Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Fans were treated to a pair of Lee DeWyze albums in 2010 — “Slumberland,” his second indie album released just before he appeared on Idol ; and “Live It Up,” his post-Idol debut released in November.

Now it looks like there will be another Lee album in 2011, of material recorded pre-Idol.

That’s based on series of tweets sent out in the this week by WuLi Records of Chicago, the company that released “Slumberland” and Lee’s other pre-Idol album, “So I’m Told” (2007).

“We had a 3-album deal in 2006 w/ Lee and will release a third,” one tweet sent out Wednesday read. Later in the day, another tweet read:  “We let Lee out of deal to compete if he gave us enough material for a third which we pretty much already had in reserves.”

Among the songs on the album will be a tune called “Never There,” according to the messages sent out by WuLi, which said Lee is welcome to participate in the release.

The album will be made up completely of non-released material, the tweets indicated, adding there are lots of songs that didn’t make the first two albums.

As for the timetable for the release, WiLu says that’s to be determined, but the company is guessing about three months from now.

And WiLu is kicking around the idea of having a fan come up with the title for it.

Meanwhile, WiLu is about to release a hip-hop version of “Heaven’s Door” by an artist named Redd with none other than Lee DeWyze singing part of the chorus. (Check out the snippet below.)

I haven’t read seen anything about Lee’s reaction to these developments.

But in his victory interview with the media at the end of season nine of Idol, he seemed determined to distant himself from his pre-Idol music.

Meanwhile, check out the halftime show of Sunday’s NFC championship, and you just might get to see Lee perform.

MyFoxChicago.com reports that Lee will sing a two-song set and that the NFL has said it will air part of the performance.

Lee, of course, grew up in Mount Prospect, Ill., and threw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cub game on his trip home from Idol last May.

Word has it he was supposed to sing the anthem at the game, but the Bears opted instead to have  Jim Cornelison perform that honor. Seems he sang prior to the Bears’ playoff win over Seattle, so now he’s considered something of a good luck charm