Regular readers of this blog throughout American Idol season 7 know I was never what you'd call a Kristy Lee Cook fan. Or even a Kristy Lee Cook tolerator. But as an intrepid and (ahem) impartial music journalist of the highest and most respectable order, I feel obligated to report the following:

KLC has landed a record deal, y'all.

Ironically, it seems Kristy has won back what she already had: a contract with Arista Nashville.

See, as widely reported by Vote For The Worst et al, Kristy was originally signed to Arista Nashville in 1999 (see press-release photo at right), but she got dropped before she ever released an album.

She did, however, release this low-budget video, which troublingly earned her the nickname "KKKristy" due to its unfortunately un-PC set dressing:

Hopefully now that Kristy is back on Arista with a presumably bigger (read: Carrie Underwood-esque) budget, whoever directs her next video will wisely refrain from using Confederate flags as props.

Amusingly, though, KLC's upcoming single (out August 11) will be titled "15 Minutes Of Shame." Maybe the girl's actually got a good sense of humor after all.

And maybe now Kristy can finally buy back her horse.

And hey...maybe this news indicates that Carly Hennessy-Smithson will get back her old record deal with MCA, too! Stay tuned.