Web Extra: A conversation with Carrie

[SMG Rules]

Web Extra: A conversation with Carrie Underwood


By PETE TATTERSALL
ptattersall@sunherald.com



Carrie Underwood, of "American Idol" fame, has been heating up the charts. Now, she's on tour with Keith Urban, and performing before a sold out crowd Saturday night at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Underwood recently spoke to the Sun Herald by telephone:

What have you been up to lately?

"Rehearsals. Life has been revolving around getting ready for the tour. Been doing a lot of rehearsals and getting everything together - lighting and screen content and songs and everything."

How long is the tour?

"It doesn't really have a definite end. I'm doing, I think, in between 25 and 30 shows with Keith Urban. Of course, at the same time doing stuff with Josh Turner. But those dates kind of keep rolling in, so there's not a definite end. It'll end when it, I don't know... (laughs)."

You got to ride the wave while it's there.

"I do. I do. And just, you know, as soon as I say any specific date or month or anything, then more stuff will roll in."

How would you describe your music?

"Hopefully good (laughs). Hopefully it's good. It's kind of more contemporary country. I don't know. I like all kinds of music, so I like to think that there's a little influence, you know, from song to song you can definitely pick out, 'well this kind of sounds like a little bit of rock influence,' and things like that. So, I don't know."

What we would call down here a gumbo. You kind of throw everything in the pot, and all you know is it's good.

"Yeah. Good. Good. I'll take that."

How would you say life has changed for your, post "American Idol"? For example, in an airport, walking down the street, do people come up to you constantly?

"It depends on where I'm at and what I'm doing. You know, it's actually surprising. Most times if I go grocery shopping or go out to eat or something like that, you know, I'll kind of forget what I do until somebody says something. And it's like, oh yeah. And they're, 'I can't believe you don't have a hat on' or something like that. But for the most part, you know, I might get one person come up to me, I might get 20 people come up to me."

Does it ever make you, self-conscious?

"A little bit. You know, I'm a pretty shy person, and, I don't know. I wish everybody's intentions were written on their forehead. You know? Just, in the form of like a smiley face or something. So I'm like, 'OK, this person means me no harm.' Sometimes people get really, really excited, and if somebody like runs up to me or something my automatic reaction is to back up. And then it's like, 'I'm sorry, I'm not scared of you.' I just, I don't know."

Kind of makes you feel a little more vulnerable, I imagine?

"I guess. I think I'm just a bit of a nervous person anyway, so."

Do you still watch "American Idol"?

"I do."

Any promising candidates so far?

"Definitely. I do love watching. The beginning part's always really hard for me, because I know how nerve-wracking it is. Whether you're good, bad or whatever, you're potentially going to be humiliated in front of the world. So that feeling is a feeling like no other, and I hope I never really have to compete like that again."

I keep reading about former "American Idol" contestants who have chosen to part ways with their record company, or lost contracts, and you don't seem to be in danger of that because you seem to really have legs, career-wise. But what do you think about that? Does that make you a little nervous, or is that just the business?

"It doesn't make me nervous. I mean, everything seems to be going well. But everything , you know, it comes down to business. It's no guarantee, you know, when you're on the show, or when you win the show, that success is guaranteed for you for the next 30 years. So, everybody has to do their part, and you also have to have a lot of luck on your side. So, it just all comes down to, I guess for the record companies and things like that, business. And since the record industry is not really faring so well right now, you know, now's kind of a rough time, a rocky time."

What do you think you'd be doing now, if you weren't a professional musician?

"I always envisioned myself ending up in Dallas, working somewhere in the mass communications field. I mean I would have taken any job that I could have to start, and get my foot in the door. But I always loved broadcast, so I was hoping I'd end up somewhere in Dallas, either editing, or behind the camera, or just one of the team members, or potentially in front of the camera."

Forgive my ignorance, but is that where you're from, Dallas?

"No, I'm from Oklahoma. I guess Dallas was still close to home, but had a lot of opportunities for someone in the mass communications field."

You seem to be, at least right now, in this special category, where you might be lumped in with Shania Twain or Faith Hill, having seemingly successfully crossed over from country to pop. Would you describe that as accurate, and how much of that success do you think is attributable to kind of the pop culture cachet of "American Idol"?

"I've been really lucky in that, you know, I think a lot of people on 'Idol,' you know there are no genres on 'Idol.' So it's not like somebody, if they want to watch the show they're going to be exposed to rock, they're going to be exposed to country, they're going to be exposed to pop. So I think I was really lucky that I managed to gain some fans that didn't necessarily listen to country music so much. I've been also really lucky in that I haven't had to change my songs in order for them to be played on other genre radio stations. Like when 'Before He Cheats' did as well as it did on Top 40, it was the exact same version that was played on country radio. And I thought that was really cool. And I think it's great. Fans are fans, and being a part of 'American Idol,' you know, I'll take what I can get. You know, I'll take any (fans), whether they listen to heavy metal (laughs) or folk music or whatever."


This tour with Keith Urban. Obviously, he's done quite well for himself. What's that like to be up there on the marquee with him?

"It's really amazing, for a lot of reasons. I mean, he's a veteran performer. He's been doing this his whole life. And I think there's a lot I can learn from him. He's a nice guy. He's extremely talented, he's got a great voice. And also, I was a fan of his, I don't want to say growing up, because he hasn't really been, you know, a superstar for 20 years or anything. But in high school and things like that I was a huge fan of his. So it's really cool in that respect, to be on the stage with somebody that I'm a big fan of, and have been for a long time."

Will your reported boyfriend, Chace Crawford, be joining you at any point on tour?

"(Laughs) I don't know. If anybody joins me, you probably won't see that much of them. It's really weird that people, you know, become so interested in very personal things. Like my publicist will come to me with something that somebody's asked, and be like 'I just wanted you to hear how ridiculous this is'...We were spotted in, you know, Hawaii or something, and I've never been to Hawaii. But, um, I don't know. It's all a weird thing."

Still pretty new to you, I imagine, being under the magnifying glass?

"It's very new to me. I'm trying to figure out how to handle everything as far as that goes. And I have been for a while. I've tried a few different things, and tried to figure out what works and what doesn't."

Did you ever think it'd be like this. You ever talk to your childhood or high school friends and just say, "Wow"?

"Yeah, those conversations happen a lot. You know, I'll talk to my mom, and we'll be getting ready to go to an award show together or something, because I take her to quite a bit of things, and I'm just like, 'Did you ever think?' We used to sit at home and watch the CMAs and ACMs and the Grammys and things like that, and now I not only go to them, I'm also nominated. Or I get to perform, or something like that. It's pretty crazy."

How do you keep yourself grounded?

"I think I have a lot of really awesome people in my life. For the most part, all my friends, I'm just one of the group. I'm not Carrie Underwood, I'm Carrie."

Talking about your friends from home, that kind of stuff?

"I really don't have that many friends, I guess, left from home. Those, it's really hard to figure out relationships, and maintain relationships, and, you know, make sure that everybody just wants to be your friend just because they want to be your friend. But I'm really lucky. I have a really great group of friends here in Nashville. And you know my family, my close family, my mother and sisters and father, and Andrew too, they're just really great. And I'm still the same person to them. So I attribute any groundedness I have to the people around me treating me like Carrie."

Who did you listen to growing up? Who would be your musical influences?

"I listened to a lot of different stuff. You know I've always loved Randy Travis, I've always loved Alan Jackson. Reba McEntire's from Oklahoma, so you'd hear her on the radio and somebody would say, 'She's a hometown girl.' George Michael is probably the first voice I ever heard, that I could pick out his voice. I must have been like 3 or 4, and I didn't know his name. I didn't now anything about him, but I knew his voice. So he's a big influence, to me."

George Michael?

"Yeah, Wham."

I was going to say, Wham.

"And my sisters were a bit older than me, so I'd hear like Motley Crue and stuff like that on the radio. And I loved that stuff too. And my parents listened to oldies, so I loved the Stones."

Well thank you so much for the time. You sound like you really have your feet on the ground, and it's been a good interview, and I appreciate it. And we'll definitely get the word out, and I'm sure the tour will do quite well.

"I hope so. My fingers are crossed."