‘American Idol’ notes: Phillip Phillips, Lee DeWyze, Casey Abrams

Ready for some more “American Idol” notes? In this Saturday edition (which is admittedly coming up a little bit later than usual), we are starting things off here with some great news for Phillip Phillips fans who want to listen to some great music while simultaneously giving back to a good cause.

On November 15 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, the show’s reigning champ is going to host a live StageIt show from Staten Island featuring the famous kids of P.S. 22, which have covered his song “Home” in the past along with a number of other pop-culture hits. The price to watch the show online is basically whatever you can, with the proceeds from the event going to the American Red Cross in order to raise money for Hurricane Sandy.

Lee DeWyze talks new album – Over two years now after the launch of “Live It Up,” the season 9 winner is getting ready to launch a sophomore affair that is much more true to his own musical sensibility as a folk singer, which includes plenty of banjo and a much more organic sound. Even with that, it also seems as though he has nothing negative to say about his sole effort with RCA.

Speaking in a new interview with the Daily Herald, here is what Lee had to say about that recording process in particular:

“I’ll always be proud of Live It Up … But if I’d had more control over the album, things would have been a lot different. But that’s the game you play when you go on ‘American Idol.’”

Casey Abrams – Finally, we’ll close with something rather fun courtesy of one of our favorite past contestants in Casey Abrams. As a part of Southwest Airlines’ “Live at 35” series, the season 10 star literally rocked out to a pair of songs from his recent album while at 35,000 feet. He also wrote a little ditty for the airlines at the start of this article.