Carrie Underwood kicked off her Apple Music ‘XO Radio’ show a few weeks ago and we gathered a list of things that you may not have known about her from the first episode.
You can read the full list below.
1. She loves Classic Rock (Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Guns ‘N Roses, Aerosmith).
Motley Crue
“When I was a little kid, my sisters were quite a bit older than me and they would have me singing ‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’ when I was like three or four years old because they thought it was funny,” Underwood explained. “I don’t know if my parents thought it was, but it was funny. I was actually planning on seeing them on tour this year of course and even though it’s been delayed, fingers crossed that it all gets put back together soon, if they are on stage, you’re gonna find me in the audience.”
The Rolling Stones
“My dad loved The Stones and we had records and we’d listen to records and The Stones all the time and I think they have a giant respect for country music and I love that. You can hear it in their songs, you can hear it in ‘Wild Horses,’ you can hear it in ‘Honky Tonk Women,’ I mean they’ve gots to love some country music or else they wouldn’t be singing about those honky tonk women.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival
“My dad always loved them and I did too, and I feel like there’s just some awesome country nuggets that they bury in their songs for sure and it was definitely a full circle moment for me when I got to perform with John Fogerty at the ACMs a few years back. We performed ‘Travelin Band’ and I just remember the whole time just being on that stage thinking, ugh, how is this my life, this legend, his voice and he’s got his guitar, it was just an amazing moment for me.”
Guns ‘N Roses
“Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a HUGE Guns ‘n Roses fan.”
Aerosmith
“Hopefully you hear this in some of my music, especially some of my most recent music. Aerosmith is a band that I have always loved and yes they have made incredible music but for me Steven Tyler’s voice is just another one that he just sounded great and he could just slither in and out of different feels and different genres and he can do that screamy rock thing. He could flip the switch and sing something with a little more twang. I got to personally talk to him about his love of country music and it’s genuine. So, that just makes him even more special to me. Cry Pretty, I feel like when we were writing that song and practicing it and when I was in the studio trying to figure out what I wanted to do to it, Aerosmith was the foundation to ‘Cry Pretty’ and one of my favorite songs and I feel like when you hear these two back to back, you’ll understand and you’ll kind of hear the connection but ‘What It Takes’ is one of my favorite Aerosmith songs.”
2. Her first concert was Alan Jackson and Faith Hill.
“It was 1994 and I went to see Alan Jackson and Faith Hill was his opening act.”
3. She was a part of the Bryan White fan club as a kid and his song inspired her song “Backsliding.”
“He took country music kind of in a different direction and I feel like when I was a kid and I would turn on the radio and I would hear these guys on the radio, there was something like great in a great way but a lot of them reminded me of my Dad which is awesome but then there was Bryan White, who’s like good looking, young guy, he was doing these like Pop runs in his music and just had this super freshness to his music which was a giant influence on me that was like wait, it can sound I guess a little more poppy and still be country and so it was kind of like a revelation for me as a kid and not even knowing at the time as an artist. I’ve been lucky enough that throughout the years, our paths have crossed on a few occasions and I got to sing ‘I’m Not Supposed To Love You Anymore’ on stage with Bryan at The Grand Ole Opry which was just mind blowing to my fourteen year old self and I got to tell him while we were there that one of my song’s ‘Backsliding’ off of my Cry Pretty album was kind of based on that song. Not in a musical sense but kind of just in a story sense of just two adults who were in love and still are in love that are just really having trouble letting go.”
4. Queen’s Freddy Mercury and George Michael voices helped teach her how to sing.
“I feel like as a singer, my personal favorite thing about an artist and their music is the voice that’s leading the charge. As a child, I would listen to certain people’s voices and gravitate to them, not knowing who they were or what they looked like, knowing nothing about them other than the fact that I loved their voice. And there is certain people throughout my musical history and still today that taught me how to sing. Freddy Mercury was one of those people. George Michael was one of those people. Their voices cut through the air for me and I would emulate things that they would do and try to just teach myself to be like them, so they are very important artists in my life.”
5. She played in a bar band as a teenager.
“When I was a teenager, I used to be in a bar band and we would play in the Arkansas, Oklahoma area and a band that we always covered because it was always such a huge crowd pleaser is The Eagles. You might know it, you might recognize it but a lot of country artists have covered The Eagles throughout history and I feel like their another example of those rock bands that kind of teetered the line of rock and country and are obviously loved by both fan bases. One of our favorite songs to play was ‘Heartache Tonight.’”
6. Underwood appears a backing vocalist on some of Brad Paisley’s songs if you check the credits.
“I was very lucky very early on in my career to get to go on tour with a guy that I feel like I have the best friendship with currently in my career and in my life, Mr. Brad Paisley. He was always so great to us on tour and would bring me on his bus every once in a while and be like how are you doing? Do you need anything? He’s always kind of been that big brother for me in this crazy country music world and I’ve been very blessed throughout the years to just get to sing with him on sorts of things. Even some stuff that you might check some credits and see Carrie Underwood credited as a background vocalist on some of his songs just because that’s just how we roll man. I got to sing this next song with him on tour and kind of fill in for Alison Krauss who is another incredible women in country music that I definitely look up to. I wrote on my notes here that Brad and I goto like peanut butter and jelly and we do.”
7. Miranda Lambert is a person she not only looks up to but that she enjoys being around.
“Another women that I definitely look up to for a series of reasons is Ms. Miranda Lambert, I feel like we were kind of coming up together in country music at the same time. I feel like even though we both very much occupy our own lanes in country music, we enjoy being around each other and getting to do projects with each other. I’m going to play a song right now that I had so much fun recording and had so much fun singing on stage with her or doing parts of it in one of my tours a couple years ago. It’s just one of my favorite songs cause it just kicks some booty.”
