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Stacey song twangs ‘Idol’ judges

Chicago Tribune television columnist Maureen Ryan wasted no time in making her point: “If you would have told me a week ago that I'd be impressed with a Phil Stacey performance, I would have laughed in your face. But there you are — Stacey was by far one of the best performers in Tuesday’s ‘American Idol.’”

The night’s genre-du-jour was country, which Ryan and other observers agreed favored the low edge in Stacey’s voice and his time spent singing in college in Tennessee. Stacey, a musician third class with the Navy Band in Jacksonville, Fla., performed “Where the Blacktop Ends,” by Kiwi-cum-Aussie country artist Keith Urban, and, “Idol” watchers said, surprised the judges with his command of the song.

USA Today “Idol” blogger Ken Barnes said Stacey “kind of rocked the house.”

And Wichita Eagle columnist Denise Neil, whose angle is that Stacey attended high school in Kansas, was ebullient that the sailor finally gave her town a shout-out on the air during a segment with Nashville songstress Martina McBride, who was this week’s “celebrity coach.” McBride was born in Sharon, Kan.

“Why, I was so proud of our Phil that I almost was able to overlook his shiny, shiny shirt. And so were the judges. For maybe the first time since Phil made the Top 24, he earned three compliments from three very hard-to-please people,” Neil wrote.

But all the accolades notwithstanding, it’s crunch time for Stacey. Watchers say last week’s ouster of Texan Haley Scarnato — whose slinky outfits finally stopped compensating for her weak vocals — means that Stacey could be voters’ lowest-hanging target this week.

The betting Web site theonlinewire.com reported that Stacey was again a favorite to be cut, although a bet on the elimination of Chris Richardson, “Idol’s” pocket-edition Justin Timberlake, would pay out slightly better than Stacey. But in a world when national laughingstock Sanjaya Malakar can each week power past legitimate talent on “Idol,” odds makers’ predictions can seem to be worth about as much as the hypertext they’re coded on.

Stacey will find out at 9 p.m. tonight if his country outing twanged enough viewers for him to stay another week.