John Colton's blog

Here's your reminder, Deanna: The Sing-off starts tomorrow night on NBC.

Here are the groups that are competing:
* Committed (Huntsville, Alabama) - I don't know them, but they sure sounded good in the promo
* Eleventh Hour (Kettering, Ohio) - A high school group, I've actually reviewed two of their albums for RARB: http://rarb.org/reviews/932.html#john-colton, http://rarb.org/reviews/1019.html#john-colton. They are great for a high school group, but I expect them to be one of the first to be eliminated.
* Pitch Slapped (Boston, Massachusetts) - from the Berklee College of Music. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I listened to one of their albums for CARA award judging last year. If I recall correctly, the album was OK, but not one of the very best.
* Groove For Thought (Seattle, Washington) - Don't know them.
* Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town (Oakland, California) - As mentioned previously, this group is the descendant of the Persuasions, one of the classic doo-wop groups that started in the 1960s. In fact, their most recent album is even listed on the Persuasions' wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persuasions. I own six Persuasions albums, and am very excited to hear them. In the end, though, I suspect that at age 66, Jerry Lawson might not be as contemporary as today's viewers are going to like.
* Men of Note (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) - Don't know them.
* The Backbeats (Los Angeles, California) - As mentioned, this is a newly formed group with (among others) Courtney from last year's competitor Noteworthy.
* On The Rocks (Eugene, Oregon) - This is the group that sang the Lady Gaga "Bad Romance" version I posted about a month ago. It'll be fun to see them perform that on the Sing Off (it's on the promo).
* Street Corner Symphony (Nashville, Tennessee) - I don't know them, but they sure sounded good in the promo.
* The Whiffenpoofs (New Haven, Connecticut) - This is the oldest collegiate a cappella group in the country, having been founded in 1909. That's 101 years old, this year. I'm not sure what style they sing; quite possibly it's more traditional glee-club-type fare than contemporary a cappella. We'll see!