Napa County's Kristen McNamara is one of American Idol's 36 semifinalists, but she is not scheduled to perform as part of this week's show on Fox television.

McNamara, who grew up in Angwin and now lives in Nashville, Tenn., gets to sit out the first week of eliminations where fans and judges narrow the semifinalists down to 12 finalists.

In a format change from previous American Idol seasons, the contestants are divided in to three groups, with one of the three groups performing each of the next three weeks. Three performers from each group — the top male vote-getter, top female vote-getter and the third place finisher in voting — advance in the competition. In the fourth week, the fourth-highest vote-getter, plus any additional contestants picked by the four Idol judges, compete again for the remaining three spots.

American Idol has yet to release whether McNamara is in group two or group three.