American Idol and Southern Churches
When Was It Written
My wife and I love watching American Idol together. We laugh at the early episodes because of the out-of-tune off-pitch people who think they can croon like Barry Manilow or Barry White. This article is just about the observation as to how many Idol contestants got their training singing in church.
Who Wrote It
Kevin Wood, Pastor
AMERICAN IDOL AND SOUTHERN CHURCHES
Melinda got robbed. There is no other way to put it. She was far and away the most talented singer and probably even the best entertainer of the remaining contestants. If you’re reading this and you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you probably didn’t watch American Idol this week, the made-for-TV talent show that has vaulted ordinary Americans into super-stardom. Melinda Doolittle’s voice and charisma is a classic throwback to the Motown days of Aretha Franklin and the Supremes. When Melinda was eliminated the other night, the crowd booed and Simon Cowell did his usual Simon Cowell thing – he criticized the perfor-mance of the American voters. But this time he was right. Melinda was the best. She got robbed.
But for me, there is another little known fact hiding in the background of this story. It is the fact that for the first time since the show’s inception in 2002, the winner of American Idol will be someone who A) isn’t from the South, and B) wasn’t raised singing in the church. Kelly Clarkson was from Texas, Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks from Alabama, Fantasia Barrino from North Carolina, and Carrie Underwood from Oklahoma (not old school South, but close enough). Now this isn’t really earth-shattering, life-changing news, but it is interesting. If you think about the hundreds of thousands of people who have competed each year for the title of American Idol, the fact that the first 5 winners all had roots below the Mason-Dixon line and were groomed in the shadow of a steeple does have to mean something. Melinda fit that description. She was from the Nashville area, and was even shown singing before her faith family on a recent visit home, tears streaming down her face as the church showed her their support. So why does it make me say “that’s interesting” that the next winner will be the first blue belly American Idol in the show’s history? Here’s what I think…
I think learning to sing in church, even for the youngest of children, is a powerful event. It leaves a mark. I can remember moments as a child when a music minister would quiet the piano and organ and call for the people to sing out a cappella. A few feet above my head I could hear my father’s voice, a pitchy tenor with occasional slips into the baritone region, not quite sure where to go. Mixed with his unsteady sound was the soft, smooth tone of my mother’s voice. My mom could sing. Her words floated effortlessly into the air in perfect alto pitch. Her voice was made for hymns, or maybe I should say her voice was made by hymns, trained by their measured melody. Around my mom and dad’s voices, I could make out the sound of other people in the room. A few feet behind me, I could make out the sound of a boy named Justin and his mom, Mrs. Yarbrough. Justin’s dad, Mr. Yarbrough, had died tragically the year before. He wasn’t quite 40. But still mom and son sang with the body. Across the aisle, but not too far, was Mr. Rountree. His name had been on the prayer list almost a year with the word “cancer” typed beside it. And there he was, singing praise through difficult days. All throughout that little church were people who could sing with conviction those old words, “This is my story, this is my song”. The stories of lost loved ones, failing health, and falling hopes could not deter their voice of praise. The reason singing together as a faith family was so powerful for all of us was not because it gave us the skills of singing, but because it gave us the soul – the heart and depth of knowing that what we sang was always fueled by why we sang. And that’s why I believe the first five Idols were southern churchgoers. Not because they know how to sing, but because they know why. It had be-come a part of who they are. So hold your head up, Melinda, I’ll buy your CD. You go girl.
Praising My Savior All the Day Long… A Little Out of Pitch of Course,
Kevin