Livestream | Kris Allen plays Letting You In and a new song for fans, March 18, 2020

Hope all of you are healthy, washing your hands and staying safe! Kris Allen is self-isolating just like the rest of us in these times of COVID-19. Of course, on March 18, 2016, one of his best albums, Letting You In, was released. And to celebrate, and raise money for his team who is not working at the moment, Kris threw a livestream show on Instagram on March 18, 2020.

If you missed it, you missed a fun party! A highlight for me was seeing Kris' bandmates and former bandmates in the chat, including Torres, Cale (who was hilarious), Devon, and Brad.

Also awesome: Kris sang his new song called Mr. Right Next Door, about an older neighbor who passed away. For those who enjoyed it, and those who missed it, @Shazamy had your back and grabbed the audio of the new song! You can download it here.

If you want to contribute to Kris' team, go to this link.

2009 Lookback | Kris Allen does NY media appearances in August 2009

Continuing with our lookback at Kris Allen's 2009, we've reached August. August 2009 was a wonderful month, with a cell cast of an Idol tour stop almost every night and the media bonanza that was the New York City area stops. This post will include the New York media. Read on for the videos, mp3s and memories!

2009 Lookback | Kris Allen headlines Season 8's American Idols Live Summer Tour

It's summer, it's hot, and it's time to lookback at a happier time - Summer of 2009, when Kris Allen and his fellow season 8 American Idols went on tour! Devoted fans of the season logged on their computers for each show's cellcast. (Yes, that's right, back in 2009 we listened to someone at the show sharing the garbled audio from their cell phone.) A few of the shows were livestreamed thanks to some intrepid Adam Lambert fans who started a UStream account (gotta give credit when credit is due! The Adamcast as it was called was much better quality than the cellcasts.) People had nice cameras in 2009 and where livestreaming was off and on, pretty much every show featured spectacular live videos, which made the Idol tour 2009 easy to follow.

As for this blog's subject? Kris Allen, having won Idol, got to close the show.  I'll have a few more posts about the 2009 summer tour coming up that will focus on some specific fun things (the NY shows, the show I went to (Philadelphia) and the tour finale in Manchester, NH). This post, however, will focus on the overall tour and also contain Kris' setlist and some favorite videos from the starting shows of the tour (including the now hard to find official Bright Lights video). Enjoy the memories from a far more innocent summer ten years ago!

2009 Lookback | Kris Allen signs with Jive and does Idol-related appearances and tour rehearsals, June 2009

So much to cover in this post! In June 2009, Kris signed with his first record label and continued his press and appearances as the newly crowned Season 8 winner. This post will have the highlights, and for those of you who have never watched some of these, maybe some new things! Included: an appearance with Smokey Robinson at the big 2009 Walmart shareholders meeting, the NBA Finals anthem, the Huckabee show and the 5-part Idolatry interview. Lots of videos and some mp3s for the completists! Read on after the break...

2009 Lookback | Kris Allen Does Post-Idol Winner's Press, May 2009

So it's May 21, 2009, and Kris Allen just won American Idol.



Now it's time for him to do a TON of press. Back in 2009, American Idol was still a BIG thing and the finale, with its "upset" winner, got a lot of attention. In this post, we'll look back at some of those interviews... Full disclosure. May 2009 was a busy time in my life, and while I made time to watch Idol, in a lot of cases, writing this post will be the first time I watch most of these interviews! Hopefully for those of you who have seen them before, you'll enjoy some fond memories or pick up on some new items. I also have a lot of mp3s of live Heartless and No Boundaries in this post. So sit back, and check out all the media from May 2009 after the break. And if I missed anything from May of 2009, please comment and I'll add to this post!

2009 Lookback | Happy Kris Allen Day

On this date in 2009, Kris Allen made his hometown visit to Conway, AR as part of top three week on American Idol and the day became known as "Kris Allen Day."

A jam-packed post about top three week is coming your way in a few days, but it was so jam-packed, I decided to make a special 2009 lookback post at the hometown visit! Read on for videos, photos and mp3s...

Idol | Blame It on The Way Kris Allen Looked That Top 5 Rat Pack Week, American Idol Season 8 (2009)

The show begins with Ryan asking, "Who will set the standard?" Whoa, the finale is three weeks and there are so many votes, they needed to add a second phone number for each of the top five! The theme is "standards from the rat pack" and the signs are out! There's a lot in store for us!

Idol | Kris Allen works hard for the money during disco week of American Idol Season 8 (2009)

Last week in our season 8 rewatch, "just when we thought all was lost, Idol history was made," and Matt Giraud was saved. But now the stakes just went up, because it's disco week and two contestants go home. Only people who don't know Kris would see this as a problem. Yup, he does another fantastic performance in this week's re-watch! This time "shopping in the women's department" and covering She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer.

So shake your tailfeather and check it out after the jump!

Private | Kris Allen returns to Arkansas for charity benefit and convention appearances

Photo by KATVAlyson

Kris returned to Arkansas this past weekend and played a gig on April 13 to benefit Alzheimer's Arkansas, hosted by Glen Campbell's widow. He reportedly sang Wichita Lineman with his father. Updated with video from Kim Allen! That's not Wichita Lineman though. Neil sounds great! The song is called Gentle on My Mind.

On April 17, he played a private gig for the Arkansas Bankers Association conventions. We do have a little video.

See what we do have for both events after the jump.

Idol | Climbing Slowly into the Top 7 of American Idol Season 8 (2009) with Kris Allen

Last week we danced with Kris Allen to top 8 of American Idol Season 8 and well, he fell slowly but survived to Top 7 week (the first of two; we'll explain in the results part). This week, he's going to croon Falling Slowly and get back on track big time! It's movie week on American Idol, so dim the lights and check it out after the jump!

Idol | All Kris Allen wants to do is never sing All She Wants to Do is Dance again (Top 8 week, 2009)

Well we've reached it. The week we all knew was coming. Kris' worst week on American Idol ever. (Top 8, Year You Were Born (which for Kris was 1985). In a year that yielded a bunch of amazing songs, Kris chose Don Henley's All She Wants to Do is Dance and well, he'll never do that again.

Someone tweeted me to ask "Do we have to do this week?" My answer: Yes, but let's have fun with it! Onward! (The results show is full of good stuff!)

Idol | Kris Allen sings Ain't No Sunshine during Top 9 week of American Idol Season 8 (2009)

It's top nine week in our lookback at Kris Allen in 2009, and the top nine idols must sing a "top download." Kris goes with the 1971 Bill Withers song, Ain't No Sunshine, and he aims to "make a moment."

This was a great week for Kris and for the show in general. It's such a good week for him this time out that he ends up reprising the song during the top two week. Check out my recap and all the videos and extras after the break!

Idol | How Sweet It Is to look back at Kris Allen in American Idol Season 8's Top Ten (2009)

We're up to the top ten of American Idol Season 8 in our look back at Kris Allen's 2009. Having achieved the objective of making the summer tour, the ten finalists for American Idol now had to try to do enough to score a recording contract and hopefully, at the end, win the show. It was time to start pulling ahead of the pack. The theme was Motown week and we were in for some amazing and/or memorable performances by Kris Allen and other contestants, which you can watch after the jump (and as always in these posts, I'm including some goodies to reward those who read them)!

Idol | A look back at Kris Allen in the Top 11 of American Idol Season 8 (2009)

It's Opry week and St. Patrick's Day on Season 8 of American Idol 2009! This was a great week for Kris, bringing us for the first time his amazing cover of To Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan, although to get it into country week, it was technically covered by Garth Brooks. Kris' cover is more like Adele's version. Anyway! It works! Like Ryan says, after the break...

Idol | Looking back at Kris Allen during the top 13 week of American Idol, 2009

With the wild cards added, and the top 12 expanded to top 13, Idol Season 8 had selected its finalists for 2009. Now it was time for the real shows to begin and the fans of the real singers to enjoy the performances and start picking a favorite. The theme for top 13 night was Michael Jackson night, and as Paula put it, no one knows Michael Jackson songs better than Kris Allen, who had already performed Man in the Mirror for his group night semi-final selection. More behind the jump...

Idol | A look back at Kris Allen in Group 2, 2009 aka the Best Idol Group ever and the one where we get to see him sing Everything

Ten years ago, the best Idol group ever appeared on our TVs. I'm talking about Group 2 of American Idol season 8 of course. This group went on to have four of the top five contestants in Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Matt Giraud, and adding in Megan Joy Corkery, five of the top ten. As a whole, it had a lot of favorites, and just winning the three spots from this group was a good predictor of the final outcome. It's an episode I'll rewatch pretty frequently. Check it all out after the jump (lots of goodies)!

Idol | Reliving Kris Allen's Hollywood Week of Season 8, Part One (Aired February 3 and 4, 2009)

Back for round two of our look back at Kris Allen's winning season of American Idol in 2009 and the excitement of his first album. I'll be recapping the episodes and subsequent doings in order.

This incredibly useful list of Idol episodes reminds me that rounds 1 and 2 of Hollywood week of Season 8 aired February 3 and 4, 2009. We didn't see much of Kris, to be honest. As a Idol fan from season 1 to the present, I recall that as it always does, Idol highlighted the few people they already knew would go far and wanted you to vote for. 

As for Kris, I had no idea until I started doing a little research for this post that his round 1 song was For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder. The focus was on the contestants that were serving up drama for the cameras. All we really saw of Kris in these two episodes (besides a few shots of him in the background and this humorous clip of his not over-dramatic group) was his outstanding group performance with fellow contestants Matt Giraud, India Morrison and Justin Williams of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back:

The judges were impressed and all four were sent to round 3, which we'll relive next week! In the meantime, I did find videos of Hollywood week round 1 and the whole group night episode. Enjoy!

In the ensuing years, Kris continued to perform I Want You Back. With his band, he mashed it up with his original song Everybody Just Wants to Dance:



And in a show in Michigan, he reunited with Matt Giraud for one night to bring White Chocolate back!



So have a piece of White Chocolate and come back next week when we'll enjoy some crazy Idol editing in Hollywood Week 3 and the infamous "green mile" episode!

Past Kris Allen on Idol recaps:
Audition in Louisville

Kris Allen sang these songs for the first time in 2018

Happy new year Kris fans! I thought for a little recap for 2018, I'd make a YouTube playlist of songs that were first sung by Kris in 2018. Since he mainly just did one-offs, the Idol tour and the holiday show, but didn't put out a full album, the playlist doesn't have too much on it. The two originals that haven't been released yet - hopefully we'll get official versions in 2019. (Kris said during meet and greets this year that he hopes to have new music out by the end of March.)



On this 2018 playlist, you'll find these songs (and I'll put in some mp3 links too for my favorites):

• When All the Stars Have Died [Apple Music | Spotify | Google Play | Amazon]
• Waiting on You (original - not released yet so no mp3)
• Safe Harbor (original - not released yet so no mp3)
• Freedom '90 (amazing cover with Delta Rae, Sean McConnell and Josh Jenkins) [mp3]
• Rainbow Connection (backing Maddie Poppe in the Idol tour)
• Folsom Prison Blues (backing Caleb Lee Hutchison in the Idol tour)
• There's Nothing Holding Me Back (Idol tour finale) [mp3]
• Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (great cover from the Christmas tour) [mp3]

Be safe and Happy New Year. Here's to new music in 2019!

Concert: October 24, 2018: Kris Allen joins Delta Rae for an amazing cover of Freedom '90 in Nashville

The Delta Rae Revival

Kris along with Delta Rae and other featured guests

October 24, 2018

8:00 p.m. Central Time

The Basement Nashville

Buy tickets and get more information

This just popped up on Twitter! Americana-folk-rock band Delta Rae has been doing a weekly residency in Nashville on Wednesdays with special guests.  One of tonight's special guests is Kris. It's only $10 and you get Delta Rae (who are very good), former Kris opener Sean McConnell (love his music!), Josh Jenkins of GRO (a band that Kris toured with in 2010), and Jaden Michaels, plus of course, Kris! Go for it Nashville!

Updated 10/25/2018: They all did a Freedom '90 cover together! And it's amazing! Check my Twitter - RTed all the IG stories. Kris fan Tara @ShilohStorm went to the show and got video for us! Check it out below! 

Many thanks to @ISBinLA for this mp3!

Jordan posted a cool photoset with a video and two amazing photos!

View this post on Instagram

Week 8/16 in the books. #DeltaRaeRevival. 🙏 @kris_allen @sean_mcconnell @joshcjenkins @jadenmichaels 🙏 Can’t wait for Halloween!!

A post shared by Jordan Burger (@jo2thabu) on Oct 24, 2018 at 11:02pm PDT

Delta Rae posted full livestream video of the whole thing on their Facebook! Kris is at the 1:05 hour. Thank you @KrisJonin for grabbing this link and the IG stories posted by Jordan Burger (Kris' booking agent) and others!

Appearance: August 3, 2018: Kris Allen performs in-studio at KOST 103.5 FM in Los Angeles

Photo by @12ratna

Los Angeles radio station KOST 103.5 recently ran a contest where winners will get to attend an interview and in-studio performance from Kris. We've got winners who went!

Check out these great photos from @snapcracklypop and also these too. And a bunch more on her Twitter timeline.

Videos, interview and set list after the break! Well done Kris fans!