In a reality-TV landscape filled with schemers and competitors, "Clash of the Choirs" stands alone.

"This is a team sport," says Jason Raff, the producer.

In this case, it's 20 voices in sync. "What makes the great choir is that everyone sings as one," says songstress and star Patti LaBelle.

Now that becomes a quick, four-night reality show. Five stars each return to their hometowns, hold tryouts and mold a chorus; viewers vote and learn Thursday which group won.

LaBelle goes to Philadelphia, Nick Lachey to Cincinnati, Kelly Rowland to Atlanta, country's Blake Shelton to Oklahoma City and Michael Bolton to New Haven, Conn.

They aren't limited to the usual choir sounds. "It goes from R&B to pop to rock 'n' roll and sometimes a mixture of all of them," Bolton says. Then again, they don't have the usual backgrounds. Bolton and Shelton say they've never sung in a choir.

"When it comes to a choir, I don't know anything," Shelton says. "But I've always been pretty good at faking my way through things."

LaBelle, by comparison, has slid easily between rock stardom and gospel. Her advice to choir members is basic: Let loose; sing all out.

"Some people have voices, and they're lazy to use them," she says. "They don't want to use them to their full ability. ... I tell all of them to act like you're the lead singer."

Philadelphia has lots of vocal traditions anyway, she says, exaggerating for effect: "I went to a church and shouted out for some great singers."

Actually, each person held auditions, open to any nonprofessional, 18 or older. Shelton heard about 400 people; Bolton did his auditioning at Toad's Place, a concert venue that was important to him in his rock 'n' roll days.

Yes, Bolton once rocked.

"He was in a band that opened for Ozzy Osbourne," Raff marvels.

Bolton was in the teen group called the Nomads and then in the hard-rock group Blackjack. Back then, he says, the Toad's Place gigs were crucial. "That's what determined whether our rent checks bounced when I had ... three young daughters."

These days, his circumstances have changed considerably. Bolton, 54, has had singles and albums reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts. He's also engaged to actress Nicollette Sheridan. "Sometimes I get to know what's going to happen on 'Desperate Housewives' ... a week or two in advance."

For this competition, however, he sees himself as a long shot. LaBelle, after all, has all the Philadelphia traditions.

"I just imagined this vast pool of great singers ... that Philly gave the world," Bolton says. "I was thinking, 'Wow, that's a deep, vast pool.' "

Shelton, however, sees Oklahoma — home of Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill and many more — as the musical core. "It has provided so many great country singers."

And country is logical for reality shows, he says. "Country music is mainly about the people. It is about reality. It always has been."

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