Music to fans' ears: A new Aiken album

But with "On My Way Here," his new album out Tuesday, he's back to doing what his fans love the most: sincere balladry with soaring choruses.

We caught up with him by phone recently.

Q: What's the coolest part about doing "Spamalot"?

A: This deal was for 18 weeks. I really thought I was going to hate it by now. [He then compared it to school and how the third quarter is such a drag.] I'm in the third quarter. And I'm not miserable! I'm not! I'm enjoying it. This show is funny. It's a little different every night. It's always fresh.

Q: What was the toughest part of doing Broadway?

A: Not looking into the audience. I'm so used to playing for the audience and looking at them. At concerts, you have a spotlight on you so you can only see the first two rows. In this show, you can see the first 15 to 20 rows ...

The reason [I] did this show versus others is because it was work. Most other shows were about singing. No dancing, less acting. This one was so far out in left field. I had to learn a British accent! It took some training to go from a Southern redneck to proper British!

Q: At Chastain last summer, you interacted with the crowd a lot.

A: I'm constantly doing that. I stop the show to talk to people.

Q: You commented a lot about the bugs flying around.

A: Forget bugs. In Asheville. N.C., we had bats! Those are rodents with wings! And the moths were so big, one flew down the top of one of my background singers.

Q: Why has it been so long since you did a full album of originals?

A: The truth is, we ain't radio people. Clay Aiken and the radio don't happen as easily as Kelly Clarkson or Chris Daughtry. [After his first album], they wanted me to do an album with songs they could sell on TV, ... so I did mostly covers. It ended up being a product I liked quite a bit, though there was some resistance from the fans.

They call me the next Barry Manilow, but at least he has his own music. [For this new album,] I wanted stuff that was mine whether it gets played on the radio or not. Look, I'm not Top 40. I'm not cool enough to be on there. If you walk into a nightclub and they put on Clay Aiken music, I hope they'll run out.

Q: What about that red leather jacket you wore on your "American Idol" performance of "Grease." Good memory or bad?

A: [He laughs.] That's the one week I've wiped out of my memory completely! I remembered "To Love Somebody." That was great! The truth is, the little hip thing I did [he did a hip thrust during "Grease"], that's a really good connection about what we were just talking about. That was not cool.

About the jacket: We always went shopping with a stylist, and we had a budget. We can spend so much money each week. I wanted to wear stuff that looked good but not too edgy. I'm not edgy. You can't make me look like Justin Timberlake.

The stylist kept pushing me. That week, I gave in. I bought this red leather jacket. I had never spent money on clothes. I was really cheap. So I had some money stored. I spent $2,000 on that jacket and wore it. It didn't work.