Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wondering what the Season 7 finalists from The Voice have been up to in the three short months since we last saw them?

Winning the show has sure been kind to Craig Wayne Boyd. He’s made his Grand Ole Opry debut and signed with Dot Records, part of the Big Machine label group.

And, right now, he’s in Las Vegas, preparing to open a series of nine shows for Rascal Flatts between Feb. 25 and March 14 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

His third album — he released two pre-Voice — will be out later this year, and he told The Rolling Stone he started writing songs for it before auditioning for the show and continued working on it during the competition. In fact, he said he wrote the last song, about his musical journey so far, during his last week on the show.

there’s Matt McAndrew, who got to put a check in that box he had tattooed on his wrist back when he was 19 year old, dreaming of the day he’d sign a record deal.

Earlier this month, Republic Records announced that Matt is a member of their Class of 2015. And The Voice posted a video of Adam Levine drawing a check mark in that tattoo, before Matt headed off to Studio City Tattoo to have the new ink added.

Matt posted Twitter teasers leading up to the big day, then on Feb. 13 pronounced himself “proud to be a part of this amazing group of artists!”

The same night Craig Wayne Boyd will play his show in Vegas, Chris Jamison and his band will play the first of four shows as an opening for Allen Stone, who he calls one of his “biggest musical inspirations” in Indianapolis. Shows are also scheduled in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Chris’ own Pittsburgh.

Then on March 14, he’ll be performing a show in Columbia, Ohio. His special guest that night? None other than Matt McAndrew.

Wondering about new music? That’s apparently coming, too. On Facebook, Chris says he’ll soon be heading to Los Angeles “to start delivering you all some new music!!”

And how about Damien Lawson, the first Voice artist to make the show’s finale as a wild card artist?

So far this month, he’s performed the national anthem at an NBC game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers and made his first trip to Miami to perform at a private event.

Oh, and since the first of the year, he’s made several mentions on his Facebook page of an #IAmDamien EP “coming soon.”

In the meantime, you can check out new covers he’s posted to YouTube of “Love on Top,” “Jealous” and “Stay With Me.”