American Idol season 8 winner Kris Allen and pop artist Marie Miller come to Wilmington to help make the season bright
Pop artists Kris Allen and Marie Miller are coming to The Queen on Wednesday, Dec. 6, during Allen’s Somethin’ About Christmas Tour. Allen, the season 8 winner of American Idol (2009), released the album Somethin’ About Christmas last year but says he wasn’t able to play many shows for it, so he’s geared up for this tour.
“I played a couple shows with a small set-up, but none with a full band last year,” Allen says. “So I’m excited to bring these songs to life. We’ve also got some fun things lined up in the show that I think people are going to love.”
Christmas is a special theme for Allen. Before this album he had worked on a couple of Christmas projects: an EP in 2012 and an original Christmas song in 2014. Those releases fueled the fire for wanting to create a full-length holiday album, he says.
“More than anything, though, I just love that classic type of music. For some reason it has always stuck with me,” says Allen. “When I was making this album, I wanted it to feel like a classic—that jazzy and warm feeling you get when you listen to Burl Ives sing ‘Holly Jolly Christmas.’”
He wanted to try to create something similar for himself—and as a result, this album is one of his favorites among those he’s recorded over the years. His albums date back to 2007—before American Idol was a reality for him—with Brand New Shoes. Allen’s post-Idol self-titled album was released in 2009, which debuted at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album’s lead single, “Live Like We’re Dying,” was released on Sept. 21, 2009, and peaked at number 18 in the U.S. with combined sales of more than 1.7 million. His most recent album, aside from the Christmas record, is his fifth studio album, Letting You In, released in 2016—and he says he wouldn’t be surprised if a new album found its way to listeners’ ears in 2018.
Meanwhile, Marie Miller, a folk pop singer-songwriter from the Shenandoah Valley, who is currently signed to Curb Records, is looking forward to being part of fans’ Christmas festivities while on tour, she says.
She is currently busy promoting her record Letterbox, an album featuring literary undertones.
“I grew up reading and loving old books, and so I have found that many of the characters from these books find themselves in my music,” Miller says. “My song ‘Story’ has references from The Iliad, The Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland. Basically, I am a big nerd.”
The show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $25. Get them at thequeenwilmington.com.