(Photo : Kree Harrison)

When Kree Harrison ripped open Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain" on American Idol you know this is a gal who can sing with soul.  This America Idol alumnus sings with a raw Gospel-fire on this politically charged hymn based on Martin Luther King Jr's 1968 "I have Been to the Mountaintop" speech.  So, it is with some sadness that Harrison came in as the runner-up to the twelve season of this year's American Idol.  Following in the footsteps of Kellie Pickler, Carrie Underwood, Scotty McCready and Josh Grain, Harrison unabashedly waves the country music flag.  In fact, she has had been involved in country music since she was ten years-old.  Signed to Lyric Street Music, she released the great Christmas hymn of the church "Do You Hear What I Hear?" as a duet with famed talk-show host Rosie O' Donnell.  More recently, Harrison can be heard singing backing vocals on Kacey Musgraves' "Same Trailer Different Park" and Eli Young Band's "Life at Best."

For her debut post-Idol single, Harrison has eschewed the over- the- top cheesy inspirational numbers.  Instead of recycling one of those self importance hypes of Carrie Underwood's debut single "Inside Your Heaven" or Scotty McCready's big and fluffy "I Love You This Big," Harrison has decided to keep self-aggrandization in abeyance.  "All Cried Out," written by Katrina Elam, Gordie Sampson and Steve McEwan, is a low key affair.  It's the song of a recovering broken-hearted junkie finally taking up her courage to say, "Enough is enough."  Stave to leave her hurts and her past behind, the song is a persistent resolve to face the future with hope.  And though vague as the lyrics are, there is a tinge of Gospel determination to leave our sinful past behind moving into God's purposes.

Nevertheless, the weakness of the song lies in the lack of a narrative frame:  what made Harrison so sad?  A broken relationship?  The death of her mother some four years ago?  Coming second on American Idol?  Without a nexus of identification, it's hard for us to identify with the emotions of this song. Conversely, what drives this piano ballad with its sensitive use of the dobro and the fiddle is Harrison crystal-clear soprano.  Here Harrison shows why she's such a darling on the popular TV show:  her use of restrain, melisma and presence are just stunning.