All posts in "Carrie Underwood"

Carrie Underwood photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

If she was blowing out candles on her birthday cake on Wednesday, Carrie Underwood likely didn’t bother to count out the 27 wicks that should have decorated the dessert.

She’s piled up some impressive numbers in the music business: 11 straight chart-topping singles, 11 million albums sold, 1.2 million tickets sold on her last concert tour. But she’s a bit nonplussed by all the music-business arithmetic.

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George Strait photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Easter falls this year on April 4, and if that holiday motivates a little spiritual consideration, a couple of new music compilations have been put together to aid your connection to the Almighty.

One’s a country-specific collection that rolls George Strait, Keith Urban and Josh Turner in among a dozen hitmakers. The other drops Carrie Underwood into an ongoing pop series that places her alongside the likes of Daughtry, Natasha Bedingfield and The Fray.

The country-centered collection, Sunday In The Country: 12 Inspiring Hits From Today’s Top Country Artists, is being released by New Haven Records with proceeds benefiting the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Diamond Rio, Trace Adkins and Tracy Lawrence all contribute tracks to the project, which extends a country-gospel tradition.

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Lady Antebellum on the Orange Carpet at the 44th Annual ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 5, 2009. Photo © Sara de Boer / Retna Ltd.

Lady Antebellum heard their name called a whopping seven times this morning as Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire announced the nominees for the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on the CBS program, The Early Show. The ACM Awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 8 at  p.m. ET (delayed PT) on CBS and will be hosted by Reba for the 12th time.

For the third year, fans will select the winner of the Academy’s most prestigious honor, Entertainer of the Year and for the second year, the three newcomer categories for the annual Academy of Country Music Awards —Top New Solo Vocalist, Top New Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duo — will also be opened up to fan voting. The winner in each Top New category will then move on to compete for Top New Artist which is also a fan voted category. Online voting for all fan voted categories will be available at http://www.voteacm.com/.  The winners of Entertainer of the Year and Top New Artist will be announced live during the 45^th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. 

Lady A’s seven nominations include Album of the Year for Lady Antebellum and Top Vocal Group.  In addition, the trio was nominated for Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for “Need You Now.” They were also nominated as a producer for Single Record of the Year and as a composer for Song of the Year. Continue Reading

Danny Gokey photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

When Danny Gokey wove his way into the final three slots on last year’s “American Idol” competition, he made a connection with America through a big, soulful voice and through a personal story about overcoming tragedy.

The loss of his wife represented the lowest point in Danny’s life, but — as Wynonna Judd once sang — a dead-end street is just a place to turn around. One marker on his rebound comes Tuesday with the release of his debut album, My Best Days. It comes out Tuesday, showcasing his dynamic range and a series of songs that embrace resilience. It naturally includes the title track, “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me,” currently positioned at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The song connected with Danny in ways that he learned only after he had recorded it.

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Carrie Underwood rehearses on Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Sommet Center in Downtown Nashville for "The 43rd Annual CMA Awards," which will broadcast live on the ABC Television Network on Wed., Nov. 11th, 8-11PM/ET. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

Carrie Underwood has said she intends to be a mom but that she’s in no hurry. Nevertheless, there are some cues from her guest shot on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” that suggest when the time comes, she’ll be a really patient mom.

Carrie had to hold a baby pig during one scene, and she ended up with pig poo running down the front of her dress. A lot of folks would be disgusted; not Carrie.

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With the Olympics in full swing, network prime-time TV has gotten pretty bland. You either get winter sports on NBC or you mostly see reruns on the other channels — all the more reason you should be watching GAC!

But all returns to normalcy next week once the Winter Games are over, and several country stars — Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley — will be right in the thick of it. Flatts and Carrie have acting roles on tap, while Brad will perform in a talk-show episode that has a little connection to history.

On tap next week:

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Craig Morgan photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Craig Morgan is quite the daredevil. He served with the military during the invasion of Panama in 1989 and has gone back to the war zone in the Middle East this decade to play for American troops. As recently as 2006, he broke a wrist and suffered a concussion in a cross-country motorbike race, then broke his leg racing again six weeks later.

With that in mind, he’s probably jealous of the Olympic contestants in Vancouver who’ve been taking part in bobsledding, the slalom and the luge. Craig might not have been in Canada for that, but he was able to turn his hilly property in Dickson, Tennessee, into its own sort of downhill course. When the area got hit with its first big snow this year, Craig pulled out his gear and hit the slope.

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Keith Urban photo courtesy of Capitol Nashville.

Keith Urban, the Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley and Martina McBride are among the first round of acts who’ve been revealed for the annual CMA Music Festival June 10-13, a weekend that promises to bring plenty of tourism to Tennessee.

The Nashville-centered festival — which also promises Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker — occurs the same weekend as the ninth annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 65 miles away in Manchester. That event is a multi-genre draw, though country music plays a role, too. The Zac Brown Band is booked, as it was last year, for both festivals. Bonnaroo also lists Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson, Kris Kristofferson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among this year’s attractions.

The CMA Festival is particularly beneficial to country artists. Some of the money raised by the event is donated to Nashville music education programs — last year’s festival generated more than $1 million for schools. In addition, highlights from the festival’s stadium concerts have for several years formed the backbone for an ABC special in the late summer or early fall.

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Danny Gokey photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

The fastest way to a Nashville recording contract, it appears, is to do well on “American Idol,” and nowhere is that more apparent than this weekend’s edition of GAC’s Top 20 Country Countdown, hosted this week by Suzanne Alexander. Three former “Idol” contestants — Carrie Underwood, Danny Gokey and Kellie Pickler — own the top four slots on the list.

Carrie’s former No. 1 video, “Cowboy Casanova,” regains the top spot from the Zac Brown Band, while her emotional “Temporary Home” clip makes its debut on the chart at No. 2. Kellie Pickler reamins at No. 4 with her Caribbean-shot “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You.” And Danny makes his first chart appearance at No. 3 with “My Best Days Are Ahead Of Me.”

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Carrie Underwood and her Sesame Street character, "Carrie Underworm." Photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville & Sesame Street.

I’m happy and I’m proud to be a worm
I can wiggle I can squiggle I can squirm
And I holler every day, “I’m a worm, hip hip horray!”
Yes I’m happy and I’m proud to be a worm

Are these the lyrics to Carrie Underwood’s latest single? Not exactly — but they are the lyrics to Carrie Underworm’s new tune. Five-time Grammy Award winner Carrie will soon appear on America’s longest running children’s television show, Sesame Street, as a specially-created character known as “Carrie Underworm.”  Carrie recorded the song, “The Worm Anthem,” specifically for the show. Rolandnote.com reports the episode originally aired on Dec. 28, with  NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon introducing Ms. Underworm’s performance.

The episode in which “Carrie Underworm” performs is currently slated to re-air February 11, March 17, April 8, and April 26 on PBS. But today, DailyMotion.com posted a sneak peek. Click below to see it! Continue Reading