Having been hospitalized twice in Las Vegas, are you at all fearful of coming to town?
My track record there hasn’t been very good—I had my first stomach surgery at Desert Springs Hospital during the Idol tour, and then I was supposed to play the Radio Music Awards there and was re-hospitalized with the same thing. But I’ve had another trip there that’s been good, so I guess my luck there is starting to change, hopefully.
Are you still drawing a lot of Idol viewers, or would you say it’s more fans of your brand of Southern rock turning out for your shows at this point?
One cool thing I’ve noticed is that the guys are coming out more. Our motto has been, “Your girlfriend will bring you to the first show, but you’ll bring her to the second one,” and that’s happening. I’m grateful to Idol—without Idol I wouldn’t have the career that I have—but there was also a little bit of a stigma ... some guys might have had a problem with a guy from American Idol. But I think once they saw, “Hey, he writes his music and plays guitar and piano and harmonica and he puts on a rock ’n’ roll show,” and they come out and hear me play Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Band and Allman Brothers, that lends more credibility.
Do you think your career would have been much different if you’d finished first rather than second in your season of Idol?
I honestly never thought I was gonna make it far on that show. It was a pop show. I’m a rock ’n’ roll guy. I went on for my mom. And I was worried about what would have happened if I did win. I don’t have anything to do with pop. And Carrie [Underwood] and I are very good friends, and she’s done wonderful ... she’s got Grammys and sold millions and millions of records already. And I’m just happy being out here where the wheels keep rolling, man. So I think both of our dreams got answered on that day exactly like they should have. –Spencer Patterson
With Gary Nichols. May 25, 7 p.m., $24.95-$42.50. Santa Fe Station, 547-5300.