Collective Soul the idol of millions

Collective Soul singer Ed Roland put some kind of voodoo on "American Idol" this season. David Cook won "Idol's" finale by singing Collective Soul's "The World I Know." And "Idol" finalist Michael Johns is an old friend of Roland's.

"It was like a damn family reunion on 'American Idol' this year," Roland says.

Musicians don't cover Collective Soul hits that often. But when they do, big things happen. Dolly Parton picked up a Grammy for covering "Shine" in 2001.

"To me, that was just amazing, because I grew up watching Dolly with my Pa-Pa. So that was kind of surreal," Roland, 45, says.

Lately, Roland has been working with Cook on his first big album.

"We wrote a couple of tunes together," Roland says. "He's writing with a lot of great songwriters," including post-grungers Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace and Zac Maloy of the Nixons.

Collective Soul is recording a new album soon in hometown Atlanta (where Roland befriended Johns long ago). They retailed their last album, "Afterwards," only through iTunes and Target. Roland doesn't regret it, but don't expect a repeat.

"There is not a Target in Manhattan, which is the largest city in America. We just cut the largest market out immediately," he says.

Collective Soul gets to keep all their money because they left major music labels years ago to record on their own. They didn't gain any creative freedom by going DIY.

"When we were on a label, nobody looked over our shoulders. They didn't even know we were recording a record. We would just show up with a record, and they would go, 'Whoa, wow, we didn't know you were doing that.' "

The band's second album was a total surprise and became its biggest seller, thanks partly to the hit, "The World I Know."

"We finished mixing it on a Friday. They made me Fed-X and master it on a Saturday. And on Tuesday, it was in stores. No one at the label even heard a song" on the album first.

"I think a lot of people -- not only the public but the record company -- thought we were going to be the one-hit wonder of '94."

They were not. "Everything turned out just fine," he says.

Roland thinks their Hard Rock show at 9:30 p.m. today ($30.25; 693-5066) might be the rock band's first ever pool gig. They were supposed to play Mandalay Bay Beach last year, but a wind storm got in the way.

"It just blew the stage over, so we got canceled," he says. "There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but it was like a tornado."

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 702-383-0391 and delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.