LOS ANGELES — Ousted "American Idol" contestant Michael Sarver said on Friday he was abandoning his job as a Texas oil rig worker to focus on making a career in the music business.
Sarver, 27, said he had written hundreds of songs and that after spending time with his wife and children and doing the summer Top 10 "American Idol" tour, he hoped to make a solo album.
"I will not be going back to the oil rig", Sarver told reporters in a conference call the morning after he was voted off the TV talent show.
"There is something that America does not know about me. I am a serious writer. I have written over 890 songs since the age of 14. There is a lot of stories, a lot of life, a hard-lived life and a good-lived life...and I'm going to share it."
Sarver said he had received huge support from oil rig workers around the nation during his time on "American Idol."
But he added: "I plan to record, I plan to get my music out there... I believe that because I've made it so far in the competition, it shows me there are people who respect and appreciate what I have, and I'm going to give them even more."
Sarver said he would like to make an R&B-pop solo album that combined the styles of Justin Timberlake and Gavin DeGraw, who wrote the hit song "I Don't Want to Be." He did not say whether he had been offered a recording deal.
The burly Texan said he was looking forward to going home to Jasper before embarking on the summer "Idol" tour and spending time with his wife Tiffany and two young children.
"I learned just how much I love my family because I've never been away from them that long," he said. "(Now) they deserve my undivided attention."
Subject: No more oil rigs for ousted "American Idol" Sarver 
Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:31 am
