Idol Chatter & Voice Views

If you’ve been wondering what the season nine Idol finalists have been up to since the summer tour ended … well, they’ve been working on their new CDs, of course.

And now we can start pre-ordering them.

Lee DeWyze’s CD is set for release Nov. 16 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com for $11.99. Crystal Bowersox’s CD is due out this fall, according to her website (more on that release date later). It can be pre-ordered for $12.99, which includes an instant download of “Up to the Mountain,” one of the songs Crystal performed during the season nine finale.

Compared to past releases from Idol finalists, it sounds like we should expect to hear more songs written by the artists themselves on these CDs.

In an interview posted on americanidol.com earlier this week, Lee said he enjoyed the chance to release “Beautiful Day,” a U2 cover, as his first single. But …

“I am looking forward to releasing my album, which will be more my style – more folk-rock,” he said. “I’ve been writing everything so far and it represents me well.” Go here for the full interview.

Lee has two post-Idol albums out. “Slumberland” is particularly impressive for a pre-Idol release.

Then there’s Crystal, who’s been in a bit of a tiff with the record company over when her debut album should be released. The record company is apparently pushing for sometime around Black Friday. She had been hoping to delay it until sometime next year.

Her tweets on the topic got downright belligerent, to the point where she tweeted an apology earlier this week. Her latest tweet on the issue: “Hoping now for compromise between Black Friday and next year.”

My suggestion to Crystal: Get it out ASAP, while that brilliant Idol run is as fresh in the minds of music buyers as possible.

One, great piece of news on the Crystal album front — she also recently tweeted that she just finished recording Farmer’s Daughter, a fantastic pre-Idol song she wrote.

If you haven’t heard the song, you absolutely have to check it out. It’s the song that convinced me Crystal would be a strong contender in season nine, back before we had a chance to hear her sing on the show.

And, yes, you’ve probably already heard, Crystal is getting married. That’s her and her fiance below.