21 questions for Phillip Phillips – The question I’m never asked (but wish I were) and my answer: “How are you today? How is your life?” and I’m doing really well, in an honest way. I’ve been really focused this past year since I’ve started writing and it’s really exciting. All the songs on this new record, it’s my best work, lyrically, musically — the sound of the instruments. It’s very cohesive. When do we get to hear these new songs? Will you give a sneak peak at the Melody Tent? Later on this year, maybe fourth quarter. I played my first song on the album last night in Montana, “Magnetic,” and people seemed to really like it. I’m trying to ease them in. – Read more at Cape Cod Times
‘Idol’ winner Taylor Hicks plans food, travel show on INSP channel – Q: Earlier this year, I was thrilled to see so many familiar faces on the series finale of “American Idol.” It got me to wondering what Taylor Hicks has been up to. A: Taylor has been touring and recording pretty much nonstop since he became America’s fifth “Idol.” Aside from his hectic tour schedule (go to taylorhicks.com to see if he’s performing near you), he’s also working on a new food/travel show airing this fall on INSP called “State Plate,” wherein Taylor visits all 50 states and highlights each one’s food, people and culture. – Read more at Gulf Breeze News.com
See Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris Help ACM ‘Lift Lives’ at Music Camp – This year, campers visited some of Nashville’s most famous music spots, alongside some of country music’s biggest hitmakers. A songwriting workshop with Eric Paslay and 2016 ACM Songwriter of the Year Ross Copperman kicked off the festivities. Paslay and Copperman, both Grammy nominees with hit after chart-topping hit, helped the campers pen an uplifting tune called “Happy Together.” Copperman later recorded and produced the track, with Carrie Underwood visiting them in the studio. – Read more at Rolling Stone
Exclusive! Carrie Underwood Takes ‘Extra’ to Her Oklahoma Hometown – Underwood took a walk down memory lane while touring her high school. While looking at an old yearbook, she described herself as “average,” saying she is happy to be home. “It always feels good to come home,” she said, noting that her parents still live there. “This will always be home.” – Read more at ExtraTV
Halo Circus rocks Good Day LA – Allison says this album was recorded and then rerecorded and that the reason for the do-over was because of a real-life test of the material at her shows around SoCal. The band spent the last few years studying the audience’s reaction and honing the sound into tighter and more creative music. Watch the video to see Allison and Halo Circus do a live performance of the new single “Nothing at All.” – Watch the Video at FOXLA
After ‘The Voice,’ Joe Maye looks to turn reality fame into sustained career – Before his audition, Joe Maye knew his target. Performing the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ song “I Put a Spell on You” on “The Voice” in March, the Randallstown native only wanted to lock eyes with Christina Aguilera, the NBC show’s lone female coach at the time. “I didn’t want to sing ‘I Put a Spell on You’ to Pharrell. I needed Christina to turn around,” Maye said last week, seated on a couch inside the Hippodrome Theatre, where he bartends. Back living in Randallstown, Maye now has the tall order of becoming a singer known for more than a reality singing competition. While people around him suggested he pursue R&B, Maye is writing soul-influenced pop-rock, like his new song “Who’s That Girl.” He calls the new song and video “my way of transitioning from the show to Joe Maye, the artist.” – Read more at Baltimore Sun.com
‘She’s 22 and I’m 122’: Arsenio Hall and Kelsea Ballerini Dish on Hosting ABC’s All-Star Variety Show ‘Greatest Hits’ – The brief of the series, which is co-hosted by Hall and country up-and-comer Kelsea Ballerini, is to celebrate the oldies of 1980-2005 using artists from that not terribly distant era as well the hitmakers of the moment, sometimes in duets, sometimes on their own. Ehrlich has come up with some teamings that wouldn’t look out of place in his regular annual gig: Bonnie Raitt with Andra Day; the Backstreet Boys with Meghan Trainor; John Legend saluting Lauryn Hill. And then there are the folks who, like the newly award-winning Kitaen, wouldn’t normally merit a prime-time gig outside of a nostalgia context. – Read at Billboard.com
