Idol Chatter & Voice Views

George Huff
“George Huff”

1. Victory
2. Mighty Is Your Name
3. He Can
4. Turn It Around
5. My Surrender
6. No One But Jesus
7. Free
8. Grateful
9. I Belong to You
10. Don’t Let Go
11. Destiny
12. Here With Me

Think back to the gal heavy third season of Idol.

It was the year of Fantasia Barrino, Daina DeGarmo, LaToya London, Jasmine Trias and Jennifer Hudson.

The last guy standing that year was George Huff, a 23-year-old from New Orleans, who finished fifth.

Not bad, considering he nearly didn’t even make the semifinals; then needed a big assist from Simon to make the finals.

Huff initially failed to advance from Hollywood Week, but was put through when another contestant was booted from the show because of a DUI arrest.

That got him to the semifinals, where contestants were split up much like this season, with the top vote-getters each week advancing to the finals.

Again, Huff failed to advance. But he was selected to perform in the wild card show, sang “Lean On Me” and wound up being Simon Cowell’s pick for a wild card spot.

“My faith in God is the only explanation for that to me,” Huff writes on his MySpace page, referring to finishing fifth after it looked for all the world like his Idol hopes would end in Hollywood Week.

So, not surprisingly, Huff turned to Christian music in his post-Idol career. In 2005, he released his first CD, “Miracles,” to decent reviews (3 out of 5 stars from Christian Music Today) but modest sales.

This week, he returned with a second Christian CD, this time a self-titled album featuring 12 tracks, including the single, “Don’t Let Go.”

The breathe of fresh air on the album is “Here With Me” with its reggea beat. It’s also the final track, and getting there takes a while since four of the songs clock in at 5:30 or more … and seem to last a lot longer.

I haven’t been able to find a review of the CD yet, but I’ll post one as soon as I do.

Meanwhile, Huff describes the album this way on MySpace: “The CD is reflective of the times we are living in and the hardships I’ve endured in my own life. My music tells the story but also encourages you to hold on, turn your situation around and have some fun.”

You can hear the single and snippets of five other songs on the album here.