American Idol

Season 3 finalist Jon Peter Lewis

Jon Peter Lewis no longer is a hip-shaking Elvis impersonator. These days his music sounds a lot more Jack Johnson meets Ben Folds.

“That is more the direction I wanted to go in during ‘American Idol,’” Lewis said Tuesday in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “It’s a huge undertaking. We are slowly but surely getting a few more fans who are saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect this from you.’”

Lewis — the contestant known as The Pen Salesman from Season 3 of “Idol” — has started to break away from the pop prince image he was forced to fit into during the TV competition. He has been living in Los Angeles since his season wrapped, hence the name of his full-length CD, “Stories From Hollywood,” which was released at several online venues in November. The singer/songwriter is playing gigs at the famed Viper Room, soaking up Los Angeles and weighing options for a national tour later this year.

“The touring this year, we have a lot of options open to us,” he said. “We’ve spoken to some bands; we have just a lot of different ideas, but we haven’t solidified anything yet. It will be before the fall. At the latest, it will be the summertime.”

On “Idol,” Lewis, who fans know better simply as JPL, made a name for himself with his performance of “A Little Less Conversation.” At one point judge Simon Cowell even called him “the dark horse to win the competition.” The music Lewis writes and sings these days has less of a pop edge and a much more bluesy-soulful sound. On his MySpace page, he lists The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Billy Joel, Bob Marley, Ben Folds, Beck and Sublime among his many influences.

Lewis said his favorite song from “Stories From Hollywood” is “Man From Amsterdam.”

“If I was to pick one song that was representative of the entire record, I’d probably pick Man From Amsterdam,” he said. “It’s not a traditional rock record. It has a lot of diversity on the record, there’s some soul stuff, some acoustic numbers and some big production pop/rock songs.”

“I can give it to my grandma, and she’ll pick out some of the softer stuff and say, ‘These are my favorites.’ If I give it to my nieces, they have completely different favorites.”

Even though it may sound like Lewis has done a lot to shake his “Idol” image, he knows the show helped in more ways than it hurt.

“It does have stigmas, but it’s propelled me a lot farther forward than it held me back,” he said. “When people hear Jon Peter Lewis, if they recognize my name, they most likely are thinking ‘American Idol.’ Eliminating that isn’t an easy task.”

In fact, later this season, Lewis will be working with MTV to create commentary about this season’s episodes for Overdrive, one of the network’s online sites. He also frequently performs gigs with other former “Idol” contestants. He even watched Tuesday’s premiere with his manager and Season 4 finalist Mikalah Gordon.

“It seems like I’ve become closer friends with people who aren’t in my season,” Lewis said, adding he also recently performed a show with Kimberly Caldwell and Lindsey Cardinale.

Lewis, who has a lot of family living in the Los Angeles area, said he feels good about where he is and what is coming in his music career.

“I’m not intimidated by the business out here,” he said. “I think a lot of it is really strange. It’s kind of a land of fake, plastic people. And that’s kind of odd sometimes. I just like being kind of close to it all.”

5 QUICK QUESTIONS WITH JON PETER LEWIS:

1. What word or phrase can you not go a day without saying?
“I don’t really have a catchphrase. I do say like a lot.”

2. What is in your CD player right now?
“I actually was listening to The Who last night while I was typing.”

3. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
“I think it was like that sci-fi movie ‘Eragon.’”

4. How did you ring in 2007?
“I was partying like a crazy man. I was hanging out with like eight chicks and just me.”

5. What was the last thing you ate?
“Enchiladas last night.”