IDOL LIVE predix: Jason Castro's 'Jason Castro'

Jason Castro becomes the latest Idol alum to release an album with his name attached to it, as the self-titled disc hits stores and digital retailers nationwide tomorrow.

Jason Castro, which comes to us courtesy of Atlantic Records (the first album from an alum to sign with the label), features songs crafted by Marc Roberge of O.A.R., Gregg Wattenberg (Five For Fighting), Zac Maloy (David Cook), Espionage (Train) and of course Jason himself. There are covers of classics that Jason has undertaken in the past, including "Hallelujah" and "Over the Rainbow," as well as brand new tracks like "Let's Just Fall In Love Again," "This Heart of Mine" and "If I Were You."

On the promo side of things, Jason will benefit from his mostly small scale tour, which begins Sat., April 17 at The Loft in Dallas, Tex. He has also been getting some press, mostly in the form of album reviews by People magazine and Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly. But his next big television appearance won't be until April 22, when he performs on Ellen, so first week sales will not be helped out on that front.

There are also a few underground promo campaigns going on, like the photo competition being held on IBeatYou.com in support of Jason's latest single, "That's What I'm Here For." But these kinds of promotional efforts are not really dependable for moving CD units.

As a result of the above reasoning, I see Jason Castro fit for an opening of around 13k copies, which would be a pretty good feat for a debut entry with little promo. This would be above where fellow Season 7 alums Brooke White (High Hopes and Heartbreak, 10k) and Michael Johns (Hold Back My Heart, 7k) saw their post-Idol releases open at.

Jason Castro is now available to pre-order at Amazon.com
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