Check out the interview with Syesha Mercado that USA TODAY's Kristin McGrath has in today's paper. Syesha plays Deena Jonas in the national tour of Dreamgirls, which opens Sunday at the Apollo Theater in New York and wraps up July 25 in Kansas City.

Yahoo Music has the premiere of Allison Iraheta's Friday I'll Be Over U video. And it feels like it's 1983 all over again.

Good news for several Idols in this week's digital tracks numbers from Nielsen SoundScan. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson both pass download milestones with their latest: Cowboy Casanova is the week's best-selling Idol single, its 74,000 downloads pushing it past a half-million overall, and the 47,000 downloads for Kelly's Already Gone takes that track past 700,000.

Last week's Country Music Association Awards gave country music sales a much needed shot in the arm. Just about every country act saw a nice sales boost except, well, Carrie Underwood. I'm thinking Carrie's profile was so high in the weeks before the CMA Awards that one more TV performance more or less didn't really affect her album's performance. So Play On had a more typical second week for a superstar act, as sales dropped 60 percent. It's still the top-selling American Idol album out there, though.

”I was getting bored with my life" before American Idol, says Adam Lambert, whom USA TODAY's Edna Gundersen profiles for Wednesday's paper. "Like, this is it? I was hungry for more. I got my wish!"

Kris Allen's album is out today, and early opinion on American Idol's Season 8 champion is decidedly mixed. You've seen my track-by-track assessment of his self-titled album. Today, we look at what other critics have to say about it.

Several Carrie Underwood fans hoping to meet their favorite singer at a CD signing before her Grand Ole Opry appearance Saturday decided to take the message of Carrie's song Change seriously -- right down to the Coke-sticky floorboard coins. While waiting overnight on the sidewalk at the corner of Nashville's 3rd Avenue and Broadway, they started telling curious passersby about Carrie's Checotah Animal, Town and School (C.A.T.S.) foundation and taking donations, which they presented to Carrie at the sign

This week, the top four positions on our American Idol chart remain the same. Kelly Clarkson's Already Gone continues to pick up spins -- it's currently in the top 10 of both the Hot AC and Top 40 formats. Carrie Underwood's Cowboy Casanova also increased its spins, though Lady Antebellum's Need You Now replaced it at the top of USA TODAY's Mediabase-powered country chart. Maybe that's because most of the single's growth came over at the Hot AC format, where Cowboy Casanova currently sits at No. 45. (Can

Nearly six months after Kris Allen scored a remarkable upset victory on American Idol, he still feels like an underdog. "Some people still don't know I won the show," Kris deadpans, in an interview that runs in today's paper. The final piece runs somewhat shorter that my original draft, so I've included some of the rest in this post.

My apologies if I've been a bit on the incommunicado side today. With the Country Music Association awards show Wednesday, everything else kind of piled up into yesterday and today. I ended up doing six interviews today, four of which directly related to what goes on in this community. Some of that will show up here over the next few weeks, so stay tuned: Even when I'm not posting, I'm here working on your behalf.

The same songwriting team that penned country trio Lady Antebellum's breakthough hit I Run to You also wrote Danny Gokey's single, It's Only. Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum -- which won Vocal Group and Single of the Year at Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards -- wrote both songs with Tom Douglas.

Chris Daughtry credited '80s pop star Richard Marx with bringing his band together with country singer Vince Gill for Tennessee Line. The two acts recorded the song for Daughtry's Leave This Town album and performed it together for the first time on Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards.

Talked to Kellie Pickler on the red carpet. This is sort of the industry coming-out week for her new red 'do. "This is my big reveal, I guess," she says. "Around town, nobody recognizes me. Even my grandpa didn't know who I was the other day."

It was a pretty good week for several Idols on the download front: Carrie Underwood's Cowboy Casanova remained the best-selling Idol track, taking a 66 percent jump on the back of her album release. She also had four other tracks from Play On make Nielsen Soundscan's list of best-selling digital tracks. Also seeing double-digit percentage increases: Kelly Clarkson, Kellie Pickler and Kris Allen

Carrie Underwood's day is starting off well. Not only does she get to co-host the CMA Awards tonight with Brad Paisley, but she's also got the best-selling album in the country. (We already knew she had the No. 1 country single.) Play On debuted atop both Nielsen SoundScan's country and overall album charts this week, selling nearly 318,000 copies. Play On's release also boosted sales of Carrie's previous two albums.

Congratulations to Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, all of whom picked up People's Choice Awards nominations Wednesday. Carrie's up in two categories -- Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Country Artist. Daughtry's up for Favorite Rock Band, and Jennifer's a Favorite R&B; Artist nominee. Kris and Adam compete in the Favorite Breakout Music Artist category. Also, American Idol got a Favorite Competition Show nomination, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show is up for Favori

Starting today, iTunes is taking pre-orders for Allison Iraheta's Just Like You. The album, which has a Dec. 1 street date, is available in standard and deluxe packages. The deluxe version will include a Spanish-language version of single Friday I'll Be Over U called El Viernes Te Olvido You as well as a pre-order-only track called Don't Wanna Be Wrong, co-written by Daughtry members Chris Daughtry and Brian Craddock.

Carrie Underwood's not the only former Idol getting a TV holiday special this season. Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home for Christmas will air Monday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Michael Bublé is among the guests booked for the show. He's slated to sing Baby It's Cold Outside and Let It Snow with Jennifer. Plus, news about Kellie Pickler, Matt Giraud and Syesha Mercado.

Carrie Underwood returns to the Grand Ole Opry Saturday, and you can watch her even if you aren't in Nashville. MySpace has teamed with the Opry to stream the show live with video for the first time. The stream will run from 9-10 p.m. Eastern, and Carrie will perform songs from Play On, including Cowboy Casanova.

Kris Allen's self-titled debut won't be out until Nov. 17, but AOL Music started streaming the whole thing today. Read my track-by-track assessment, and you'll find out my favorite songs -- and Kris' wife Katy's favorites, too.