Carrie Underwood was virtually an unknown singer until she decided to try out for a little show called American Idol. When I first saw her audition in 2004, I knew that she would go far in the music competition, maybe winning the whole thing. I was right, and she is one of the most successful contestants in the history of the show. One thing to note is that she had never been on an airplane before. Her first ride up in the air would take place when she would perform during Hollywood Week, the next audition round after the intitial one.
She walked into her audition as a shy country girl from the small one stop-light town of Checotah, Oklahoma. She sang 'I Can't Make You Love Me', which was originally sung by Bonnie Rait. After she got done singing, the judges asked her who some of her influences were musically, and she said Martina McBride. Over the course of the show, she had to sing tunes from several genres of music. Some of the songs she sang included Martina McBride's 'Independence Day' as well as 'When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues', from the Heart hit 'Alone' to Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield'. Each week she received praise from the judges. During the finale, she got the opportunity to sing 'Bless The Broken Road' with country music superstars Rascal Flatts! This was her first brush with country music royalty, with a lot more to come in the future! The finale featured Carrie against rocker Bo Bice. They became good friends during the course of the show. Carrie could not believe it when her name was announced, and that she was the next American Idol. It was a tight race, and in the end she took the coveted title. Her coronation song was entitled 'Inside Your Heaven', and would be her first single. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 14, 2005, and could be found on her debut album Some Hearts, which was released on November 14, 2005.
Carrie would go on to make four successful country music albums, which all debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. Eleven of her singles released to the radio, plus her duet 'Remind Me' with Brad Paisley, all made it to number one on the country music charts. 'Mama's Song', 'I Told You So' (a song that was originally recorded by Randy Travis), and 'Don't Forget To Remember Me' all hit number two on the country music charts. Most artists hope to have that many number one songs at the end of their career. I believe that Carrie has achieved this because of her loyal fan base from American Idol, as well as the new fans she has gained over the past seven years. All of her songs have touched me in one way or another, and I will profile the story of each one, and will aslo tell the reason why I love them so much.
The second single released from the Some Hearts album, 'Jesus Take The Wheel', tells the story of a young mother who is on her way to Cincinnatti, Ohio on Christmas Eve with her baby girl. The woman has a lot of things on her mind while she is making her journey. The car that she is driving slides on a sheet of black ice, spins, but then stops. The mother and her baby girl are okay. For the rest of the ride, the baby is asleep in the backseat of the car, and asks Jesus to help her raise her baby girl. The beginning of the chorus says "Jesus take the wheel, take it from my hands 'cuz I can't do this on my own." She sang this song for the first time at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards, just months after she won American Idol. This is one of the songs that makes her very emotional while singing it live. It is also one of the songs that the fans will sing every word of at her concerts. This is a performance of the song at a concert in Chicago in 2009. You can hear the audience singing the words in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Wrw0aOxpQ
The third single, 'Don't Forget To Remember Me', is about a mother who is experiencing her daughter leaving home for the first time. She reminds her daughter to fill her car up with gas, make sure that she keeps in contact with her family while she is away. My favorite lyric is "Make sure you tell daddy that I'm still his little girl." Carrie always cites that her family will always be very important to her.
Coming up: In the next two blog posts, I will be profiling the rest of Carrie's hits as well as other topics of interest, including her fashion over the years as well as my first time seeing her in concert! I will be attending her Blown Away concert this November, and I am beyond excited for the show!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Brad Paisley
After attending three Brad Paisley concerts, I would have to say that he is one of the most special guitarists in country music. At each show, he played the guitar for each song. His set was a little over two hours. Each time he plucks the guitar, the notes are flawless. The visual effects specialists on his tours are some of the best in the country music business. His video screens are very appealing to the eye. The last time I saw him he had a hologram of Carrie Underwood when they sang 'Remind Me' together. At first, many people in the audience really thought she was there in person at the arena. But after awhile, I noticed that she was still standing in the same spot, not moving to walk up and sing next to Brad. But that was one of the neatest things I've seen at all of the concerts I've been to. The stage set as a whole is usually pretty simple, but it gives Brad the freedom to be close to his fans, no matter where he is wandering around. During one of his tour stops in Knoxville, Tennessee, Carrie surprised him. They sang the song together, but it took Brad awhile to figure out that she was really there, as he was used to singing with the hologram of her!
Many of his songs are humorous, like 'Ticks' and 'I'm Gonna Miss Her'. The first is about a trip out into the country with a girl, and the second is about a guy going out on a fishing trip, and he is thinking more about the fish that he is about to catch than his girlfriend. A song like 'Mud On The Tires' tells the story of what it is like to drive a Jeep out into the country. The two people in this song eventually are all covered in mud, and have a great time while doing it. A song like 'This Is Country Music' shows why he is a true country artist. He sang the song at the 2010 Country Music Association Awards. When he got up on the stage to accept the Entertainer Of The Year Award, he became emotional and told the audience that he appreciates country music fans because they are not just loyal to him; they are loyal to many of the other country artists, too. One of the verses from the song is "It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns and mama, yeah that might be true. But this country music and we do." He also has some love songs in his collection including 'She's Everything', 'Then', 'The World', and 'We Danced'.
Brad is married to Kimberly Williams and they have two boys, Huck and Jasper. Kimberly is best known as the sister of of Cheryl on the television sitcom According To Jim. She appears in Brad's music video for "I'm Gonna Miss Her".
The next artist to be profiled will be Carrie Underwood!
Many of his songs are humorous, like 'Ticks' and 'I'm Gonna Miss Her'. The first is about a trip out into the country with a girl, and the second is about a guy going out on a fishing trip, and he is thinking more about the fish that he is about to catch than his girlfriend. A song like 'Mud On The Tires' tells the story of what it is like to drive a Jeep out into the country. The two people in this song eventually are all covered in mud, and have a great time while doing it. A song like 'This Is Country Music' shows why he is a true country artist. He sang the song at the 2010 Country Music Association Awards. When he got up on the stage to accept the Entertainer Of The Year Award, he became emotional and told the audience that he appreciates country music fans because they are not just loyal to him; they are loyal to many of the other country artists, too. One of the verses from the song is "It ain't hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns and mama, yeah that might be true. But this country music and we do." He also has some love songs in his collection including 'She's Everything', 'Then', 'The World', and 'We Danced'.
Brad is married to Kimberly Williams and they have two boys, Huck and Jasper. Kimberly is best known as the sister of of Cheryl on the television sitcom According To Jim. She appears in Brad's music video for "I'm Gonna Miss Her".
The next artist to be profiled will be Carrie Underwood!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Martina McBride
Martina McBride was one of the first female artists I heard on country radio. Her voice blew me away the first time I heard it. Her songs range from advice on the stages of life, as heard in 'This One's For The Girls', to the fragile topic of child abuse in 'Concrete Angel'. Martina's most recent hit, entitled 'I'm Gonna Love You Through It', was written for anyone who is going through cancer or any other threatening disease. In the music video for the song, some news celebrities like Robin Roberts from Good Morning America and Hoda Kotb from The Today Show, told their stories about survival and the special people in their lives who helped them through the rough time. Many of her songs have a positive message and they inspire me to be an even better person than I am, and to chase my dreams, as anything is possible if you work hard toward it, as this song talks about.
I've seen her twice in concert, and both of the shows were amazing. The second time I saw her with a friend, we had really good seats in the lower bowl of the arena. Martina flew across the stage riding on a half-moon. She got down and stood on the stage that was near the side of the arena. Many people, including my friend and I, were able to get pretty close to Martina while she sang part of her set near us! She was born to sing as you can see from this video. She sang the song 'Anyway' at the Country Music Association Awards in 2006. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_iNfxZl0I
When my family and I visited Nashville this past March, we went on a tour of the stars' homes. Martina's home from the outside was beautiful, and her tour bus was parked in the driveway! She lives there with her husband John and her three daughters: Delaney, Emma, and Ava. They were featured on the Top 20 Countdown last year on the television channel Great American Country for a Mother's Day special. They all seem to be a very happy family. All three of her daughter's resemble her in one way or another.
The next artist to be profiled will be Brad Paisley!
I've seen her twice in concert, and both of the shows were amazing. The second time I saw her with a friend, we had really good seats in the lower bowl of the arena. Martina flew across the stage riding on a half-moon. She got down and stood on the stage that was near the side of the arena. Many people, including my friend and I, were able to get pretty close to Martina while she sang part of her set near us! She was born to sing as you can see from this video. She sang the song 'Anyway' at the Country Music Association Awards in 2006. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_iNfxZl0I
When my family and I visited Nashville this past March, we went on a tour of the stars' homes. Martina's home from the outside was beautiful, and her tour bus was parked in the driveway! She lives there with her husband John and her three daughters: Delaney, Emma, and Ava. They were featured on the Top 20 Countdown last year on the television channel Great American Country for a Mother's Day special. They all seem to be a very happy family. All three of her daughter's resemble her in one way or another.
The next artist to be profiled will be Brad Paisley!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney was the first artist I ever listened to in the country music genre. I immediately enjoyed his laid-back songs and the way that each of them made me feel. The first two songs I ever heard were 'When The Sun Goes Down' and 'I Go Back'. The first is a Summer party anthem, while the second song profiles Kenny's life before he became a singer. Some of his other party anthems include 'Beer In Mexico', 'Keg In The Closet', and 'Summertime'. Another favorite song of mine is 'Don't Blink'. It describes how fast life goes by, with lines such as Don't blink, just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you wake up and your twenty-five and your hig school sweetheart becomes your wife." This song showed me too that Kenny was able to sing about other topics other than party songs.
I've seen him in concert twice. His shows are very laid-back. Most of his fans know all of the words to his songs, which made for two memorable concerts at Van Andel Arena. This Summer he is going on tour with Tim McGraw, which is said to be one of his biggest tours yet. He plays a lot of football stadiums, as well as arenas across the country.
I love his care-free spirit in his songs, and each of his songs paint a picture in the listener's mind of what it would be like to take part in a certain situation. I think he will continue to make more music like this in the near future. I don't see any signs of him stopping anytime soon!
I've seen him in concert twice. His shows are very laid-back. Most of his fans know all of the words to his songs, which made for two memorable concerts at Van Andel Arena. This Summer he is going on tour with Tim McGraw, which is said to be one of his biggest tours yet. He plays a lot of football stadiums, as well as arenas across the country.
I love his care-free spirit in his songs, and each of his songs paint a picture in the listener's mind of what it would be like to take part in a certain situation. I think he will continue to make more music like this in the near future. I don't see any signs of him stopping anytime soon!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
In this blog, you will be able to find out about what is happening in the world of country music, YouTube videos, and information that you have always wanted to know on your favorite stars. I hope to write for Country Weekly Magazine in the near future, and I figured starting a blog would give me some practice for when I write real articles someday.
I was introduced to country music in High School, and have been listening to it ever since. One of the artists I heard first was Kenny Chesney, and after hearing some of his music, I knew that country music was a genre that I would probably be listening to for a long time. In either seventh or eighth grade, I saw him live in concert for the first time (this was the first concert I had ever attended, and several more would be added to the list in the future). His laid-back spirit and party songs made it a fun-filled evening. Since middle school, I have seen Kenny twice. I've also seen Brad Paisley three times, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, Martina Mcbride twice. These artists have very elaborate stage designs, yet these do not get in the way of their singing. They complement their singing.
In the next several blog posts, I will profile my favorite artists and all of the things about them and their music!
-Stacy
I was introduced to country music in High School, and have been listening to it ever since. One of the artists I heard first was Kenny Chesney, and after hearing some of his music, I knew that country music was a genre that I would probably be listening to for a long time. In either seventh or eighth grade, I saw him live in concert for the first time (this was the first concert I had ever attended, and several more would be added to the list in the future). His laid-back spirit and party songs made it a fun-filled evening. Since middle school, I have seen Kenny twice. I've also seen Brad Paisley three times, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, Martina Mcbride twice. These artists have very elaborate stage designs, yet these do not get in the way of their singing. They complement their singing.
In the next several blog posts, I will profile my favorite artists and all of the things about them and their music!
-Stacy
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