American Idol - Top 9

Here we go again folks... I'm psyched for tonight because I love Dolly Parton - have ever since I was little. I love to hear her speak, watch her perform, and overall I love her sweet country girl demeanor. Yeah for Dolly!!

Let's get to the music!

Brooke White - "Jolene" - I love this song. It was hard to listen to Brooke and not compare it to Dolly's version. Unfortunately it didn't quite measure up to Dolly, but I did enjoy Brooke's performance. I like that she used the guitar. To use Randy's words, overall, it was okay for me.

David Cook - "Little Sparrow" - I'm not super familiar with this song, but I loved David singing it. Great performance - he is consistent and definitely shaping up to be one of the top contenders in this competition.

Ramiele Malubay - "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" - Much better than last week's performance, but not great for me.

Jason Castro - "Travelin' Through" - I really liked this performance! I think he amped it up a bit after being in the bottom three last week and in my opinion it paid off. I completely disagree with Simon's critique, which is actually kind of rare. for me.

Carly Smithson - "Here You Come Again" - Great song! Another intimate, acoustic performance - must be a Dolly thing. I really like Carly and I really liked this performance. I really felt badly for Carly when Simon slammed her wardrobe - regardless of what I think, that's got to be hard to take, especially in front of millions of people. Props to Ryan for putting Simon in his place.

David Archuleta - "Smoky Mountain Memories" - I actually liked it! I'm usually kind of take it or leave it with David's performances, but this one I liked.

Kristy Lee Cook - "Coat of Many Colors" - I've never heard this song, but it almost made me cry. Kristy Lee was in her niche tonight - I liked it a lot!

Syesha Mercado - "I Will Always Love You" - Considering how overplayed this song was in the 90s, it was just okay for me. Hard not to compare it to Whitney and Dolly's versions.

Michael Johns - "It's All Wrong But It's All Right" - Wow - phenomenal performance. And nice ascot. Yep! He's a keeper. Loved it!

Should go - Ramiele or Syesha

Will go - Ramiele or Syesha

Best of the night - Michael Johns, with David Cook taking a close second.

That was fun...let's do it again next week!