FRACKVILLE - Today, three contestants will be moving on to the final round of Schuylkill County Idol 2013 after six contestants sang their hearts out Tuesday evening for the audience and judges.
Those who competed Tuesday night were Tiff Maley, 20, of Frackville; Cody Wiley, 23, of Pottsville; Autumn Maurer, 19, of Frackville; Rich Harper, 20, of Cumbola; Jacob Tarconish, 18, of Barnesville; and Ryan Wilkinson, 28, of Pottsville.
Each contestant sang three tunes Tuesday, with the second being a song that kept with this year's theme, "Billboard No. 1 Hits."
Maley was the first to perform and she sang "I Hope You Dance" by Leann Womak.
"You did some really great things," judge Allison Stella said. "That break in the middle of the song where you have to re-enter with the back track was really impressive."
She also sang "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele and "The Way We Are" by Barbara Streisand.
Next to perform was Wiley, who sang "Little Things" by One Direction and played on his guitar in the first round, which he said was dedicated to his "little girl" and girlfriend.
"You were very comfortable in that performance and you feel quite comfortable up there," said judge Kim Russell Seibert. "That was a very intimate delivery and intimate song and it's hard to do with this kind of lighting, natural light, but you delivered that beautifully. I enjoyed it."
Seibert also performed "Hey Jude" by The Beatles and "God Bless The Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts.
Maurer performed "From This Moment" by Shania Twain in the first round, following by "Someone Like You" by Adele and "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride in the other rounds.
"Autumn, as always, I admire your stage performance," Stella said after Maurer's first performance. "I like how you can move around the stage without losing that firm foundation.
Harper performed "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers in the first round, which he said was "dedicated to someone special."
"I'd really like to see you just get up there for three minutes and just do those moves without singing because that would be a real treat in itself," judge Jeff Buchanan said. "There's a voice in there, but I just have no idea what we're going to do with it."
"You definitely have your own style, that's really for sure, Rich," Seibert said.
He performed "Mack The Knife" by Bobby Darin and "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra in the other rounds.
Tarconish, dressed for the Highland Games, performed "Heartland" by Celtic Thunder in the first round, which Seibert told him it took a lot a guts to be able to sing that.
In the following rounds, he performed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2 and "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce.
The sixth and last contestant to perform was Wilkinson, who performed "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright in the first round.
Although he struggled to remember some of the lyrics, the crowd and judges were impressed.
"You do have a naturalness to your voice, I'm not sure what it is or where it's going, but there's something about your voice that's appealing," Buchanan said.
Wilkinson also performed "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling and "Remember When It Rained" by Josh Groban.
The three vying for the honor of Schuylkill County Idol will be announced at 3 p.m. today on the Schuylkill Mall website www.shopschuylkillmall.com.
A winner will be announced after the 6 p.m. competition July 23.
The contest started with 17 performers and was narrowed to 10 then six after the judges scored them.
The contest is sponsored by Pepsi, Avalon and the Frackville Rotary.
The winner will receive a $1,000 Schuylkill Mall gift certificate, a $100 gift certificate from the Bon-Ton, a professional studio photo shoot by Michael's Photography, a caricature package by Angie Jordan, a makeover by the Beverly Carlton Salon, a $20 Kmart giftcard, a $50 mall gift certificate from McCann's School of Business & Technology and will perform at the Schuylkill County Fair, according to the mall website.