Country star Underwood enjoys fast-moving "Ride"

By Deborah Evans Price

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - In a pale blue BCBG Max Azria designer dress and impressively high heels, Carrie Underwood is the picture-perfect hostess as she graciously chats with the throng of well-wishers gathered at the Country Music Hall of Fame to celebrate the multiplatinum success of her debut album, "Some Hearts."

Some artists might remain cloistered in a velvet-roped side room during such events. But Underwood -- who in May 2005 became the fourth-season winner of "American Idol" -- seems happy to mingle with the crowd, thanking radio personnel, retailers, journalists and anyone else who has played a role in her fairy-tale rise to superstardom. As the 24-year-old pride of Checotah, Okla., poses for pictures and shakes hands, her mother, Carole -- a retired schoolteacher who still lives in Checotah with Underwood's retired paper-mill worker dad, Steve -- beams proudly.

Everyone loves the girl next door. And when you're noting factors that spurred Underwood's groundbreaking success, her fresh-faced enthusiasm and accessible demeanor have proved as beneficial as her powerhouse vocals. Such qualities were a magnet to the "American Idol" crowd, and they've continued to serve Underwood well as her career has shifted into high gear.

'WHEEL' TURNING

The whirlwind that has become Underwood's life is about to accelerate even more as the October 23 release date approaches for her second album, "Carnival Ride" (19 Recordings/Arista Nashville). Since her "Idol" victory, Underwood has sold nearly 6 million copies of "Some Hearts." But her new album, she feels, is an even stronger reflection of who she is.

"My favorite line on the whole album pretty much sums up everything that I've been through, and I think everybody could find something in this particular line: 'God put us here on this carnival ride/We close our eyes never knowing where it will take us next,'" Underwood says of the tune "Wheel of the World," which was penned by Hillary Lindsey, Chris Lindsey and Aimee Mayo. "It's beautiful and so true. We don't know what we're doing or where we're headed. We just kind of trust and hope that whatever ride we're on in life takes us where we need to go."

On this particular late August day, Underwood knows where she's headed -- to Paris for a much-needed vacation. The previous night, she'd performed a private show for Target in Minneapolis; after chatting with Billboard about her new disc, she'll embark on her French adventure.

"I have never been anywhere in that direction before, so I just had a little bit of time and I figured I better take a vacation before things get really crazy. I consider myself a pretty uncultured person," she says. "If you want to get a taste of culture, I hear France is pretty nice."

IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

In two short years, Underwood's sweet down-home charm has combined with a killer set of pipes to transform her into a phenomenon -- and one with a lengthy list of accolades. She's the Country Music Assn.'s reigning female vocalist of the year. "Some Hearts" was named the Academy of Country Music's 2007 album of the year, and she netted Grammy Awards for best new artist and best female country vocal performance for "Jesus, Take the Wheel," which won best country song. It also won the Gospel Music Assn.'s award for country recorded song of the year.

Meanwhile, she has become a core artist on country radio and ascended to superstar status in the eyes of radio programmers and fans, more quickly than perhaps anyone since fellow Oklahoman Garth Brooks. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Its successor, "Before He Cheats," topped the chart for five weeks, followed by "Don't Forget to Remember Me," which peaked at No. 2, and "Wasted," which hit No. 1 for three weeks. "So Small," the lead single from her new album, made Underwood the first female to debut in Hot Country Songs' top 20 in 43 years. The single is No. 11 only four weeks after release.

She's even had luck on adult contemporary radio, where four singles have scored, and "Before He Cheats" peaked at No. 7. Its video helped propel the success of the single and showed a more aggressive and heretofore unseen side of Underwood's persona, as she lashed out against an unfaithful boyfriend's personal property with a Louisville Slugger. But while some artists court airplay in another format by altering the music's sound, Underwood refused to play that game.

COUNTRY CONVICTIONS

"We started out thinking that ("Before He Cheats") might be cool on other radio stations than country music, but we were told flat out that it was too country -- and I'm not willing to change it," she says. "Just because it has some fiddle on it, I don't understand why other people wouldn't like it. I didn't want to take that out to make it something else."

Such convictions did nothing to slow down sales. "Some Hearts" sold 315,000 units its first week, making Underwood the highest-debuting new artist in the country genre since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales. The album spent 27 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, and has sold 5.9 million units, according to SoundScan. With one album, Underwood has reached the level of success it took other superstar acts several years and albums to achieve.

Underwood credits her impressive jump-start to that little singing competition on Fox. "Coming off 'American Idol,' people already knew who I was," she says. "Most people spend years trying to (get fans to) recognize who they are. I already had that massive recognition factor."

She admits that there are certain aspects of celebrity that have taken some getting used to, especially the tabloid rumors and constant scrutiny.

"It's really awkward to think, 'Oh, gosh, somebody is going to snap a picture of me dancing and then they'll say I'm a party girl,' which I'm not," she says. "You have to think about everything you do, and if you decide to go ahead and do it anyway, realize that everybody is going to talk about it the next day. I'm 24 years old, and if I have a glass of wine in my hand and somebody takes a picture of it, somebody somewhere is going to get mad because I'm being 'a bad role model.' It's a fine line, and you have to realize that I'm a human too."

According to Underwood, her alleged romance with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was a media fantasy. "We're really good friends and support each other, but we're not together, nor have we ever been together," she says, wanting to set the record straight. "I understand because we went to the (Academy of Country Music Awards) together and I go watch him play football that people might get the wrong impression, but hardly any people ever ask me. They just kind of ran with the story anyway. I read stuff now that one of us is trying to get the other back and that I spend the night crying by myself. It's awful."

SOPHOMORE CHALLENGE

Much as she finds ways to deal with the tabloid spotlight, Underwood has worked her way through the pressure to follow up such a successful debut -- the kind of pressure that could creatively paralyze an artist.

"'Is there really anywhere to go but down?' There was that fear in my head," Underwood says. "Then we started picking songs and I realized it was more (about) making an album for myself that I love and I know I have a huge hand in making. Whatever happens, it's icing on the cake."

On "Carnival Ride," Underwood was more involved in the songwriting process than on the debut. She set up a writers retreat at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to collaborate with such Music Row tunesmiths as Hillary Lindsey, Craig Wiseman, Rivers Rutherford and Gordie Sampson.

Underwood includes only one cover on the set, a remake of the Randy Travis hit "I Told You So." The rest are new tunes, some by Hillary Lindsey, who Underwood singles out as one of her favorite writers. "It's very hard for me to find writers that really get kind of young female (artists). There are all these male writers and they are great at what they do," she says, "but I'm a 24-year-old girl, and I imagine it would be hard for these guys to think like a 24-year-old girl. So it's really awesome that I've been able to get together with her."

Underwood, who probably won't undertake a full-blown tour until 2008, will either headline or co-headline with another artist.

Given her track record, it's hard to believe she would have any concerns about filling venues. But perhaps it's her Oklahoma naivete that prompts Underwood to say, "I don't feel I'm ready to headline. What if nobody shows up? It would be absolutely horrifying if nobody showed up."

(Additional reporting by Ray Waddell in Nashville.)

Reuters/Billboard