Idol Chatter & Voice Views

If you want to watch Kelly Clarkson perform live again, tune in to Saturday Night Live this evening.

Kelly will be singing her new hit, “My Life Would Suck Without You” as well as “I Don’t Hook Up” off her new CD, which was released Tuesday.

The latter song was co-written by none other than Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.

Kelly, of course, sang live on Idol Wednesday night. A video of that performance appears at the end of this blog.

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Ryan promised that we’d hear from a former Idol contestant each week on the results show. Next week, looks like we get to see season four winner Carrie Underwood.

If you haven’t heard yet, Tuesday will be Grand Ole Opry Week on Idol. Opry member Randy Travis will be the season’s first guest mentor for the contestants.

And on the Wednesday results show, according to Carrie’s blog, she and Randy will perform “I Told You So,” a song that was a number one hit for Randy back in 1988.

Carrie’s version is on her latest album “Carnival Ride,” and their combined version — surprise, surprise — will be available for download through iTunes, like everything else Idol.

In her blog, Carrie says she grew up watching and listening to the Grand Ole Opry show, dreaming of someday performing there. She made her first appearance on the Opry stage two weeks after winning American Idol and became an Opry member in May 2008.

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You can sample more new music from two former Idol contestants on the verge of releasing new Christian albums.

Mandisa, season five, has already released a new single, “My Deliverer.” Her album “Freedom” is due out March 24. You can sample the single and the entire album here. The single currently checks in at number 18 after four weeks on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart.

Meanwhile, George Huff from season three, will release his self titled CD on April 7 and has placed snippets from several of the songs on his MySpace page.

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Amanda Overmyer’s first CD, released on her own Chile Records, is now available on iTunes and CD Baby.

The CD is called “Solidy” and was released on December, but had previously been available only through Amanada’s Web site.

You can listen to six of the songs on the album here, including “Varmint Rifle.” Give them a listen. I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

Be forewarned. This is not standard Idol fare. More of exactly what you’d expect from this season seven rocker. “Iroquois Lane” is among the recently added songs and is very good.

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And now, the promised video … courtesy of Kelly …

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