Idol Chatter & Voice Views

New post-Voice music released recently includes an EP from Gwen Sebastian and singles from Andrew Sevener and James David Carter.

Here’s a bit about each of those releases. The links take you to the songs on Apple Music. Or you can check out the Spotify snippets below.

Gwen Sebastian from Season 2 has released a five-song EP called “Once Upon a Time in the West: Act 2.” Act 1 was a 13-song album that dropped more than two years ago, in November 2017. Writes Gwen: “I wrote these 5 songs several years ago and they were brought to life by Greg Strizek & my incredible husband/producer” (Louis Newman). A highlight is “Opium Angel,” a song written about a drug-addicted prostitute who lived in Deadwood and jumped to her death from a third-story hotel window in the Old West. And “Crazy Ladies” is a great, up-tempo country rocker.

James David Carter from Season 7 released a single called “Looking Up” this week. He wrote the song with Ben Brandenburg and said it’s about keeping priorities straight amidst the “grind culture” in which we live. And those priorities include spending lots of time with the people we love, James adds.

Andrew Sevener, fourth on Season 16, has released his third single since the show, “Me, My Old Man and Steely Dan.” Writes Andrew: “We figured since times were hard right now, everyone could take some time to remember when life was simple and good. This song embodies that for me.” Andrew was also the featured artist in an online concert to show support for first responders Saturday night.

In addition …

* Emily Ann Roberts, Season 8 runner-up, has released an acoustic version of “How’s the Car Running,” a single she dropped last month. She released the music video for the song earlier this month.

* Holly Tucker from Season 4 has a new cover out of Brooks and Dunn’s “Neon Moon.” Since The Voice, Holly has been named the Texas CMA Female Artist of the Year three times.