this just in...

Okay guys, as we await the 8 o'clock hour, spoilers tend to come hot and heavy prior to the start of performance, especially around 6:30 EDT, when the folks who've been at dress rehearsal start retrieving their phones and keyboards. So when I learn anything new, here's where it will go, rather than a new entry for each new item.

First Up! News, and credible news, on Elliott's personal choice. It very well could be I Believe To My Soul by Ray Charles, later covered by Donny Hathaway. (And we all know how much he admires Hathaway.) It's another one of those bluesy numbers, with an arrangement very similar to the vocal/band arrangement of Trouble. Ray Charles' version is a bit slower than Hathaway's, so it will be interesting, if this is indeed his choice, to see which version he selects. My vote: Hathaway. Definitely. (thanks, mj)

And there's no refuting Taylor's personal choice of Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness, and that title has been making the rounds consistently, so I say it's a go, unless we hear differently after dress rehearsal. You may remember that this was the song he had prepared for Love Songs night, only to be told the day before performance that the song "didn't fit the genre."

Finally, those dress rehearsal folks got in touch. Katharine's personal choice will be Ain't Got Nothing But the Blues.

Song order tonight: Clive pick, Judges pick, Personal Choice.