American Idol Finalist Phil Stacey Makes Grand Ole Opry Debut This Weekend  3/24/08

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American Idol Season Six Finalist Phil Stacey Makes Grand Ole Opry Debut This Weekend 

Debut CD in Stores on April 29th

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- American Idol Season 6 finalist Phil Stacey, about whom AI Judge Randy Jackson raved, "You are going to have a career in country music!" and whom Tony Bennett called "One of the better singers I've heard, not just today, but in a long time," has confirmed his Grand Ole Opry debut for this Saturday, March 29th. Phil, who plays both piano and guitar, will perform his first single, "If You Didn't Love Me," which jumped into Billboard's Top 35 this week, reaching an audience of more than 600,000 listeners. He will also premiere material from his new CD, set for release next month. Phil will perform both the 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. shows on the legendary stage, both broadcast live on WSM-AM radio.

Phil will release his debut CD on April 29th. The self-titled disc, released on Disney's Lyric Street Records, home of Rascal Flatts and former American Idol finalists Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington, features "If You Didn't Love Me" (co-written by Rascal Flatts frontman Gary LeVox), which is already generating huge fan response and making a rapid climb up the country radio charts. The CD pairs Phil with producer Wayne Kirkpatrick, the legendary songwriter best known for material recorded by Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Babyface, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton, whose version of Kirkpatrick's "Change the World" won a Grammy award for Song of The Year. Phil's eleven-song album includes the contemporary lead single, as well as songs by several of Nashville's top tunesmiths, including Kirkpatrick, Wendell Mobley ("There Goes My Life," "Take Me There"), Neil Thrasher ("I Melt," "How Forever Feels") and Rivers Rutherford ("Ain't Nothing 'Bout You," "When I Get Where I'm Going").

Phil's Opry debut comes on one of his increasingly rare nights in Nashville. Just last weekend he played for a sold-out crowd of 20,000 fans at Knoxville, Tenn.'s Winterfest, and his schedule has been incredibly full since leaving the Idol stage last year -- he spent three months playing for capacity crowds in 55 cities on the road with the American Idol tour, and has since been visiting radio and TV stations across the country in support of his debut CD.

In addition to his more than 671 million TV audience impressions from American Idol, Phil has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis & Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the Today show. Phil chronicles his schedule and day-to-day experiences each Monday in his USA Today blog, found at http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/2008.

To hear music from Phil Stacey, log on to: http://www.myspace.com/philstacey

For downloadable photos of Phil Stacey, log on to: http://www.lsrpromo.com

Lyric Street Records is a part of the Disney Music Group. The Disney Music Group is the recorded music and music publishing arm of the Walt Disney Studios.

SOURCE Lyric Street Records