Season 7's Brooke White and Michael Johns team up for tour

Season 7 finalists Brooke White and Michael Johns will share the stage, or at least a roadie or two, when they hit the road together this fall.

The co-headliners will travel to 11 cities, starting with Pomona on Sept. 17. The tour will mark the second collaboration for the two this year, after their duet "Life Is Okay" from Johns' album "Don't Look Down:  The Height of Competition."

Johns is currently promoting his album "Hold Back My Heart," which was released in June. After his journey with White, Johns will be on the David Foster & Friends tour later this fall. 

White just released her first post-"Idol" album, "High Hopes & Heartbreak," last month. The album is the first "Idol" alum record produced by judge Randy Jackson.

Tour itinerary is after the jump.

--Kate Stanhope

Photo credits: Fox

Brooke White's High Hopes & Heartbreak release

Today marked the public bow of Season Seven finalist Brooke White whose album "High Hopes & Heartbreak" hit stores this morning, after a week exclusively on iTunes. In May at the Season 8 "Idol" finale, White described it as "raw" and "organic".

Mesa, Ariz.-bred White became a quick fan favorite on Season 7 of "Idol" after her rendition of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain", which even won praise from Simon herself.

"High Hopes & Heartbreak" is executive produced by Randy Jackson, his first project with a former "Idol" contestant. It came to happen after White and Jackson ran into each other at L.A.'s Guitar Center.

For anyone who's been missing White's easy-vintage style since Season 7, today you can get a hopeful mix of summer songs, including the lead single "Radio Radio".

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

'Idols Live Tour' descends on Portland, Ore.

Portland, Ore., is not a city that makes a big fuss about itself. From its single-driving-lane streets to its bicycling and microbrewery culture to its gentle hills and ever-present greenery, pleasant, livable, amiable Portland gives off a constant sense of understatement, of a city whose charms are best enjoyed at a slow meander -- not from the rear view of a speeding Ferrari.  

This weekend "American Idol" came to town. On Sunday night, the 50-city "Idols Live Tour" kicks off at the Rose Garden Arena, and all week long the goliath in entertainment has occupied the city.

Not that you'd necessarily notice at first glance. A hotel bellman, asked whether he had seen the Idols, nodded that he had; they'd been out and about for the last week -- in town rehearsing. Asked whether the Idols were mobbed when they went out, he shook his head. "I guess people in Portland don't watch much TV," he said.

Brooke White's selling shoes

"American Idol" may have given Brooke White the boot during the end of Season 7, but she's not holding that against footwear. MJ's Big Blog reports that White was spotted on a new DSW TV commercial, specifically noting that it ran during Friday's "Friday Night Lights" on NBC. See more about the spring 2009 ad on DSW's site.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

High Notes and Howlers: Hollywood Week almost focuses on music

It began with an operatic flourish and some well-tempered words from sugar-pop zaide Barry Manilow: Success, said the barrel-voiced balladeer, occurs when preparation meets opportunity. Framing round one of Hollywood Week with that statement set up tonight's episode as one that would offer many dazzling high points, as performers with enough experience and talent to shine step forth to distinguish themselves and advance.

Yet by the time the hour concluded, all we'd seen were a big bouquet of first-audition style a capella snippets. Several contestants stood out as likely to continue, but in the end, it was just like what we saw in all those convention-center tryout rooms across the nation, only with better lighting and a few shots of that big sign in Griffith Park.

Now, I get into the drama of "Idol" as much as anybody (save my colleague, the Rabbi, Richard Rushfield). But since I am a music critic, not a hugs critic or a tears critic or a tender back-story critic, I want to get to the music! There's so little at first, buried under a mountain of public humiliation and glimmering hope. Hollywood Week is where "Idol" finally becomes, as Simon loves to say, a singing contest. But not this year.

Brooke White's high hopes

MySpace blogs really can clear things up! Brooke White, "American Idol" Season 7 finalist, set the record straight yesterday. She's making a record, but not on the label it was announced she was with because of a mix-up based on an Entertainment Weekly "Where Are They Now?" piece.

White explains:

I guess there was a little mix up, because I actually signed a management deal with SANCTUARY ARTIST MANAGEMENT... NOT Sanctuary Records. No biggie... just a  lil' miscommunication.

Then she goes on to tell us what we really want to know:

Everyone has been inquiring as to when to expect this album, and while I have been giving a ballpark estimation of late spring -early summer, I have set a real date. So here it is, You can expect to find "High Hopes and Heart break" on June 2, 2009, which also happens to be a "New Music Tuesday" as well as my actual birthday! I know that might seem far away... but ya know what, quality takes a little bit of time, and truth is time is flying by at warp speed and June will be here before we know it!

There appears to be more high hopes than heart break in the married valley girl's life, but a little heart break can definitely create some great songs, such as Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield," both of which she performed on "Idol" .... We'll look forward to hearing White's own music this summer.

--Leslie Anne Wiggins

photo: Fox

American Idol: A grass-roots groundswell for Brooke White?

As she prepares to break ground on her first post-show album, Brooke White's recording past may be rearing its head and making some ripples across the music world. 

While her next album may still be many months away, a song from her pre-"Idol "indie record has been causing a sensation on some audience-driven polls.

The track in question is titled
"Free," and was recorded for White's 2006 debut album "Songs From the Attic," which was independently published by her management company's label, New Millennium Records. Although  was taken out of the retail world after White entered the "Idol" bubble, it returned to the market once she left the show.

Recently, however, the lead track has been dramatically racing up the charts, at least the charts on the IHeartMusic site, a Clear Channel entity that's also linked on the Web portals of the company's numerous stations.  Appearing under the sites' "Discover New Music" section, the exact parameters of how exactly a song gets into the top 20 is not explained on the site -- and Clear Channel representatives failed to return calls requesting explanation. 

However, the listing appears to be a chart of the songs played most often by visitors to the sites. Among the available songs are those submitted by artists who wish to have their music "considered for terrestrial broadcast" by Clear Channel programmers. However, while many of the songs on the charts come from unknown talents, many are by highly visible acts such as MIA and Ray LaMontagne.

Fans of "Idol's" smoky-voiced songstress would be delighted to find, however, that months before White's first post-show album will appear in stores, her "Free" track is dominating the IHeartMusic charts. The cut has recently been taking the pole position on both the country and adult contemporary lists, and second on the overall chart. A screenshot of the adult chart is included in this post.

Yet despite her success on the company's website, the Clear Channel stations have yet to throw open the doors to White's earlier work.  According to Neilsen BBS data, which tracks airplay at all Clear Channel station, "Free" has not received a single at bat on any Clear Channel stations. 

For reasons that obscure, White's online success has yet to force open the doors to the airwaves for her maiden effort. Again, Clear Channel representatives did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

-- Richard Rushfield

(photo courtesy of Fox)