Where Ace is king

Colorado's Young plays host to his 'Idol' tour co-stars

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 5, 2006 at midnight

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Believe it or not, when Ace Young made the top 10 of American Idol TV show and became part of the tour, he had some misgivings.

Touring is great, but he had his own album to do.

"This is my shot to prove myself as a songwriter. I really want to make sure I have fun in every song I write and when I get really intimate with something I really wanna say I get my point across," he says.

When the tour - hitting the Pepsi Center tonight - threatened to get in the way of those plans, "at first I was a little bothered. I wanted to get working on the music," he says. He quickly changed his mind.

"When I got off the show I said I want to meet everybody - I want to meet the people who have given me this opportunity," he says. And touring gives him "so many more experiences I have so much to write about."

Besides, "I love the tour. You do a full day of work. You get at the venue at 1, 1:30. We're doing press, meet-and-greets. Then we're getting ready for the show. Then we're in work mode and performance mode till 11 o'clock at night. Then we travel at night on the buses," he says. "I'll get to a hotel and it's easier for me to work while I'm awake than wake up in the morning and be creative."

And he's getting the best of both worlds, working long-distance to get his album written even as he tours arenas. The first single, Scattered, is available on his my- space site (myspace.com/aceyoung).

"I'm a little more than halfway done. I'm writing like crazy. I was up till 5 in the morning writing last night," he says from a tour stop in San Jose. "I have producers all across the country I get online with on the Internet . . . and it's like being in the room with them. I'm literally right there - I can see them, they can see me, they're in a recording studio and we're just knocking it out."

Young has been writing since age 11, and has placed a couple of songs on albums and films. He's a huge Prince fan. He has performed for years as well, though he hadn't advanced far enough to lose his amateur status in the eyes of American Idol.

"The only deal they had is you can't have artist representation. If you don't have a manager . . . you can go audition just like anybody else," he says. Others on the show, including winner Taylor Hicks, have extensive onstage experience as well. "Taylor Hicks has played in many bars. It's all just practice. It's you and your music in front of a group of people."

The groups he likes playing for most, however, are the small ones. For eight years Young and his brothers Ryan and Mark have sung to kids at Denver's Children's Hospital after an accident that laid up Ryan for more than a year. After he recovered, "we wanted to pay it forward."

Young called Children's Hospital volunteer director Kathleen McBride, who told him to bring a boombox with backing tracks.

They'd visit kids rooms and ask who their favorite artists were (heavy on the Backstreet Boys) and start singing.

"We'd be there five to seven hours sometimes," he says, sometimes several times a week. "When you leave you almost feel selfish because you feel so good hanging out with these kids . . . they're grown up. They know exactly what they want in life. They wanna live. They value their family and their time on Earth. They're more grown up than a lot of people I know."

Since moving to California several years ago Young has made a point to come home every Christmas to visit Children's, and is spearheading a $1.5 million project to build housing for out-of-state families who come for treatment. "Anyone who donates is going to get personalized things from me, all the way up to lunch with me." Details are coming on his myspace site and acemusic.com. "Those are both me."

When he's home today and Wednesday, however, he might take a short break.

"I can't wait. I get a day off in Colorado. Out of 60 performances in an 80-day period, I get a day off in Colorado," he says. "I'm gonna take any of the other Idols who want to go to see the mountains and see all the different stretches of Colorado. . . . I'm going to take them with me and show them what it's all about."

American Idol Live

• When and where: 7 p.m. today, Pepsi Center

• Cost: $34.50 to $64.50

• Of note: Taylor Hicks, Ace Young and other Idols will be at Herman's Hideaway for a 10:30 p.m. after-show jam, $15.

• Information: 303-830-8497 or www.ticketmaster.com

Brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

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