The new season of Can You Duet (CMT) has begun and I finally got around to watching the premiere on my DVR. I knew about some of the top duets, and have even seen one of them perform around town. But today I am going to write about one of contestants competing as a "single" to be partnered with another single to form a duet -- Leith Loftin.
He made it to the top 7 singles from the singles section. In fact he was in demand among the 7 to partner up. And in a relatively late turn of events, he decided to partner with a guy singer (Matt) instead of a girl singer (Ashley). This left Ashley as the last man out, not picked to be on anyone's schoolyard kickball team -- a turn of events which the producers made much of. In the end, Leith was dropped in the last five minutes of the premiere episode...the final cut before the season's tv cast is formally announced (although Country Weekly has published a preview.)
Naomi drove home a point that Matt was "one of the best male vocalists they had seen all day," and that they were cutting Leith because ,while he is a charmer and "will always have a bar gig," he just isn't good enough. And before it was all over both Ashley and Matt made it to the next cut.
Now, I actually have a tremendous amount of respect for Mama Judd. I mean, she raised some highly talented and independent women with a significant amount of talent in their own right. She was committed to her career in nursing, and since then has proven phenomenal business savvy and a gift for performance that has leveraged her, um, "musical ability" to incredible effect. She knew that the combination of her performance skills and Wynonna's amazing voice would create a "package" that was greater than the sum of its parts. And did so to history-making success for more than a decade and then launched Wynonna onto a stage of her own for another decade (and counting). Naomi is no shrinking violet or voice to be discounted.
BUT...I'm not sure I am with her on this one.
I met Leith about a year ago on his first night as a bartender at Nero's Grill here in Nashville. I was on a girls night with my friend Angie and it all started with a damn good martini. What may not come across on tv is that the guy isn't just charming, or even just charismatic. He oooooozes pheremones. I have rarely encountered someone with as much raw interpersonal pull.
After an enjoyable night of harmless flirty chatting with the bartender, Angie and I left and continued our hen fest in the parking lot. (You know when you finally get the call to hang out with your friend who is just emerging from the hermit-hood of the first year of marriage? It was THAT night.)
In fact we were still talking when Leith came out to his truck, which was parked near my car. So we talked some more. And he tells us he is a singer/songwriter. Mind you, like most Nashvillians, Angie and I have been in this conversation before and are well aware of the incredibly slim odds of this guy ever getting anywhere, much less being any good. In fact, our response was probably a more polite version of the initial audience response to Susan Boyle, "Oh really? A songwriter?" Soon followed, in an attempt at covering our disdain, with, "Have you written anything we would have heard?" We were basically just playing along.
He put in a demo CD of a song called "Don't Pull It Out (Unless You're Gonna Use It)" -- and shame on you ...it was about a knife, a credit card, and a guitar. It was incredibly clever, well written, well constructed, and well performed. Angie and I looked at each other and had to consciously pull our respective jaws off the ground. THIS bartender a.k.a. singer/songwriter guy was actually really, really good at his craft!!
Now here's the thing. The Can You Duet judges recognized, acknowledged and coached people through nerves when they were manifested as shyness, meekness, or not singing to or connecting with the judges. But somehow they missed the guy who is a seasoned enough performer to channel his nerves at being an almost finalist on a national tv show by using his god-given charm that has stood him in such good stead when he needed to man up to a scary situation for his whole life. And maybe, yes, maybe it came across as a little heavy handed.
But frankly, I think there might have been a little more Mother Hen than Mama Judd in Naomi's final comments to Leith. I mean, who are we kidding? Producers talk. I have no reason not to think that her feathers may have been understandably ruffled when Leith left cute, unspoiled, talented little Ashley stranded in the green room.
So here's what I have to say: Leith is an exceptional prospect for Music Row. He's got a lot of raw talent and performance skill. He has some natural gifts that will be a powerful tool as he works with the support of a label to build an audience. And he has some real chops as a songwriter -- more than most new artists, I dare say. I think Naomi's response was more tough love than a denouncement of his talent -- and a denouncement is exactly how it came across on tv.
Big personalities drive big emotional responses...and maybe Leith needs to work a little bit on managing that phenomenon to his benefit, at least until he makes it big and can be a jerk with impunity. (Why did you think I said John Rich out loud? I didn't say anything at all about John Rich.) He needs some Bill Clinton/Garth Brooks lessons on how to read a room and come out on top even after a (sometimes inevitable) gaff. What he doesn't need is an unnecessary and unwarranted indictment of his talent.
I really hope that Leith is able to leverage this experience with someone -- another producer, A&R rep, or label rep -- to get the support and artist development that would take his talent to the next level. He's got the stuff. He just needs the right team. He might still be a little rough, but Can You Duet is supposed to be finding the diamonds in the rough and helping to polish them. That's kinda the point.
The whole season was filmed, over, and in the can before the premiere, so everyone involved is sworn to secrecy about the outcome. We, the audience, will just have to follow along to find out what has already happened with this cast. I still have very high hopes for lots of the performers who made it to the Top 10 Duets. But in the meantime, throw a little love out for Leith. He really took it on the chin for no good reason.
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