Carrie Underwood Graces Cover of People’s 100 Reasons to Love America Issue
Inside Carrie Underwood’s Emotional Journey From 3 Heartbreaking Miscarriages to Her Happy Life Now: ‘We Are Beyond Blessed’ – The resilient country superstar, 36, sits atop PEOPLE’s list of 100 Reasons to Love America in this week’s issue, and is the first to admit she’s been on a personal rollercoaster over the past two years — one that’s only made her stronger. “I put a lot of stress on myself — I feel like a lot of moms do, a lot of women do,” she says. But like the message in her go-to hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” she insists, “the best moments in my life are when I say, ‘Hey, I can’t control everything, and that’s okay. God is in control.’” – Read more at People.com
American Idol’s Justin Guarini is starting a Podcast
“1 week from today, I’m launching my brand new podcast, Audition Secrets! I’ll sit down with friends and colleagues — Broadway vets, the greatest living theatremakers — to talk about the choices and challenges that have shaped their careers. The journey begins June 25!!!”
https://twitter.com/JustinGuarini/status/1141067587452841986
American Idol season 6 alum Blake Lewis Announces New Single
“I’m so very excited to reveal the first single off my fourth coming album… Pot Of Gold. It will be released on July 9th, 2019. I created this song in a shack (literally a shack) in London with my friend Olly Goodman & I wrote & recorded the vocals in LA with my bestie Brandon Rogers.” You can see Blake on the CW series The Big Stage on Friday June 21.
Nick Fradiani’s ‘Empire’ song on Teen Mom – As Teen Mom OG wrapped up last night, a song came on as the episode recapped how the stars of the show were doing at the given time in their lives. The song — called Empire and performed by Nick Fradiani — captured the attention of many viewers. Fradiani even mentioned the song being featured on Teen Mom OG on his Instagram Stories, thanking music licensing company Lyric House and MTV for featuring Empire on the episode. – Read more at Monsters & Critics
Voice Winner Maelyn Jarmon Talks John Legend, the Show’s Rigorous Schedule and Her New Life in Music -Jarmon chose Legend as her coach, and she says they hit it off from the very beginning. “The first time we got to chat off camera was after the top 24 results and I went into the top 13 and we were picking songs together,” Jarmon says. “We went to the trailer, and we were just sitting in there and singing songs from Spotify and singing together. It was a very real moment. It was just the coolest thing just to be chatting with him.” Jarmon says she considers Legend to be “a mentor.” – Read more at Dallas Observer
Taylor Hicks returns to Flora-Bama for Friday ‘Bash’ – Hicks said that after a couple of years of off-and-on work at Zac Brown’s studio in Nashville, his next album is complete. He said he’s waiting for the right moment and the right strategy to put it out, so he doesn’t have a release date. It features contributions from Keb’ Mo’ and Robert Randolph and the latter may be particularly important. “Robert Randolph is my David Lindley,” Hicks said, referring to a multi-instrumentalist known for his work on lap steel guitar for various performers, particularly including Jackson Browne. “It sounds like an old Jackson Browne record,” Hicks said of his new project. “I like to say if Jackson Browne and Zac Brown had a kid, they’d sound like me.” – Read more at AL.com
Former ‘American Idol’ Contestant Casey Abrams Returns to His Jazz Roots – Now Abrams is back with Jazz, a just-released record from Chesky that marks the vocalist’s full-fledged return to the Great American Songbook. Ever since I was on American Idol, I’ve been putting out Pop/Rock music into the world. But back in 2011, whenever possible while I was on Idol, I would choose to perform jazz standards such as “Nature Boy” and “Georgia on My Mind” and “Why Don’t You Do Right?” to sing playing my upright bass on the show. And even today, every time before a pop gig, I do a sound check with jazz standards.Now I know, of course, the reason I chose to do those songs on the air back then was because that was who I was. – Read more at Jazziz.com
Ryan Seacrest Reveals the Only Times He Gets Starstruck, and It’s Not By Movie or TV Stars! – How do you handle the commute when you are doing American Idol in L.A. and Live in New York? I wish I could tell you that it’s a cinch and that it’s not that big of a deal, but the travel is a really difficult thing during American Idol. I finish Idol at 7 p.m. and I am on a [private] plane at 7:48 p.m. So, I get on the plane and I lay down, sleep and land at 4:48 a.m. on the East Coast. I go home, shower and I get to Live with Kelly and Ryan. I really don’t sleep that much on that overnight flight, and it takes until about Wednesday to catch up, and then on Thursday, I go back to L.A. The jobs are easy and fun; the commute is really difficult. – Read more at Parade
From ‘Hee Haw’ to ‘American Idol’: ?Inside Country Music’s Roller-Coaster Ride On TV – Once a tough sell to TV programmers, country is more frequently included in networks’ outreach to middle America. There are no definitive numbers that document the trend, though Hollywood’s music consultants suggest that the volume of heartland-based contestants on music competitions has played a major role in expanding country’s presence. “We go everywhere, so we get a lot of country,” says SyncroniCity president Robin Kaye, a former Nashvillian who has served as American Idol music supervisor for eight seasons. The show “always has had a lot [of country singers] auditioning, and I think we’ve always had a fairly good representation of country. This year, I think we’ve had the most country guest artists that we’ve ever had.” – Read more at Billboard
