Lyle by Jury

 Sean Patrick McGraw still can't get over the attention he attracted in season two of the reality-TV show Nashville Star. After the native New Yorker outsang 1,200 other country crooners at the 2004 auditions, he made it to the semifinals, with judges summing up his sound as "something like Lyle Lovett singing Springsteen songs while wearing Dwight Yoakam's hat." "Go figure. I made it all the way to the TV show," says McGraw, whose latest tour brings him to Medina tonight. "I thought that was the most awesome thing I ever accomplished, until I got the call."The call came a couple months ago from a Country Music TV producer, who asked McGraw if the network could tape him in action for another reality show, Ten Days on Tour. With footage now in the bag, he continues his cross-country trek from one honky-tonk stage to the next, where his Northeast upbringing belies his "Nashvegas"-style songwriting. "It comes out sounding like country with brains sung by a Yankee," says McGraw. "I drink my coffee black, my whiskey straight, and I'm the kind of guy who changes his own oil." McGraw performs at 9 tonight at Dirty Cowboys, 2743 Medina Road in Medina. Admission is $5. Call 330-723-8844.
Sat., Jan. 19, 9 p.m., 2008