SamboraBlog

"It's a little bit of everything," the "Idol" runner-up said of his music so far. "People will see my mellow, acoustic side on a couple songs, then my crazy Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, jammy-type stuff, then really groovy '70s rock, revisited with a modern touch. And with some genuine lyrics about my life and things I see around me."

Bo is recording in Nashville, where he is now living. Moody, Kroeger and Sambora have submitted songs for the album, including a Sambora/ Shanks tune called "Remember Me" that is among Bo's favorites.

"More than anything, though, I'd like to do some co-writing with these cats," Bo said.

That's exactly what Bo did recently with Rickey Medlocke, while the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist was in Nashville to perform on "ReAct Now: Music & Relief."

"He didn't remember, but my band Purge in 1994 opened up for [Medlocke's band] Blackfoot and he was just the coolest guy," Bo said. "I've met some celebrities who were cool, but kinda fickle. It was the coolest thing to meet him a decade later and he's still the coolest, most humble cat. And I told him that and he said, 'We're about always treating people the way we want to be treated.' And I said, 'You just stole the line I use every day in my life.' "

Along with all of the established writers and producers, Bo has also written a dozen songs with his band, Sugar Money, including two inspired by Hurricane Katrina, "We Can't Change This World" and "Changing for the Better" (see "Bo Bice Returning To 'Idol' Tour With Song Inspired By Katrina").

There's no telling, though, what will end up on the as-yet-untitled album, tentatively set for a November 29 release.

"We have to pitch to the record company like everybody else," said Bo, who described his material as being about growth.

"Put yourself in a pond and over time it's going to get stagnant and become a cesspool," he explained. "A river flows, it's ever-changing. You can make a curvy river straight over a million years. And it's not what's on top going down the river, it's those grooves in the bottom. But let's not be ponds. Let's keep growing."

Bo, who missed much of the American Idols Live tour this summer due to illness (see "Bo Bice Has Emergency Surgery, Misses 'Idol' Tour Dates"), will take a break from recording this weekend to headline the 11th annual BayFest Music Festival in Mobile, Alabama.

For more on Bo, check out the feature "Bo Bice: Live On The Sunset Strip," and for a backstage look at the Idols tour, see "On The Road Again With 'Idol.' "

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— Corey Moss