NEWSWatch Paul McDonald & His Guitar Groove to Motown on 'American Idol'
March 24 2011, Published 5:57 a.m. ET
Paul McDonald took a night off from bouncing across the stage and strummed on his guitar instead. The handsome Nashville crooner chose "Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles for his Motown performance and certainly impressed the judges.
Seasoned Idol fans may also recall that Adam Lambert also chose "Tracks of My Tears" on Season 8 for his Motown song, WOW-ing the judges with his rendition and making it one of his stand-out performances.
"I grew up listening to Motown music,' Paul explained before his performance. "It's the kind of music that makes you move. Whenever you hear it you have to move around. It's good for the soul music."
Judge Randy Jackson was happy Paul incorporated his guitar.
"You know what I like you're not really dancing all around. You are doing your thing. You are playing your guitar. You definitely got a distinctive voice..the tone is so unique. You took it to a cool kinda Paul, kind of Rod Stewart level," Randy explained. "Dude when you sand tender at the very end, Oh My God dude...It's so cool. It's so infectious. Dude, bring more of that"
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Steven Tyler likened Paul to legend Bob Dylan.
"Very different. Like Dylan, like Willie Nelson your voice is that different and it's beautiful in that sense," Steven shared. "I love it. I love what you do with the guitar too."
"You are the most seasoned performer we seem to have," Jennifer Lopez gushed. "It's true. You are kind of the complete package and all you need is a good producer and their you go."
Paul thanked fans for their support on Twitter, writing, "Long long day. I'm exhausted. Time for some serious sleep. Thank you so much for all the kind words! You guys are unbelievable!"
Catch his performance below, as well as Adam's rendition of "Track of My Tears." Which do you prefer? Were you happy Paul stayed in one place?
Adam Lambert during Season 8 performing "Track of My Tears" — which was one of the runner-up's stand out performances.
