Article Roundup!

MTV article about Idols preparing for Tour, talks about the contestants and asking Kris will Katy join him on the tour.

AP article about preparing for the tour.
Excerpt:

Kris Allen, the mellow Conway, Ark., contestant who came out on top, said he expects the tour that begins July 5 in Oregon to be a welcome contrast to the weekly show experience.

"The energy is going to be better on tour," Allen said, and it will be easier to loosen up and feed off the crowd's energy. And, he added, "no one's judging you."

"I'll be with my friends, have a good time. I'm really excited," he said.

MTV article about The Fray's Joe King working with Kris
Excerpt:

But Allen has already spent time with writer and producer Joe King, the guitarist and songwriter from the Fray. Allen performed King's version of Kanye West's "Heartless" on the show, and the pair recently spent two days in Timbaland's studio in Virginia Beach, where they demoed a song. "I'm literally in the studio mixing the rough demo right now," King said via telephone from Toronto (the Fray just began the first leg of their North American tour). "It doesn't have a title yet. It doesn't even have lyrics — but there is a lot of gibberish."

King said there wasn't any romance to how they got together — he simply responded "Yes" to Allen's e-mail. "I didn't even see most of the show because we were on tour in Europe and Australia," he explained. "But I found out he won when we got back and I saw he did 'Heartless,' so I was aware of him when he contacted me."

"It was a very good vibe in the studio. There was no pressure — we just had breakfast, got to know each other," King said. "It was all very organic after that." Though they recorded in Timbaland's studio, the super-producer wasn't present during the sessions. "But Timbaland's brother was there along with his crew, and it added this great energy to the session. When the boys heard the track, they started hanging around." King was happy to get some feedback from an outside source, as well as receiving a killer compliment. "Timbaland's brother said if Timbaland was upstairs and he heard this melody, he'd walk in the studio and say, 'That's a melody.' "

Rolling Stone article about Kris working to Joe King, Salaam Remi, and David Hodges, Claude Kelly

MTV article: Five 90's songwriters who should produce Kris Allen's album.