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From the very minute Kevin Skinner opened his mouth, it was known exactly what his pitch to America would be.
Short only of wearing a cowboy hat instead of a backwards ball cap, there was absolutely nothing Skinner could have done to make himself look more country. He “sang a song for y’all” by Garth Brooks, identified himself as a “chicken catcher” instead of a chicken farmer, confessed to “not being real good at math” when asked about his job – it’s almost hard to believe that someone really could fit the southern stereotype that accurately.
This is worth mentioning because, all things considered, his actual performance was not particularly exciting. It was good, but hardly seems befitting the start of a web sensation.
In other words, people like Kevin Skinner for his personality before his talent. Skinner is the very definition of a simple modest country boy, something millions of Americans enjoy thinking of themselves as being.
He is therefore also the literal definition of a spoiler contestant. He cannot compare to the big three, but with a big drop-off between the third and fourth most talented in the 40, he may already have one foot into the finale. Skinner’s success will only be impeded by the influence of Simon Cowell and America’s faith in the wild cards.
Comments
If we "all" like him he's good.If you don't it doesn't matter. The general public makes or brakes a young talent.
I disagree with your view, Michael. Kevin Skinner is so unique that he blows the other contestants clear out of the water. Try listening to his video without the visual. Would you turn up your CD or radio to that voice? I would and did since I was not in the room with the TV when he began singing but was drawn to see who had such a commandingly moving voice - and who had such a gentle touch on the guitar. Face it, his accompanyment of his own voice was no less than absolutely perfect. I interpret your critique as nothing more than an attempt to draw negative attention to yourself and column.
Dee: Actually, Skinner's vocal range struck me as being very run of the mill. He is talented, but there are tens of thousands of other performers out there who are just as good. He's not a bad performer, but he is certainly a far cry away from the superstar many insist that he is.
You have to have the "it" factor.The voice and personality the cuts thru everything.It's not about vocal range.It is his personality! It comes thru in his voice!
Clearly your liberal attitude shines thru in your picks.You need to get out of san fran and see that the rest of the country is more like Kevin Skinner than you.Your bubble of intellect is holding you prisoner.
Since I´m european I have absolutely no affinity towards "country boy (...) millions of Americans enjoy thinking of themselves as being", you can believe me that.
Still I feel Kevin has the best voice in this competition.
Your assessment of most candidates is way better than the judges´ no doubt,
but in this particular case you are dead wrong.
Funny, I listened to his performance over and over again. I didn't watch it and I always fast forwarded through the chitchat to get to his singing and playing. I really liked his music!
I dont think that Skinner's vocal range is what most were impressed with.... It was his believe-ability to sing to your heart. If a person didnt feel he was singing just to you, they must have no romance left in their heart. Music is fantasy, someone elses thoughts, words asking you to join them for a few short minutes. Dee I think you have made a good comment. I had never heard his music or heard of him till reading this article and watching it. Thank your comments that made me pull up his performance.
Umm, stony? I am an ultra-liberal intellectual (3 university degrees and counting, including one from the Ivy League), and my "intellectual bubble" didn't prevent me from loving Kevin Skinner. Are you claiming that only poorly educated conservatives like country music? And by the way, I'm from Georgia, not San Francisco. Oooh, scary - we're even in the South now!
Oh - and has anyone seen his quarterfinals performance yet? He cleans up GORGEOUS! What a cutie-pie!
There are many talented singers, but they aren't on AGT. Kevin Spinner is. He is a very talented singer and he doesn't have much experience in front of a live audience. It won't take long for him to become a seasoned pro. By the way, I'm not even a big fan of country music, but Kevin sings with great conviction, and that comes through loud & clear. Kevin will have a great career no matter if he wins or not.
Win or lose, America's Got Talent,
he will go far. Go Kevin!!!!!!!!
I want to see more!!!!! WOW. Good looking, honest eyes, emotional voice, he's got it. A little touch of training and he's gonna make it BIG!!!!! Good luck Kevin! Amen to you not giving up your dream.
I have never even heard of this Ross guy, but he is totally clueless. He wouldn't know talent if it hit him in the face. Kevin is wonderful. Oh by the way, there are chicken catchers out there. My sister and husband have 3 huge chicken houses in Arkansas, and they caught chickens by hand for yrs, plus hire people to help. Now they have trucks come in and have more modern ways to catch them. Mr City Dude, how do you think the chicken breast you eat, gets to your table. I am proud to be a country girl from Oklahoma. I feel sorry for people that live in the big cities. When I seen Kevin the first time, I told me dad that he reminded me of my two nephews from Arkansas. I hope Kevin goes all the way.
He's going to win this competition- He is the best I have heard in along time!!!!!
dude/Ross this guy Kevin has got it, I hate to say he sounds better than TIM MCGRAW singing this song. He captivates the audience in ways that are very difficult... difficult for even a famous singer to obtain. NOT to mention the man is americas food source provider employed or not, our farmers are why we lazy Americans, can walk right into a store and grab, a stock of celery, a head of lettuce, chicken breast for dinner.
This man has got one HELL of a voice, he mesmerizes the audience to a trance, plua he hets a standing ovation. he got the best of both worlds.
Who cares about Brit, madonna, and what ever other hoes get on stage to prance their bodies........ This guy can sing, he can draw the crowd to him with his natural talent.
He's a good ole hometown southern boy.
I will vote the hell for him
he's got talent I lve it and nothing will change my mind...
Mike, what talent have you got? that's right NONE!! Anybody one this planet can do your job! There's many people out there that have a talent of being critical towards others who have talent! wait -there called critics! Kevin Skinner has more emotion and heart in his voice than 95% of the country singers out there today! We don't want to listen to country music we want to feel it and have it touch us emotionally. This guys the real deal! You are among a minority who don't know how to feel emotion! Whether Kevin wins or not isn't important. what's important is this guy being heard and people wanting to share in his success by buying millions of cds! You will see!!
What does MY singing capacity have to do with Skinner's? Skinner may be talented, but there are also likely 10,000+ people watching at home that yelled "I could have done that!"
And what does my taste in music have to do with it either? I hate all these fevered ego rappers and Pepsi-Cola pop artists just as much as you do, but because I don't think Kevin Skinner is anything less than the superstar he's being described as, you assumed otherwise.
All this is essentially just feeding into what I said: He's the spoiler candidate that people WANT to believe is a winner. Neither my own talent nor my own tastes in music should ever have entered into this.
I saw this last year with Daniel Jens, who by now you probably only remember as the soldier from season 3. People were trumpeting him as a superstar too and lashing out at me when I voiced my skepticism too, but he only made it as far as the Top 20. People WANTED to believe he was a superstar too. He was not.
Kevin Skinner is the BEST singer and most SINCERE person that I have seen in a long time.
I hope he WINS. He represents our country well!
Way to go Kevin!!!!
Well, Michael, you review could not be further off base. Kevin Skinner's performance touched me as soon as the first note he played on the guitar. What is lacking in pop and country music today is someone singing from their heart, that feeling of raw emotion. This man was soulful and grabbed my heart immediately - he totally drew me in. I agree, he should win AGT this year.
Kevin Skinner... we here in NW Kansas loved your first performance, and just as equally, your second! We voted for you 10 times. Love your sincere attitude and will be in line for your first album wherever or whenever that will be. Don't loose your down home attitude, and your honesty.. it's rare these days!!
hey mike, kevin fits the southern sterotype as wel as u fit the snobby demeaning critic sterotype by the looks of your picture and words you use in your comments shame on you for cutting down genuine talent because of his apperarance,as opposed to those high fashioned voice enhanced popstaras on the radio today.
John, scroll down and read my original response. I am not CUTTING HIM DOWN because of his demeanor or appearance. I'm just pointing out that other people are PROPPING HIM UP because of his appearance.
Kevin Skinner is a classic example of something I have been seeing all too frequently in America these days: the disregard for the truth whenever it is inconvenient. Skinner is far from the most talented performer in this competition, but people completely ignore Thia Megia, Barbara Padilla and Lawrence Beamen because they don't want to believe that Skinner isn't going to win.
Much the same way you completely ignored my earlier comment in regards to Pepsi-Cola pop stars, probably because the belief that I'm a musical lemming anyway gave you an excuse to hate me more.
Call me to brag about how wonderful Skinner is when he knocks out one of my listed top contenders. Until then, get off your high horse and just wait for the results like the rest of us.
I have read all these comments and I have to agree with Michael Ross. Michael you and I have butt heads re: Donald Braswell but on this subject I am in total agreement with you. I have listened to Kevin Skinner over and over again to try to hear what all of you seem to hear that I don't. Kevin is just an average singer. I'm very happy he has gotten this exposure so he will have a chance with his dream but I will be shocked if he makes the top 40. I would not pay money to go see Kevin Skinner. and, fyi, Tim McGraw is a much better singer by far, no comparison can be made there and I am not even a country western fan but Tim McGraw is good enough that I like hearing him sing but Kevin, especially his last song on AGT last night was lack lustre and boring.
Oops! Correction to last statement. I meant to say I will be shocked if Kevin Skinner makes it past the top 40. Agt should not be a popularity contest. It is about talent.
Mike, I agree with you about the overnight fad singers and that Kevin's not a superstar country singer. I also believe that there are 10000 guys out there that have the same vocal ability or better, but that's where it ends. What they don't have is that raw emotion and sincerity in their voices that is so rare today. Kevin has the ability to make you believe what he's singing is what he actually lived through. I have not seen this type of singing since Hank Williams Sr. was singing country songs. those 10000 guys are passed over by record producers everyday because they don't have those rare hard to find qualities that Kevin Skinner has. And that's the bottom line!
Why do several people here seem to think To Make You Feel My Love is a Tim McGraw song???? It is originally a Bob Dylan song, but the song was made famous when Garth Brooks did a version of it for the movie Hope FLoats.
kevin rules in finland also. I saw he first time and he really impressed me. I really hope that he wins. GO KEVIN!
I see Mr. Ross' point. There are other people with similar vocal ability, and part of Kevin's likability is his "earthiness". As a Kentuckian, I'm obviously quite proud. Although not a rabid country music fan, I enjoy him because he is, as other's have pointed out, "raw". Will he make it all the way? I don't know? Should he? I don't know that either. But I do know I'd be interested in following his career, and I can't say that for any of the other acts yet.
And, for the record, while most of us do have accents, Kevin's is, by far, the thickest I've ever heard! I think Kevin himself would proudly classify himself as a redneck. But, again, that's partially why America loves him--he's unpretentious. And, he's become famous at a time when "glitz and glam" is out but simplicity is in.
I think he's talented, but I'm not falling for his act.
Oh, and that's why his accent is so 'thick', it's embellished.
What are you talking about??????? An act? What do you mean by that? I talk just like Kevin!! Same accent. It's an accent not an act. My husband says I like Kevin so much because we talk alike. I have been told I talk like a hillbilly, like Elly May Clampett etc, but never been told my speech was an act. I spent a lot of time with my grandma too, so who knows ,that may be why we talk so country. KEVIN BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE!!!
out standing job kevin reach for your gold
want to here a lot more you have a voice on you let
it be herd good job
I have to agree with the majority of the posters here. I am about as far from country as you can get, but there is something about Kavin Skinner that resinates with people.
NOBODY else has ever gotten me to even LISTEN to a country song.....but I have to admit that I've watched Skinner's performance of Tomorrow Never Comes at least 75 times.
I know Kevin Skinner, and let me tell you, none of that was an act. He is who he is. His whoe family is just like him. NICE...WONDERFUL.....people.
I remember people ranting about Neil E. Boyd 'acting' too. Maybe Kevin really is that way in real life but that doesn't mean we're not entitled to think otherwise. Remember Kelly Pickler on American Idol? That was all an act and she didn't fit the stereotype half as well as Kevin does.
Michael: Just logged on and found your rebuttal to my comments of August 4. Once again I will say that I was only half way listening to AGT from another room when Kevin began to sing. I rounded the corner as fast as I could (at age 70+) to see who this singer was and then stood there with tears rolling down my face. In all these years (from Johnny Ray on) no other singer has so affected me. While Joe Cocker's "You are so Beautiful" or Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer" stop me in my tracks, never did they bring tears to my eyes. Somehow, you fail to hear the pure emotion in Kevin Skinner's voice, and for that you have my sympathy. It's said that we are never so blind as when we can't hear.
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