I’m in D.C. this weekend visiting friends so this will probably have to tide you over until Monday.

Phil Stacey, the Navy family man and “Idol” finalist last year, always struck me as an aw-shucks nice guy without a terribly distinctive persona despite his bald head and decent vocal prowess. But he did have a real passion for country music while on the show.

So Lyric Street Records (Rascal Flatts, Josh Gracin) signed him. His new self-titled CD is set to hit stores on Tuesday.

I readily admit I came into this interview kind of cold, without any prepared questions. But Stacey was conversational, friendly and properly grateful for the opportunity to have a career.

“We go through valleys and peaks where we feel like we’re on top of the world,” Stacey said. “I got to say: this entire thing has been the peak of a mountain. I feel like I’ve been living this dream for a year and a half.”

“I would never make the claim that I’m anything special,” he added, with proper modesty. “I love music… I feel very undeserving of the incredible life I’ve had.”

Here’s the video for his first single, “If You Didn’t Love Me.” The single, a mid-tempo love song, just broached the top 30.

The song is “really what I’m about,” he said. “I’m a man who is where he is because of the loving encouragement of an amazing wife. And I’m thrilled to show my acknowledgment to the world.”

He hopes his album sells. “I’d love to sell a million records,” he said. “But more than anything, I want my music to touch somebody.”

He said he is frequently mistaken for Chris Daughtry given his bald pate. The funniest moment he said was when he was at the Empire State Building during the “Idol” tour last year and a bunch of gals came up to him and one said, “You look like that guy from ‘American Idol.’ ” Then some gal started singing “It’s Not Over.” “I said, ‘Chris Daughtry! That’s awesome.’ I never told them I was on the show. For a sec, he considered pretending to be Daughtry, but “I thought Chris might be offended.”

Stacey said it’s fortunate his wife likes his shaved head, which he’s had since college. So he’s not even 100% sure if he’s balding.

He said though he’s a songwriter, he decided to pick from 600 songs made available to him from Music Row. He tried to pick songs that reflect his own life, which he says is going well. So he had to deliberately pick one break up song. “It was too sunshiney without it,” he said. And he included a couple of Christian-based tunes. He stays in touch with Mandisa and Chris Sligh, both whom also live in Nashville and are in the contemporary Christian world.

“If I Didn’t Love You” was originally tied to Georgian Jason Aldean but Aldean passed it to Stacey. “He graciously gave it to me,” he said.

Stacey - who is picking David Cook as the winner this year — plans to open for different acts, including Kellie Pickler, Randy Travis and possibly Kenny Chesney.

Finally, his favorite celebrity meeting was with Tim McGraw. He was in New York City during the “Idol” tour with his wife at Central Park. She needed to go to the bathroom so she ducked into the Ritz Carlton. There, McGraw came up to Stacey and said he was a fan. “I was starstruck,” he said. “It threw me off.” Stacey and his wife ended up hanging with Tim and his wife Faith Hill. He said he tried to be cool by not whipping out the camera but now regrets missing that opportunity. “It’s a story I’ll tell my grandchildren,” he said.

In other “Idol” news:

-“Extra” asked executive producer Nigel Lythgoe about the declining ratings. His response:

“We’ve had a lot of pressure put on the media this year talking about losing ratings…We’re still number one, number two… It starts to annoy you after awhile. Come talk to me about ratings when we’re not number one on the charts anymore,” he declared.

He added, “I think this is a strange time with the writer’s strike. People said that we would be seen by more people because there wasn’t anything else on television, but it’s not true. People aren’t that stupid. If there’s something on that you don’t want to watch, you don’t turn your television on and you find something else to do which is why I believe all the ratings are dipping this season.”

-Did Carly Smithson get hurt by the song she sang, “Jesus Christ Superstar”? Maybe. The song has some historical controversy more than 30 years ago. I doubt most of the voters were familiar with the song for it to matter much. But it probably didn’t help matters.

Here’s the story from the New York Times.

Since its debut, and particularly following the release of the 1973 film version, “Jesus Christ Superstar” has been railed against by some Christians for its portrayal of Jesus as confused and at times unwilling to accept his role, and because it hints that he had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene.