TELEVISION In 'Idol' quest, Southerners have the charm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- As its third season draws to a close, "American Idol" has taken on a distinctly Southern-fried flavor.
When North Carolina's Fantasia Barrino and Georgia's Diana DeGarmo perform Tuesday and Wednesday in the TV talent show's season finale, they'll be following footsteps that have most often walked south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Past winners of the Fox contest include Kelly Clarkson of Texas and Alabama's Ruben Studdard. Last year's runner-up, Clay Aiken, is from North Carolina. Even season one's second-place finisher, Justin Guarini of Pennsylvania, actually grew up in Georgia.
"I think it's an honest realism," said Latimer Alexander, mayor pro tem of Barrino's hometown of High Point. "Their character seems to come forward. People are drawn to others who are real. ... You can say that's a Southern trait."
Jerry Oberholtzer, mayor of DeGarmo's hometown of Snellville, Ga., was born in Allentown, Pa., raised in New Jersey and has lived in the South for 23 years. He also thinks Southern character has helped the "Idol" contestants.
"A lot has to do with being in the South and being conservative, the respect they both show to the judges," Oberholtzer said.
Asked to respond to the theory that the South is rising again -- this time, on the wings of its crooners -- Robert Thompson of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television chuckled, then conceded "there may be some things happening."
He cited the Grand Ole Opry and Southern churches as reasons why Southern singers may have an advantage.
Southern humorist and frequent National Public Radio commentator Roy Blount Jr. agrees, noting that most popular music -- blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll -- has Southern roots.
"Southerners can sing the way they talk," he said. "They don't have to force it."