Blanchester native Brent Keith will be performing live tonight on American Idol as one of the final 36 in the running for American Idol 8.

Keith will be one of six male and six female performers in the competition Tuesday night. The top male and top female vote-getters and the person with the next highest number of votes will move on to the top 12.

The competition will be aired on the Fox Channel at 8 pm. tonight. The public is urged to watch the competition and vote for Keith, a graduate of Blanchester High School.

The remaining 24 contestants will perform in the next two consecutive weeks. Following these competitions, there will be a wild card round when the judges will bring back three contestants.

Keith first gained national attention on the Nashville Star TV talent competition before being selected in 2007 to sing the title track for Dale, a feature film about the late NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Drawing from country, rock and soul influences as diverse as Vince Gill, Tim McGraw, the Black Crowes and Otis Redding, Keith developed his sound through constant live performances with his band while touring throughout the North and Southeast since 2001. The roadwork helped him land a spot on the second season of Nashville Star, where he finished sixth out of more than 10,000 contestants.

In late 2005, Keith signed with Nashville’s Combustion Music and began working with songwriter-producer Chris Farren, whose production credits include Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine” and “We Danced Anyway.” One of their early collaborations, “Looking for a Road,” was chosen as the closing title track for Dale, a feature film produced by CMT Films and NASCAR Images.

A music video for “Looking for a Road (Theme From Dale) was filmed in Nashville with director Shaun Silva, whose resume includes more than a dozen music videos for Kenny Chesney and other videos by Rascal Flatts, Sugarland and many others.

Keith now resides in Nashville.