A strong 1-2 punch opened the show, as Brooke White sang Parton's most heartrending song, Jolene, and David Cook triumphed with the Appalachian lament Little Sparrow. David Archuleta played to his strengths with the big ballad Smoky Mountain Memories, and Carly Smithson effectively slowed down Here You Come Again. Even the erratic Kristy Lee Cook had a good night with the sentimental Coat of Many Colors.

There were a few misfires — Jason Castro's typically bland Travelin' Thru, Ramiele Malubay's forgettable Do I Ever Cross Your Mind (not with this performance), and Michael Johns' misguided and overwrought attempt to turn It's All Wrong But It's All Right into a blues-'n'-gospel extravaganza that was almost surreal enough to suggest some sort of distorted Salvador Dolly.

And of course someone had to do Parton's most famous composition, I Will Always Love You, and Syesha Mercado gave it the full Whitney Houston in a valiant performance doomed to evoke "you're no Whitney" comments from the judges.

Still, the evening showed that if you give Idol's budding interpretive singers a catalog of first-rate songs, it can be a pleasant Parton gift.

Enlarge Fox Cook: The Idol contestant warbled Little Sparrow.

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