American Idol connection

As the aesthetics czar at Patrick Henry College, a request to allow a particular music group on campus came across my computer. I’m not a big fan of contemporary Christian music, but no, I was told, this group isn’t really like that. It was a family singing group called the MacIntyre Family Singers. One of those country gospel groups that is wholesome but corny? No, I was told, this family performs serious music, and they are really good. Well, I said, let them come. But then a few weeks ago, they cancelled. It turns out one of their members made it to Hollywood on American Idol. It’s Scott MacIntyre–the blind guy–who, last night, advanced to the next round. He might go far.

Any early predictions or evaluations? I was impressed with the blonde hippie orphan Rose. Her voice played around the beats and played off the melody of “Dock in the Bay” in a jazzy, different-than-the-others way that was quite good.