The Fox singing contest will document the three finalists — songbird Lauren Alaina, crooner Scotty McCreery and jazzy Haley Reinhart — returning to their hometowns before they tackle three separate tunes on the "Idol" stage in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. The songs were selected by judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, mentor Jimmy Iovine and the singers themselves.
McCreery, the deep-voiced 17-year-old front-runner from Garner, N.C., has never appeared as one of the show's low vote getters. That isn't the case for twangy 16-year-old ingenue Alaina of Rossville, Ga., and feisty 20-year-old fatale Haley Reinhart of Wheeling, Ill. Alaina was at the bottom once two weeks ago, while Reinhart has been there four times.
One of the singers will be dismissed Thursday, and the winner will be crowned on the Nokia Theatre stage next week.