Although younger country music fans might only know Jeffrey Steele as the mild-mannered, blond-locked judged on NBC's Nashville Star, Steele's rise to the top of the country music industry was thirty years in the making. Just like the crop of country hopefuls vying to become this year's Nashville Star, Steele had to compete just to be seen and heard before years of hard work paid off. After slugging it out for two decades in the vocal trenches of the country bar circuit, Jeffrey Steele eventually caught a break and went on to become one of the most successful songwriters in country muisc today, winning several Songwriter of the Year awards and penning songs and hits for the likes of Diamond Rio, Lee Anne Rimes, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Steve Holy, Montgomery Gentry, Trace Adkins, and Rascal Flatts.

This year Jeffrey Steele signed on to become one of the judges on Nashville Star, joining singers Jewel and Jon Rich to form a country mentoring trio that will help find a few new up and coming country stars. With the competition narrowing on Nashville Star, The Deadbolt took a call from Jeffrey Steele to find out "what hurts the most" a day after fans voted Pearl Heart of the show this past Monday.

THE DEADBOLT: Is it getting easier for you guys, as judges, now that the field is being whittled down?

JEFFREY STEELE: No, no, it’s getting harder. After what happened last night, it’s going to get real hard for me. I thought we lost one of the real country acts on the show last night, so I was pretty bummed to see Pearl Heart go. I think that was an act that was on its way to really becoming something in the coming weeks. I mean, we've got a couple of great ones left. I think it’ going to come down to Gabe and Mellissa. I think everybody knows that. So I think it’s all just a lot of hoopla until then as long as they keep their performances up. I mean, I think those are the best two that can best take this thing to another level after it’s over.

THE DEADBOLT: Was it a good decision that Shawn parted ways with Jon?

STEELE: Well, you know there are a couple schools of thought on that. I think that Shawn really needs to grow up, because every day in the music business you have to deal with people you don’t want to deal with but you have to deal with. You just have to thicken your skin to get through things and you have to learn to make those things bring out the best in you instead of the worst in you. She keeps allowing them to bring out the worst in her. And the one thing I was saying last night - she cries all over the place, everywhere she goes, except for when she’s singing her song, and I really feel like she’s trying to overpower everybody and she can’t do it. She can’t overpower Mellissa, it’s just not going to happen. I really don’t think she can overpower Ashlee, so I think the best thing for her to do is just find a great song, stay true to the song, and sing the song. Don’t try to be fancy, you know?

If she could do that, I think she could hang in there. I’d like to see her hang in long enough to get to an original song night because I think she’s a really good songwriter. I think that would really benefit her and make her like the X-factor, and she could knock somebody out because she has a great song. If somebody has an original song one week, if we get to that week, which I hope we do, if someone has a really bad song they’ve written, you know it’s really going to make their performance look even worse. The song is everything. So I think that if she can make it through to that and she could just channel her energy into the performance instead of backstage, onstage, after the performance and all of that, I think it will benefit her. I don’t know if it was a great decision. I’m happy to take it on and try to do what I can, but I’m kind of the same way with her. I want her to quit being a barroom singer. I want her to sing for the people on the TV set.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you get someone to use emotion to their advantage, like using tears?

STEELE: It’s hard because they get caught up in the hype of it. They know they’re on TV, they’re in front of millions of people, so they get that urge to perform more than deliver. You know what I mean? I think it’s one of those things - You can only draw a map, you can’t lead anybody there. You can give them the map, but they've got to find their way there. And it’s something she has to cross, some kind of a line. And I mainly say her, because the other ones have a little bit more control over what they’re doing. But they have to cross that line where, especially if you’ve been singing in bars. Like me, I sang in bars for twenty years. So I know where she’s coming from, trying to get everybody to pay attention to you and nobody is listening to you. So you have to make up your mind that you’re going to stop trying to please people and do it for yourself, and get back to whatever it was that first thing was that got you singing in the first place. [laughs] You know, it’s a hard thing to teach in nine weeks.

THE DEADBOLT: If someone's unfamiliar with a certain song or artist, like Ashlee with Steve Miller, do you think there's more of a chance it'll come off as awkward?

STEELE: Everybody seemed to love it; I didn’t like her in that role. I thought she was out of her skin even though she had her shoes off. And I now that was a great thing Jon thought she was being herself. I think sometimes it can work to their advantage if they haven’t heard the song, as long as they deliver it their own way. I wish she would’ve sang it the way she’s been singing this whole time, a little bit more laid back. Ultimately, maybe she doesn’t have the hype and the hoopla to make her one of those bright shiny stars off of the show. But if she doesn’t make it through the show, I think Ashlee’s going to be a huge star. You know, she’s a few years in the making and she could have a long career. But I’d just rather see her follow what she’s all about. To be honest with you, I’m tired of hearing a lot of these rock 'n roll songs, and I’m a guy who has really deep roots in country.

But I’ve also brought a lot of southern rock and rock with my songs, so I’m not trying to be a hypocrite about it. Maybe I am, but in this show I think country music is in a great place right now and I’d just like to see that represented. I’m so glad that Gabe picked a Keith Urban song and country music is bigger than it’s ever been right now, and I really feel that I’d really like to get back to getting to represent that a little bit more. I think a night or two of it [rock] is pretty cool, but there seems to be a lot of it to me. I thought Gabe did a good job of "Wanted Dead or Alive". I wouldn’t have picked that song for him, but he pulled it off. It’s good to see him stretch. But ultimately I’d like to see them deliver more towards the format.

Behind the Mic with Nashville Star Judge Jeffrey Steele Page 2