Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Just in time for Christmas, we get new music from three former Idol contestants.

* First, Brooke White has released a Christmas single on iTunes. It’s called “California Christmas” and you can listen to the song on her MySpace page.

It’s been a busy year for Brooke, who released her first post-Idol album and also has an EP (including a cover of “Rhiannon”) available for download.

Speaking of the album, it’ll be somewhere on my list next week when I unveil my choices for best and worst Idol CDs of 2009. Have no fear, Brooke fans. Her album won’t be near the bottom.

* Taylor Hicks has a Christmas gift for fans. A free download of a September performance at the Workplay Theatre in Birmingham, Ala.

At first, I thought, OK, it’ll probably be a song or two. So I downloaded it.

Looks like it’s a full, 90-minute show. Not bad for free, huh? Gohere to check it out.

Anyway, Taylor’s another of the many Idols who released new music in 2009. His album, “The Distance,” was released in March.

* Kicking off 2010 with a new CD will be Taylor’s fellow season five finalist, Katharine McPhee.

And, this week, Kat made another song from the album available on iTunes. The song is called “How” and you can hear it on her MySpace page.

The album, “Unbroken,” is set for a Jan. 5 release and snippets of all 13 tracks at Amazon.com.