co-headlining The Higher Education Tour with Lee Brice and Tyler Farr before joining Brad Paisley’s H2O II: Wetter & Wilder World Tour this summer. Check Jerrod’s website for full dates.