David Cook sort of disappeared after winning “American Idol” in 2008 and issuing a debut album with RCA Records a few months later.

Turns out the Blue Springs South grad has been in the studio, plugging away at what he considers to be a grand follow-up with fuller instrumentation and songwriting assists from members of Better Than Ezra and the Goo Goo Dolls.

“With the first record I did with RCA, we had four and a half months to do that, so there was no way we could delve into this kind of stuff,” said Cook, 28, during a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “This time, we just really made sure we took our time and made the right record.”

Cook plans to hit the road in support of the album, “This Loud Morning,” set to drop June 28. Meantime, he’s pining for the comforts of home, Kauffman Stadium and all the barbecue he can get his guitar-strummin’ hands on.

Ink: How often do you come back to Kansas City?

David Cook: As often as I can, which is not often enough. I sincerely miss home. I think the last time I was home was three, maybe four months ago when my nephew was born, and it was like a sneak-attack, three-day-weekend thing.

Whenever you do make it here, what do you like to do?

Usually when I come home, it’s because I have a break in the schedule, so I try to sleep a lot and catch up with friends. If the Chiefs or Royals are in season, I usually try to make it to as many of those games as I can. And then stuff my face full of barbecue so my trainer’s pissed when I get back to LA.

Do you have an allegiance to a particular barbecue?

Summit Hickory Pit is awesome. I love Zarda. Oklahoma Joe’s is pretty good. And it’s hard to go wrong with Gates or Arthur Bryant’s. It’s weird because I’ll eat almost any barbecue in Kansas City, and then you get me out here and I become such a barbecue snob.

Tell us about your new album.

I think with this record we just had more time, and so we were really able to take these songs and find the right sounds and the right vibe for each track individually and also find a way to have them all work as a cohesive unit. I really tried a lot of different instrumentation. I think there’s a lot more piano on this record. We got into theremins and sitars and orchestral arrangements.

*You used a lot of personal material in your songwriting for your previous album with RCA. Did you do that with this one? *

Yeah. One of the things I really was adamant about with this record was I wanted to write everything. I wanted to be involved in the writing process across the board. I got to sit in a room with some great co-writers. Guys like Ryan Tedder, who I co-wrote the first single with, Kevin Griffin from Better Than Ezra and Johnny Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I even got to sit in a room with Stevie Van Zandt from the E Street Band. I mean, just these incredible moments for me as a fan of music to sit in a room and be treated as a peer and writing music with these people. Those kinds of moments really helped shape this record.

Are you watching “American Idol” this season?

I am. That’s one of the perks of actually being in one spot for a minute is I’ve actually gotten to catch up on the show.

Who have you been rooting for?

I’ve been rooting for everybody because I know how hard it is, but I’ve really enjoyed the vibe that Casey Abrams has brought this year. I think his musicality has been really original, so it’s been a blast to see what he’s done with these songs every week.

What album can’t you get enough of right now?

The new Foo Fighters album, without question. They somehow keep raising the bar.

Do you have any preshow rituals?

I don’t know about preshow. During the show, I don’t know if it’s a mental thing or what it is, but I feel like I sing better when I’m chewing cinnamon gum.