Warner Bros. Records has announced that former American Idol 7 contestant Josiah Leming has completed work on his debut album and will embark on a nine-city mini-tour in support of it beginning in November.

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Leming's debut -- which had previously been scheduled to be released in September -- was recorded over the summer in London with producer/musician David Kosten and will be released in early 2009 by Reprise Records.  All the songs on the album were written by Leming.

The 19-year-old had gained the attention of American Idol's audience and judges in the early rounds of the show's seventh season with his vocal ability and piano-playing, earning him a trip to Hollywood.

Leming was made all the more intriguing because of his pre-Idol life, in which he dropped out of school at 17-years-old and lived out of his his car for about a year as he traveled the country and played various shows.  He had auditioned for Idol's seventh season at last summer's Atlanta auditions, where he'd wowed the judges with his performance of "To Run," a song he wrote himself. 

After making it to the Hollywood Round, Leming continued to impress Idol's judges with his performance of "Grace Kelly."  However he faltered badly during his final Hollywood Round performance with an ill-prepared "Stand By Me" rendition that featured no musical accompaniment and subsequently became the final seventh-season Idol hopeful to learn he wouldn't be a Top 24 semifinalist.

Despite his tearful elimination from Idol, Leming still garnered a lot of media attention -- including an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show -- and ended up landing a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records within a month of his elimination.

To give listeners a taste of what his album will sound like, Leming will release "Angels Undercover: Selections From Josiah Leming's Album Debut" -- a sampler containing five of the album's songs -- on October 28. The tracks -- "Arctic Outcry Wind," "Angels Undercover," "Theysay," "This Cigar," and "To Run" -- will be sold digitally as well as in CD form via Leming's Myspace page and at his upcoming shows.

Leming will also hit the road beginning November 12 in Vancouver, BC to debut his album's songs. The mini-tour will culminate two weeks later in his native state of Tennessee.

The full list of Leming's full mini-tour dates are:

- Wednesday, November 12 at Biltmore in Vancouver, BC

- Thursday, November 13 at Hawthorne Theater in Portland, OR

- Friday, November 14 at El Corazon in Seattle, WA

- Sunday, November 16 at Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco, CA

- Tuesday, November 18 at The Brewing Company in San Luis Obispo, CA

- Thursday, November 20 at Plush in Tucson, AZ

- Saturday, November 22 at Dos Amigos in Odessa, TX

- Sunday, November 23 at the Midnight Rodeo in Abilene, TX

- Monday, November 24 at The Marquee in Tulsa, OK

- Wednesday, November 26 at Young Avenue Deli in Memphis, TN




About The Author: John Bracchitta

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