Idol finalists ready to record
2010-05-29 13:33
Los Angeles - The show is over, the confetti all swept away, but American Idol winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox are just getting started.
The 24-year-old singers talked with reporters on Friday about what lies ahead as they launch their professional music careers.
Bowersox says she forsees a future that includes diverse music, drama and diabetes advocacy, adding that she'd love to work with fellow diabetic Bret Michaels. The dreadlocked single mom from Toledo, Ohio, says she'll be meeting with record executives next week to discuss her musical future.
Discussions for DeWyze's debut album have already begun, he says.
"It's been a crazy experience, the whole album-making thing, and talking and going to the meetings about it and everything," says the shy former paint-store clerk from Mount Prospect, Illinois, adding that he'll have a lot of say in the sound and will also be writing new tracks for the record.
Expect "a folk/rock/alternative vibe", he says. "I want it to be very earthy ... I'm looking to make an album that can really speak to everybody, good stories and good music to back it up, because that's the kind of stuff I like to listen to."
Touring
Both Idol stars will be recording their albums while travelling the country on the American Idols Live! Tour, which begins July 1 in Detroit.
Bowersox scored an Idol first when she played her own original song, Holy Toledo, on a recent episode, and she's excited to play it again when she performs in her hometown during the tour.
She also hopes to write new music for her album and collaborate with some of her heroes, including Melissa Etheridge, Ray LaMontagne and Leslie Feist.
"The craziest thing is it's all possible now to work with these people," she says. "I can say it and it can be true."
Bowersox is also interested in acting: "Drama was my first love, actually, before music."
DeWyze is looking forward to the live shows and collaborating with a range of artists, too.
"I'm just excited to get on the big stage and really put on a performance, put on a show without time limits, without judging," he says.
Regarding his forthcoming album, he says, "There's a good list of people that I've been told I'm going to be getting a chance to work with, and I'm just stoked about it because I think it's going to come out really, really well."
- AP