American Idol Met With Another Country Star for Judges’ Seat

By On 08/06/2012 · 50 Comments · In American Idol, American Idol 12

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The Country Vibe, the website that broke the Brad Paisley story, reports that American Idol honchos met with another country music star last week:

We have also learned that another country star met with Idol executives last week. But there are pop stars being considered as well for the seat left vacant by Steven Tyler. Nick Jonas’ name was brought into the rumor mill mix last week. While the decision is still up in the air we hear an announcement could come as early as this week.

I would be really surprised if the announcement was made this week with the Olympics dominating the news cycle. FOX has all of their summer shows on hiatus in the duration. They’ll wait for Ryan Seacrest to come back to the states (he’s in London covering the games for NBC) before any official announcement is made.

But it does seem clear that Idol is very serious about adding a country star to its judges’ panel. It appears to be just a matter of who.

 
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  • windmills

    vdawg: Maybe they talked to Luke or Jason.  I could see Luke wanting to do this.  I also like Charles Kelley from  Lady A. He is funny and nice to look at.

    I thought about Luke but he’s going out on his 1st headlining tour next year and I really feel like that’s going to be his focus. Charles Kelley would be great. Lady A hasn’t announced their 2013 plans but I’m having a hard time picturing Charles taking a solo gig at this time. I guess it depends on what the band’s planning. Their album’ll only be about 16 months old when the Idol season starts, though it’s lost a lot momentum with their current single. They’re going to be up for a bunch of CMAs though and they’re so likable, the industry seems to forget how boring their music’s gotten.

  • http://twitter.com/Skyler_Epic Skyler Epic

    Ahahaha…. At this rate, we will end up with 2 or 3 completely different judges than what was speculated all along. Lolz.

  • Larc

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Brad wants more money than Idol is offering him and they are looking around to see if they can find somebody about as good who will work for a lot less.  It would serve Idol/FOX right in a way if nobody they want would agree to take the job for less than they are paying Mariah.

  • Anonymous

    To people in TV, Hillary Scott is the star in Lady A, not Charles Kelley. Even though the band has a young following, I don’t think they’d pick him.

  • Anonymous

    Charles Kelley would be great. Lady A hasn’t announced their 2013 plans but I’m having a hard time picturing Charles taking a solo gig at this time. I guess it depends on what the band’s planning. Their album’ll only be about 16 months old when the Idol season starts, though it’s lost a lot momentum with their current single. They’re going to be up for a bunch of CMAs though and they’re so likable, the industry seems to forget how boring their music’s gotten.

    Hillary & Dave both just got married fairly recently; maybe the band is going to take a little time out for family time?  idk but I do think Charles would be a really great judge.

    I agree Luke is too young in his career, and Jason, no.  Love him, but he doesn’t have the engaging personality for it & would not make for good TV.

    I still think it will be Brad but maybe Idol is talking to others as a negotiating ploy (or maybe they are serious about exploring other Country options, who knows?).

  • Anonymous

    Doesn’t look like it. Looks like they only look for one more judge, one that replace S. Tyler, the choices are now between Paisley, Nick and this other country star. I wonder who’s the one that replace Randy.

  • Anonymous

    ohhh I love Shania Twain.. but don’t think Mariah will like it if Fox put another Diva on the panel .. LOL

  • Mateja Praznik

     What makes you think they are only looking for one new judge? Randy isn’t a done deal either. Yet. Plus, it’s possible they will expand the panel to 4 judges.

  • Anonymous

    From the quote MJ posted above, looks like Fox’s talking to few people (Brad P, Nick & other country star and maybe they also in talk to other people other than these three) for seat left by Steven Tyler. Randy isn’t a done deal, but Randy is Mariah’s manager. I don’t think Fox will let Mariah and her manager, Randy both sit on the same panel. I think Fox has signed the 2nd judge and now they’re looking for one to replace Steven Tyler.

  • Larc

    I keep checking Mariah’s twitter to see if she starts following anybody suspicious.  She hasn’t yet, but it could happen.  :)

  • Anonymous

    If she has twitter account, I doubt she operates it herself.. LOL.. bet her PA on that account.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if they are also considering Taylor Swift? I can see her being too nice and I remember her manager(I think?) dissing idol, but I guess you never know. She has been nothing but friendly to some idol alumni-I remember her saying nice things about Scotty and Lauren, and her and Kellie P are good friends. She also had Danny Gokey on her tour.

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    “Not a household name” would be someone not nominated for a CMA Award or Grammy?

  • Anonymous

     Taylor Swift judge a singing competition? Oh my!

  • http://twitter.com/Quu3 Q3

    MJ, I appreciate your point about Idol Execs waiting until after the Olympics are over to break the judges news, but I think they may not wait.

    Yes, the Olympics are taking a large share of TV viewing audience and the competing networks, including Fox, have many programs on hiatus. But online and print news is not being ruled by Olympics stories.

    I think they will announce the judges when all the contracts are signed because the worst scenario is a leak that makes that announcement not news. After they announce the judges, they have plenty of time to use the new
    judges to promote the show including some big press conference or
    contestant event like they did in September 2010.

    I guess the big question is have the picked the judges yet or are they still working on it.

    ETA: Windmills — I would love it if they signed Keith Urban. First suggestion I have seen I really liked.

  • Anonymous

    If Taylor is being considered, it could be a good & bad thing. 

    Pros: Younger audience may watch (which Idol needs), she is a current artist & extremely successful (even if she can’t sing well), more people may watch Idol due to buzz of Taylor more than older judges like Mariah

    Cons: Can’t sing well (but neither could J-Lo or Paula), could get the older Idol fans to stop watching

  • Anonymous

    Love Keith Urban better than Brad P or any other country stars

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PSHFTD4YV3QOE3INABJUXZSWMU hillstreetblooz

     I’d be alright with Keith Urban. He’s talented, has personality for days, and is F-I-N-E as the day is long, lol…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PSHFTD4YV3QOE3INABJUXZSWMU hillstreetblooz

    Hmmm… let me throw some country names out there for shitz and giggles…

    Dierks Bentley?
    Vince Gill?
    Wynonna Judd?
    Shooter Jennings?
    Tim McGraw?

    That’s all I got

  • Anonymous

     Darius Rucker or Garth Brooks are great country artists that would make good judges. I agree that Keith Urban is a good choice. Like all 3 better than Brad.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PSHFTD4YV3QOE3INABJUXZSWMU hillstreetblooz

     I could go for those two…

  • windmills

    Kariann Hart: “Not a household name” would be someone not nominated for a CMA Award or Grammy?

    When I was saying “not a household name” I was thinking about somebody who may be big in country but had minimal awareness outside the genre, which I realize is a subjective assessment. I wasn’t thinking about awards or awards nominations. I’m sure non-country fans are going to remind me they had/have no idea who Brad Paisley is. But, I consider him a household name because he’s been a big deal in country music long enough (10 years plus) for people to recognize his name, and he’s cohosted the CMA Awards 4 years going on 5 which get something like 16 million viewers annually on a major TV network. Maybe his being married to actress Kimberly Williams Paisley has helped with the name recognition factor. He’s not a name on Keith Urban’s level, but he’s enough of a name that I think most people would recognize him.

    The reason I mention the recognition factor is despite usedtobelucy’s smart advice, Idol wants big names IMO. I think they want a bigger, more established country star than Blake Shelton who has mainstream appeal. That’s why I don’t think Darius Rucker’s all that likely to get consideration. Between Hootie and his solo country career he’s way outsold Blake but he doesn’t have the star power.

    Luke Bryan is probably more selling more albums than Brad and Blake right now but I don’t think he has much name recognition outside country. Brad and Blake are more recognizable. Same with Eric Church: big in country, hasn’t had enough time to build up name recognition outside the genre. Jason Aldean’s probably only starting to build up to household name status despite outselling Brad and Blake.

    To be honest I don’t feel like Charles Kelley or Hillary Scott are household names either. Lady A is definitely widely known but its individual members not so much. But, if they were interested I can see Idol bringing them in because it wouldn’t be too big a jump for the audience to associate them with Lady A.

    fantoo1: I wonder if they are also considering Taylor Swift? I can see her being
    too nice and I remember her manager(I think?) dissing idol, but I guess
    you never know. She has been nothing but friendly to some idol alumni-I
    remember her saying nice things about Scotty and Lauren, and her and
    Kellie P are good friends. She also had Danny Gokey on her tour.

    Won’t happen. Taylor is going to be way too busy promoting/touring for her album that comes out later this year anyway. BTW Taylor and Kellie are no longer good friends (not a falling out, they just drifted apart after touring with Brad and Taylor’s BFFs are Hollywood these days).

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    Thank you Windmills, for explaining this to me.  The reason I thought Brad would be a good choice is because we have seen him at a concert.  He has a nice personality and is a good singer.  I think he really would be interested in the contestants.

    Two years ago, I remember Chris Isacc being mentioned as a possible judge.  No news this time around.

  • Deb Henricks

    Maybe it’s Reba.  She’d be awesome.  

  • Anonymous

    Its the Jason Aldean guy who sang with Kelly Clarkson.

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