MASON CITY — American Idol winner Maddie Poppe was here at Radio Park on Tuesday afternoon for a small concert and meet-and-greet.

The Clarksville native says the best part of her newly-found stardom is still being able to have a choice and a say in what she does as part of her contract with Hollywood Records. “I think half of that is because I wasn’t pop, and they didn’t pick me you know, I just won the show and then was signed with them, and I think they were maybe like ‘what do we do with her?’ I think they were like ‘we don’t do singer-songwriter stuff, I guess we should just let her do whatever she wants’, and that’s pretty much what happened and that was kind of amazing.“

Poppe says she enjoys it when she has time to come back home to Clarskville.  “When I go back to Clarksville, it feels like nothing has changed and they are so supportive, and they were so supportive even before. It hasn’t really changed back home, at first it was a little more you know exciting or whatever, but honestly when I go home now, it just feels so nice, it’s my favorite place.”

Poppe says it’s been tough at times being away from home.  “As much as there’s so many annoying behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on that no one has any clue about, that’s really frustrating. But it’s nothing like compared to being away from my family. I miss them so much you know, and that’s that’s really hard for me.  I feel like I missed out on a lot. My sister is a senior in high school, it feels like it just flew by because I wasn’t really around last year to see a lot of it. Luckily I’ve gotten to be home a lot more.”

Poppe is getting ready to go on tour with Ingrid Michaelson starting next month.