‘American Idol’ notes: Phillip Phillips, Carrie Underwood, Kris Allen

There is all sorts of cool “American Idol” scoop to share for Saturday, and we are kicking things off here with one winner … before then continuing with two others.

All sorts of Phillip Phillips performances – First, let’s start things off with the news that the reigning champ is going to be joining “X Factor” alum Rachel Crow, country stars Rascal Flatts, and many more for the CBS “Home for the Holidays” special airing on Monday, December 19. The special also raises awareness for adoption.

Next, why don’t we share two of Phillip’s new AOL Sessions performances? Since there are already plenty of videos out there of him performing “Home,” let’s focus on some of our other favorite songs from his debut album in “Man on the Moon” and “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

Carrie Underwood’s big announcement – We knew that Carrie was not just content with being a country superstar, but even with that, this is a bold, exciting opportunity for the season 4 champ. On Friday, NBC announced that she will be performing the role of Maria von Trapp during a three-hour live event of “The Sound of Music” set to air on the network in late 2013.

This is a rare opportunity for a number of reasons, with one of the primary ones being that it is not exactly common for a television network to air a live stage performance on their primetime schedule.

Finally, Kris gives back – This is a little less based solely on music, but it is beyond cool to see Kris Allen give back to the world in such a big way. The video below shows the season 8 champ not only doing his best to give back in Nairobi, Kenya, but also just raising awareness of some of the good that is already being done there. The video is put on by World Vision, and it helps to echo a point that is often lost when it comes to global charities: there are often people on the ground already doing great work, but what they need is someone to make that work apparent on a larger scale in order to bring in funds.

If you want to see some more of what Phillip is up to at the moment, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: Fox