Carrie Underwood Is Everywhere, CMA Fest & Other News

Carrie Underwood is off to a Super (Bowl) start for the New Year
It is possible that, the above title is an understatement! She really is everywhere and I think for her this year has been more then Super so far, and only look to get better (if possible).

After getting engaged in just before Christmas, Underwood went back to Nashville to do some work on her upcoming tour, then it was off to Hollywood to film her small screen debut for "How I Met Your Mother". After she went back for some time with her new fiance in Ottawa only to return to L.A. for the Grammys, where she took part in the highlight of the show the Micheal Jackson tribute, which she receive much praise for.

After the chaos of January she headed off to Miami, to have the prestigious privilege of sing the National Anthem. This portion of the Super Bowl had been pre-recorded since 1993, but Underwood being the artist that she is and would never lip sing, went live for the first time in 17 years. So the nerves must have been tremendous, but she handle it with nothing less then poise, and class. Although there was a faulty note at the end (awaiting the fly over) the performance was what is exactly what is expected when you have Underwood involved in anything, perfection.

Immediately after the game she was jet set for Hawaii, to start filming her big screen debut in the bio epic Soul Surfer. Underwood will play a church youth leader to Bethany, a 13 yr old who had her arm severed after a shark attack while surfing and is now a champion surfer. Underwood's character apparently played a big role in getting Bethany back on her feet, staying positive and to start surfing again. She is said to be filming for he week.

How could there possibly be more....well there is, she will have to return to Nashville to start rehearsing for her Play On tour which begins in less then a month. She just added an additional nine dates to her tour to bring he through the end of June, when presumably she will get hitched. After the wedding there is already talk about a fall leg of the tour she announced at the Super Bowl press conference. At the press conference she impressed the room full of male reporters with her whit, humor, class, and love for "Pants On The Ground". She went in depth to explain how "Pants On The Ground" is a song with a message, much to the crowd and Queen Latifah's delight. Here's the clip;



2010 CMA Fest
Underwood was the the first artist announced for the CMA Festival June 10 - 13, with a surprise phone call to one of her biggest fans who emailed the CMA requesting Underwood's appearance at the Festival this year.



Just announced today Lady Antebellum, Martina McBride, Reba McIntire, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban and Zac Brown Band! Wow that is already more then worth the cost of a four day pass! Check out all your CMA Fest info here;CMA Fest

Also announced is Miranda Lambert setting out on her first headlining tour, so watch out for dates near you.

Swift's Label Bashes Carrie Underwood, & Clarkson Comes To Her Rescue

Apparently Taylor Swift needed defending after she was highly criticized for her Grammy performance.

So How does Carrie Underwood play into this well in his most recent response he took out his own bashing directed a the talented singer saying;

"She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not 'American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."

"This is not 'American Idol.' = Carrie Underwood, Oh no he didn't!

Then Kelly Clarkson felt the need to defend her friend and fellow Idol Champion and the creditability of the show by posting this;

Wow …..Dear Scott Borchetta,

I understand defending your artist obviously because I have done the same in the past for artists I like, including Taylor, so you might see why its upsetting to read you attacking American Idol for producing simply vocalists that hit ‘the high notes’. Thank you for that ‘Captain Obvious’ sense of humor because you know what, we not only hit the high notes, you forgot to mention we generally hit the ‘right’ notes as well. Every artist has a bad performance or two and that is understandable, but throwing blame will not make the situation at hand any better. I have been criticized left and right for having shaky performances before (and they were shaky) and what my manager or label executives say to me and the public is “I’ll kick butt next time” or “every performance isn’t going to be perfect” ……I bring this up because you should take a lesson from these people and instead of lashing out at other artists (that in your ‘humble’ opinion lack true artistry), you should simply take a breath and realize that sometimes things won’t go according to plan or work out and that’s okay.

Sincerely,

One of those contestants from American Idol who only made it because of her high notes :)

Prior to the jab at Underwood Borhetta's initial defense was this;

Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta jumped on it immediately with this "Swift rehearsed her performance and duet with Stevie Nicks two different times at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of a crowd of people. Critics were nicer then. Entertainment Weekly wrote of the rehearsal, "The two women's voices complimented each other nicely on the harmonies of 'Rhiannon ...'"

But on Sunday night's Grammy show, Borchetta said Swift had a technical issue that made her worry about her performance.

(Attempts to reach The Recording Academy for comment went unanswered.)

"We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix," Borchetta said. "That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal."

Taylor is notorious for having horrible televised vocal performances, so how long can this excuse be used.

You decide if she needed defending or if the criticism was worthy.



Scott Borchetta

Kelly Clarkson