After a tumultuous week of accusations against American Idol judge Paula Abdul, host Ryan Seacrest acknowledged that fact by opening the show on Tuesday night with humor. He gave the live audience extra time to applaud the usually upbeat judge. And then it was time to get back down to business.

Tuesday, May 10th 2005 introduced American Idol fans to a little bit of Country music and a little bit of Philly. Philadelphia legends that is!

Songwriters Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff to be exact.

In fact, Gamble and Huff were in the live audience on Tuesday night.

It was also Homecoming Night at American Idol.

In the crowd were Jasmine Trias, LaToya London, Jon Stevens -- who hasn't aged a day since we last saw him on stage -- and this year's Mikalah Gordon.

The Top Four remaining contestants, Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon and Anthony Fedorov were presented with a map of the United States and direction to this week's genre.

On the map a country and a city were pegged. The "country" was Nashville. And the city was Philadelphia.

Each contestant was invited to sing a Country tune followed by a Philly favorite written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff.

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood - Fashion by Bo Bice

Carrie sang the Dixie Chicks' "Sin Wagon".

Randy said definitively to Carrie:

What I love, love, love about you is that I know exactly who you are. You know exactly who you are. You know the kind of record you should make. That was the perfect song to sing. That's the kind of music you should make. Whoever doesn't do that is crazy. You are ready for the record charts. I will buy your record today. That was hot!

Simon and Paula added to Randy's kudos by saying:

That was the equivalent of you singing in the shower. You did it effortlessly. Very, very, very good indeed. And we saw personality.

Sporting the Bo Bice look, Carrie's black embroidered shirt and overall look was hot on Tuesday night, as well.

Bo Bice

Plain and simple, Bo Bice has a beautiful, distinctive voice. Whatever hair products he's using these days, they should put him in a commercial for them.

Bo Bice sang Travis Tritt to kick off his Country tune.

Randy called his rendition of It's A Good Day To Be Alive "brilliant."

Randy reminded Bo that he is already in the Dawg Pound.

Uncomfortable Paula

Paula had a twang of nervousness to her critique and praise. She seemed so self-conscious that she could barely utter her comments the whole night. Fortunately, Simon was there to pick up the slack -- even though we didn't agree with him.

Simon called Bo's first performance boring. This one American family of five could not disagree more.

Vonzell Solomon

Vonzell sang Trisha Yearwood and LeAnn Rimes with soul.

Randy said it started a little rough. "In the end you always bring it home," he said.

Vonzell got choked up seeing her dad in the crowd.

"Your grace and dignity shows every night," Paula said.

Simon graciously and briefly added:

You looked and sounded incredibly nervous tonight. It's the first time I've seen that in weeks. You're obviously very emotional. So, I think I'll leave it there.

An Emotional Vonzell

Vonzell's tears of emotion will undoubtedly get her additional sympathy votes this week.

She deserves the votes exclusively for her two performances on Tuesday night.

But she'll likely have garnered more after genuinely touching the heartstrings of America.

Anthony Fedorov

Tim said he got chills listening to Anthony Fedorov's first song of the night. Fedorov sang Lonestar's I'm Already There.

Every week, the nineteen year-old continues to pleasantly surprise us.

Randy said, "You know what. I've gotta give you props. It was good man."

Paula encouraged Anthony to stretch.

Simon called the song gooey and syrupy.

Round Two - Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff Songs

Gamble and Huff are said to have helped define the sound of Philadelphia.

A few of the production / songwriter teams top songs include:

"Love Train"

"When Will I See You Again"

"If You Don't Know Me By Now"

"Now That You Found Love"

"Enjoy Yourself"

Today, their music continues to be played every fourteen minutes around the globe.

Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff

Leon expressed how thrilled he was that, as a result of the contestants, a whole new generation would be introduced to their music.

Carrie Underwood - A Little Bit Philly

Carrie sang Melvin and Pendergrass' "If You Don't Know Me By Now" in a sultry, belt-it-out-Underwood voice. However, her rendition lacked soul.

Randy chuckled before he began. He wasn't crazy about her performance.

Simon said, "This is one of the best pop songs ever written."

Simon agreed with Randy. He blamed the band for the arrangement. Simon said, "It was a complete, utter mess in my opinion."

Bo Bice - Round Two

Top Dawg Bo Bice Knows Money

Bo Bice wore Ray Ban-like dark shades, a vest with no shirt, black pants, a jacket and a silver $ belt buckle to go with his song.

Paula dug his rendition of the O'Jays' "For The Love of Money" so much she stood up and danced through his performance.

Randy said after much extended applause from the live audience, "All I'm going to say is I loved it. I hope when your record comes out it will be on it."

Paula called it the best performance he has done so far.

Simon said, "I thought Donald Trump wrote that song. My mistake. Terrible image. Fantastic performance."

Vonzell Solomon's Second Song

Vonzell sang Thelma Houston's disco version of Harold Melvin's "Don't Leave Me This Way" without the same nerves she had in her previous song.

Jessie (from our Peanut Gallery) said, "I think with more up tempo songs it's easy to have fun with it."

Randy said, "Excellent. Excellent. Excellent job. I mean you've raised the roof. You've indicated whatever happened on that last song. And one thing that America knows now; you can definitely sing.

Paula praised her for taking risks and for achieving her own personal best.

Simon said:

You pulled out all the stops on that one. It was a very manic performance. I'm almost glad that it ended. I felt tense for you. But it was a lot better than the first song, for me.

Anthony Fedorov Delivers A Little Bit Country & A Little Bit Philly

Anthony sang the same song as Carrie -- only better.

Randy said, "This was a much better version of the song. Dude, that was good. You worked it out."

Paula said, "You came out here with conviction. And you nailed it."

Simon looked at the band and said, "That was a better arrangement, guys."

Simon turned to Anthony and said, "You need soul to sing that song."

We were ready for Simon to say, "That was one of the best songs of the night." Instead he compared Anthony to Woody Allen acting in a film that's completely out of his expected genre.

This one American family had a difference of opinion.

Niki, our seven year old, said, "I'm voting three times for Bo, three times for Vonzell, three times for Carrie and one time for Anthony."

Jessie, our nine year old who turns ten next week, said, "I'm voting for everyone except Bo."

Malin, our nineteen year old, said, "I'm voting for the guys tonight."

Tim, who celebrates his forty-sixth today, said:

The thing that's interesting to me is that each of the contestants except Anthony had one really good song and one clunker. However, Anthony seemed to do well with both.

Anthony continues to surprise me.

I would vote Anthony the "number one performer" of the night.

However, I will also be casting a vote for Carrie. Carrie is my girl.

One thing that dawned on us tonight is that every past winner has come from the South.

Kelly Clarkson is from Texas.

Ruben Studdard is from Alabama.

And Fantasia Barrino is from North Carolina.

On that basis, the likely winner will be either Bo, who is from Alabama, or Carrie, who is from Oklahoma, or Vonzell, who is from Florida.

Anthony Emotes

However, you could argue that the Ukraine, where Anthony is originally from, is the southern part of the former Soviet Union.

Wednesday on FOX, America will see the quartet become a trio.

Or maybe not.

If you can believe it, the graphics person earlier in the season obviously didn't get fired. Last night, they got the numbers wrong again. At least the closed caption numbers in America. In Canada they were reported to be correct.

Reality TV Magazine reports:

After Anthony Fedorov's second performance, the phone numbers displayed in the closed captioning were incorrect. As visible in the image above, the first two numbers that appeared were 1-866-IDOLS-01 and 1-866-436-5701, and the last number was Text Vote 5704.

Only the last number is correct. The first two numbers are actually numbers for Carrie Underwood. This error only occurred in the closed captioning. The numbers in the audio and displayed on the screen graphics were correct...

Not only were Anthony's numbers in the closed captioning incorrect, but the closed caption numbers were wrong for Bo Bice and Vonzell Solomon as well. As like with Anthony's number, Bo and Vonzell's phone numbers were incorrectly listed as 1-866-IDOLS-01 and 1-866-436-5701, which is the number for Carrie Underwood.

Also, one of their readers wrote:

I got thru twice.

BOTH times the recorded answer/message said "thank you for voting for contestant #1 (which is Carrie).

THAT is not what I dialed but it was what they documented for my vote!

Tune in at 9pm or TiVo it.

Perhaps a "re-vote" will be demanded like last time.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "town and country" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC