Phil's Page

I was perusing around the web like I always seem to be doing and stumbled upon this new blog. Phil has his own blog at USA Today. How cool is this. It should be interesting.

I'll try to remember to update daily here or you guys can go check it out

Phil's Pages: The first installment

Let's start out the week with the inaugural installment of Phil's Pages, wherein Season 6 finalist Phil Stacey kicks off a series of first-person accounts of his new, post-Idol career.

Hi! Phil Stacey here, you might remember me from the last season of American Idol. So much has happened in the last few months. It seems like it’s gone by so quickly.

The American Idol tour finished in late September. In October, I ended my active-duty Navy stint and ended up joining the Navy Reserve. I also relocated my family from Florida to Nashville, which was really cool. As much as I loved Florida, I didn’t have any family anywhere near me. My mom and dad live in Nashville, and so do my brother and sister-in-law, and now we get to all see each other a lot.

You might have also heard that I signed a record deal with Lyric Street Records and have my first CD coming out on April 15. I met the folks from the record label while I was on tour and we talked about the possibility of cutting a record. After the tour, we decided to go ahead and do it.



I had some immediate engagements that I was committed to before I could start the record. Melinda Doolittle and I helped the Young People’s Chorus of New York City celebrate their 10th anniversary with a concert at Carnegie Hall in October. There were some Broadway actors there, including Ashley Brown, who plays Mary Poppins in the Broadway show. When we were in New York with the Idol tour, I took my 4-year-old, Chloe, to see Mary Poppins. She loved it so much she went back and saw the same show again two days later. So, at Carnegie Hall, I got to meet Ashley and have my picture taken with her. I took it home and said, “See? Daddy’s friends with Mary Poppins!”

In November, Melinda and I also got to sing at Scott Hamilton’s annual benefit for cancer education and research in Cleveland, Ohio. My mom grew up a total ice-skating fanatic – a huge Scott Hamilton fan – so I took her with me. She could’ve met Bono, Diana Ross, all those people we met on American Idol and not been as starstruck as she was with Scott.

One of my favorite moments happened when I was in New York last year and ended up running into one of my favorite singers, Tim McGraw. My wife had to use the restroom, so we stopped into a hotel, which ended up being the same hotel where Tim and Faith were staying. Tim recognized me from American Idol and he was, like, “Faith will kill me if I don’t bring you up to say hi to her!” We ended up hanging out with him and Faith Hill at the hotel for a little while. He said he knew I was coming to Nashville to make a record and wanted to give me some advice: “Just be honest.”

We’ve started recording my album now, so off of Tim’s advice, I’ve been looking for songs that are honest. I’m just trying to find songs that move me on a personal level, songs that touch me. And the first single, If You Didn’t Love Me, definitely does that.

It made me think about my wife, Kendra. She’s been an amazing support force. You probably remember that she was basically in the audience every week I was on the show. She moved to Los Angeles with our two kids to be with me through the entire experience. She couldn’t travel with me on the tour, but she traveled as much as she could, with our two babies, just to show me how much she’s supporting and encouraging me through the process. That’s what I thought of when I heard If You Didn’t Love Me. Gary LeVox, the lead singer for Rascal Flatts, wrote the song with Wendell Mobley and Jason Sellers. And it looks like Wendell’s probably going to end up having, like, six cuts on my record.

On top of recording in the studio I’ve also been splitting time between my Navy Reserve unit and a tour with Sawyer Brown called Winter Bash. Chris Young, Rissi Palmer and Carolyn Dawn Johnson are also on the tour. We played the KISS Country Chili Cookoff in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday. Today, I’m back with the folks from my record label, and we’re traveling cross-country to meet up with a lot of country radio programmers and then I’ll be back in the studio again at the end of the week.

With all this going on I’m still keeping up with the new season of American Idol – I’ve always been a big fan. I like how the producers are handling the show this year and I think they’ve found some great talent already.

I really liked Joey Catalano, one of the first guys they auditioned. He sang Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning. I think he had a great voice. Jose Candelaria kind of sounded like he was singing opera. I’ve never seen an opera guy get through, so I’m anxious to see what happens to him. I would expect Kristy Lee Cook to be a finalist and I’m really excited about watching her. There was also an Irish girl – Carly Smithson – who I bet you will be in the top five.

I’m looking forward to keeping up with this season and I want to encourage people to keep watching and keep voting. I also want to thank everyone for all their support last year – there’s no way I could have done any of this without you – and I hope you’ll continue to support me when my record comes out on April 15. I’ll tell you more about it as we record more – and you’ll hear from me again next week.

Phil's Pages: 2nd Installment
blogs.usatoday.com

Thanks for all your great feedback and encouragement last week on my first blog. I saw that several of you wanted to hear more about the new record and being in the studio, so here goes…

After a week of visiting country radio stations in Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, Green Bay and Milwaukee, I went back into the studio this past weekend.

Wayne Kirkpatrick is producing the album -– he’s produced the last two Little Big Town albums -– and we’re recording out at his studio. It’s probably not what you would imagine if you were thinking of a Nashville recording studio. It’s in a wooded neighborhood outside of town -– you wouldn’t even notice it was there if you didn’t know to look for it. We’ve already recorded three songs, including my single, If You Didn’t Love Me. This week, we put down vocal tracks for three more. We have to have everything recorded and delivered in March and the CD will be in stores on April 15.

I think a lot of people are expecting me to go towards a pop-country sound with my album. My goal, though, is to make it as roots-driven as I possibly can. Wayne’s a master at that elemental, organic sound. Everywhere else in Nashville, they’re using ProTools and all this digital stuff, but Wayne still does his records on a two-inch tape machine. He’s recording to a 24-track analog recorder. He said he built the studio with all the equipment that he learned to record on, so he doesn’t see any reason to change as long as he still likes the way it sounds. There are no synthesizers on the album, at least not at this point. He just brings in great musicians to lay down great tracks.



Chris McHugh is on the drums. He travels with Keith Urban and plays on his records. Jimmie Lee Sloas is on bass guitar. Phil Madeira plays organ on the album. My favorite artist of all time is Rich Mullins, and he played on all of his records back in the ’80s.

Gordon Kennedy plays electric guitars, which is cool because I’m a big Garth Brooks fan. When I was watching one of Garth’s Kansas City concerts recently, Gordon was up there rocking the lead guitar and I’m thinking, “That’s the same guy who’s playing on my record!” I felt really cool. I’m not really cool, but I felt that way.

Dan Dugmore is playing steel guitar, which is a huge thrill because he’s played on pretty much everything James Taylor has released since ’71 or ’72. He definitely adds a Southern spark every time he comes in. We listen to his steel-guitar track solos and they just make you feel like you’re floating.

A relative newcomer to Nashville, Randy Kohrs, is playing dobro. He sounds like a seasoned veteran. He plays a dobro solo in the middle of one of the tracks that we have down. I was lying on the studio couch, almost drifting off, when he started playing his solo. Hearing it was like having a shot of caffeine bolt through my body.

Wayne’s pretty much playing everything else on the album.

I got to watch the Miami auditions last week and saw two Jacksonville girls -- Corliss Smith and Brittany Wescott -– so I’ll be rooting for them as long as they’re on the show. Got to show a little hometown love.

This week I’ll be in Florida visiting radio stations all throughout the state. My last stop will be Jacksonville, so I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces this week.

Also, I’m going to shoot the music video for If You Didn’t Love Me in a few days. Roman White, who directed Carrie Underwood’s Before He Cheats and All-American Girl, is directing. We’ve also got more recording to do, so I should have a lot to cover for the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all your support! Talk to you then.

Nice to read this from Phil. He sounds busy and I truly hope his cd is a hit. I like the first single so will definitely be checking it out!