American Idle

Carrie Underwood strutted her stuff at the Country Music Awards, and although she didn’t win Female Vocalist of the Year (she lost it to her best pal Taylor Swift) there probably weren’t any hard feelings, since Underwood has won it all before.

Anyway, Underwood definitely benefited from less publicity than Swift, since Kanye wasn’t all up in her grill at any point in time. Is there a possibility that Kanye’s little stunt had something to do with voting Swift as top female vocalist? Maybe.

At any rate, Underwood showed she still knows how to put on a raucous show with her hit song “Cowboy Casanova” last night.

In a performance that bordered on raunchy, Underwood shed some of her conservative skin (well, actually, she shed alot of skin, but that’s for another day) and did her thing.

Meanwhile, Kellie Pickler surprised everyone at the awards, coming out as a redhead. You know what? I liked the look! Tres sexy, Miss Pickler, even though she’s still a goofball. Here it is below:

Carrie Underwood has been on a press tour of New York City all week, and continued plugging her new album, “Play On,” with a stop at Good Morning America.

There she played two of her hit songs from the album, “Cowboy Casanova” and “Last Name,” the latter of which is getting some decent buzz.

Underwood continues to be a force in the music business, in spite of her fellow Idols (Adam Lambert included) who are having, shall we say, difficulties making it happen.

That’s the thing about this business; it’s make-or-break, and sometimes, it’s just about getting a break, as opposed to not getting one at all.

You can have all the talent in the world, ergo Taylor Hicks, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you have the right representation and the right music.

Also, it doesn’t hurt that Underwood is fairly attractive, blonde and appeals to a certain demographic that frankly, doesn’t actually care about what somebody sings. That’s the reality, I suppose.

In all actuality, Underwood is very talented and she has staying power, as is the case with “Last Name.” Listen to it below:

She’ll be on other shows as the week rolls on. In the meantime, support our blog and buy her new album below!

Carrie Underwood continues to be a chart-topping country diva with “Cowboy Casanova,” her hot single.

Now comes word that her album, upon which her new single is the lead song, will be called “Play On” and it will hit on November 3, reportedly.

Of course, anyone with a knowledge of release dates knows it can be bumped up or pushed back, so we’ll just say November is her target release date and leave it at that.

It remains to be seen if Underwood’s newest album will enjoy the success of her last, but it’snever a good idea to count her out.

Her track list is below, with the songwriters in parentheses. Carrie also helps write her songs, so that’s a plus.  

 1. Cowboy Casanova (Mike Elizondo, Brett James, Carrie Underwood)
2. Quitter
3. Mama’s Song (Kara Dioguardi, Martin Frederiksen, Luke Laird, Carrie Underwood)
4. Change (Katrina Elam, Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins)
5. Undo It (Kara DioGuardi, Martin Frederiksen, Luke Laird, Carrie Underwood)
6. Someday When I Stop Loving You (Hillary Lindsey, Steve McEwan, Gordie Sampson)
7. Songs Like This (Martin Dodson, Jerry Flowers, Tom Shapiro)
8. Temporary Home (Luke Laird, Zac Maloy, Carrie Underwood)
9. This Time
10. Look At Me
11. Unapologize
12. What Can I Say (featuring Sons of Sylvia-formerly the Clark Brothers) (David Hodges, Steve McEwan, Carrie Underwood)
13. Play On (Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, Carrie Underwood)

Carrie Underwood has been a huge country music star after winning American Idol several seasons ago.

Now she’s trying to break some new ground with “Cowboy Casanova,” which is scheduled for official release in November.

Thanks to some friends, however, you now have the luxury of listening to her single below!

Carrie Underwood - “Cowboy Casanova”

The song has strains of “Before He Cheats,” but it’s more poppy than that song. Also, there is another version, supposedly, so when I get it I will share it with you all.

At any rate, it looks like Underwood will have another hit on her hands, as if she needed another reason to be a huge success, eh?

It’s been a long time coming for American Idol, but tonight it finally happened, at least on the country music end of the spectrum. Carrie Underwood finally knocked off some of country’s heavyweights to win a big award.

After years of waiting for a superstar to emerge from American Idol, the show most thought of as karaoke, Idol fans can feel vindicated now that Carrie Underwood has brought home two huge awards on one night at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

First, she won Top Female Vocalist of the Year, beating out the heavyweights, and to be honest, that was expected.

But what wasn’t expected, particularly in a genre that is male-dominated and has been for some time, is for Underwood to beat out big names like George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban for Entertainer of the Year.

She did lose to Taylor Swift for Album of the Year–and Taylor is a good friend–so that may have been somewhat of a disappointment, but I’m sure it was tempered by her double-award haul this evening. She was obviously taken aback by the whole thing, too, being reduced to tears of gratefulness and joy. In all, a huge night for Idol and for Underwood, who is fast becoming a superstar in the world of music.

Carrie Underwood stepped on the Idol stage last night in some rarified air, with the great country music legend Randy Travis. It was Grand Ole Opry week in Hollywood and Underwood–now country music royalty in only five years–had a lot to sing for, particularly future Underwood fans across America.

Underwood carried the song, while Travis seemed uneasy on such a big stage like American Idol. But once Travis got going–and picked up some of the passion evident in Underwood’s lyrics–the two had a nice performance leading up to Alexis Grace’s elimination.

The song is part of Travis’ recently released greatest hits album and it was nice to see something different from Randy. If Carrie can have just as much luck with her personal life as she does in the music world, things would really be going well for her.

It’s Grand Ole Opry week on American Idol. Yee-haw! (Or something like that.) Anyhow, this week is gonna be interesting for the simple fact that there aren’t any country singers in the bunch. Two that are, Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis, will be performing Wednesday during the results show.

Before that happens though, I don’t have a pea-picking idea who’s singing what, but Vote For The Worst is so mad Tatiana didn’t make it in that they have spoiled the whole thing and given us a list of songs the singers can choose from. So that narrows it down just a tad.

Them are some rootin-tootin humdingers, I tell ya. So let me tell you what I think is goin‘ down at the saloon where Simon packs a six-shooter.

Adam Lambert - It has already been established that the dude can sing the phone book. Also, the identification of Lambert as a dude is correct, especially for this week. (For the record, a dude is a gay cowboy, which Lambert will most certainly be tomorrow.) I think he’s gonna sing something off-the-wall, like “Crazy” by Patsy Cline. He could also really freak people out by singing Carrie Underwood, but I doubt that’s happening. More likely that he’d sing Dolly Parton, actually. He’s a big Dolly fan.

Scott Macintyre - Scott can also sing the phone book, as long as he’s in front of a piano. And he will be this week, singing Garth Brooks’ “Shameless,” which was originally sung by (drum roll please) the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel. That said, there might be some fisticuffs between Macintyre and this guy below:

Matt Giraud - The other piano player is in the fight of his life to try to steal this song from Scotty Mac, because it’s the only piano song out of the approved song list. Uh-oh…me smells twubble…Huh-huh-huh…Yeah, it’s possible one of the two pianists could go home.

Lil Rounds - She’ll sing something big, like Dolly Parton, but don’t be shocked if she sings Martina McBride or Reba, either.

Alexis Grace - This week has Alison Krauss written all over it. An alt-rocker singing a Krauss tune. Hey, somebody pass me a microbrew.

Allison Iraheta - The brown version of Overmyer will rock the hell out of a country tune. But she might also surprise everyone, throw on a blonde wig and bust out some Dolly Parton. It’s up in the air.

Danny Gokey - Garth Brooks would be perfect for him, but don’t be surprised if he takes a few risks this week and goes for something more, like Randy Travis.

Kris Allen - If he brings his guitar, this could be his week, since there are some Johnny Cash songs on the list. That said, there are also some Hank Williams tunes. If he doesn’t bring his guitar he is dumb. Plain and simple.

Megan Corkrey - It’s gonna be a weird night for Megan, who is hard to classify. I think she’ll sing some Carrie Underwood and if she doesn’t sing it well, she will be the one going home.

Michael Sarver - This week, simply put, is make-or-break for Sarver, who comes from Texas but apparently doesn’t sing country. WTF? I think he’ll sing some Travis Tritt, or perhaps Trace Adkins. He’ll try to play this week up since country is not his strong suit. It will either be spectacular or a spectacle.

Anoop Desai - Anoop Dog is gonna have to really sing his butt off this week, or he’s out. Luckily for him, there are other singers who will probably struggle with country, so if he can sing some Garth Brooks or even some Travis Tritt, possibly “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” he could survive the week.

Whatever the Idols may sing, count on it being entertaining. And only one person will be eliminated this week, so choose your Idols wisely.

Because of a bizarre week in which American Idol 8 will air Wednesday instead of Tuesday this week, we’ll catch up with some of our former Idols who have been busy furthering their careers. Kind of.

Actually, the Idols we’ll focus on this week got a touch of bad news. But first, the good news. They had something called the Academy Awards last night and Randy Jackson looked like a big stick of Extra gum. (The picture proof, as they say, is above.) Now on to the bad.

First up, it was reported this week that Clay Aiken was dumped by RCA Records, but it actually happened two months ago. (Sneaky.) Anyway, word on the street is the label wanted to “refresh” its talent roster, and apparently Aiken playing to the squeals of silver-haired ladies chucking their panties on stages the world over wasn’t enough. So basically the moral of the story is, going double-platinum may not even enough for a singer to stay on a label.

Ruben Studdard may have a new single called “Together” under the Sony/ATV banner and Hickory Records label, but since it’s tax time the IRS would like to let him know that before he thinks about making any profit from his record sales, he will first need to pay out some back taxes. Like $254,119, according to state and federal tax records. Ouch!

And finally, Jon Peter Lewis does his best Ryan Seacrest impersonation (and mimics several other Group 1 singers from last week) in this funny You Tube video, which I have posted above. Halfway though his show gets more serious and he interviews an A&R guy. It’s not that funny, but it is informative.
And the Jaded Insider blog on Billboard (the same folks who gave you the Aiken news) reports that Joanna Pacitti may have been disqualified from Idol 8 but she’s planning to make it big and the plans may even include her boyfriend, Mark Ballas. (of the Ballas/Hough Band)

Top 36 Group 2 preview tomorrow! Don’t forget to sign up for our Office Pool. Click on info box on the left. Thanks for playing!

It probably wasn’t the way she wanted to remember such a tremendous year in relation to her profession, singing, but Jennifer Hudson capped off what has been a successful year by winning a Grammy for Best R&B Album for her self-titled first release.

With the murders of her close family members and all, Hudson has had too much to think about in the past several months, but it is nice that she is getting the recognition she certainly deserves.

There will be those who say the reason she won this Grammy is simply because of the tragic events that have happened in her life and the voters sympathy, but Hudson is one fo the best singers on the planet and so I don’t think that the “sympathy vote” applies to her.

That said, I hope she takes a break at some point and reflects on what has happened and what she can do to not only further her career, but also go forward with her personal life.

Above is a heartfelt, tear-jerking performance that speaks volumes to the kind of passion Hudson has for her music and which resonates with people who enjoy her. Congratulations to Miss Hudson on an honor well deserved.

And Carrie Underwood also took home a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her song “Last Name.”

With the talk around the water cooler now switching from what could be to what will, the eighth season of American Idol is five days from fruition. That said, there are many changes to the show’s format that will have an effect, good or bad, on your viewing.

First off, what effect will new judge Kara Dioguardi have on the other three more established judges? Do the other three like her? According to Paula, she and Kara go way back, since Dioguardi has written and produced a song for Abdul. So does that mean the two won’t clash when it comes to singers? It sounds like Dioguardi is opposite of Abdul when it comes to critiquing. She’d rather take Simon Cowell’s lead. The other noticeable thing you will see is backstage. Will that mean fighting? More importantly, is Idol 8 gonna go the way of Jerry Springer? And what effect will the wild-card rounds have on the judges? These are all important questions to answer, along with the fact there will be younger mentors. - Los Angeles Times http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/americanidoltracker/2009/01/season-eight-co.html

Guess who’s blogging for season 8? Phil Stacey, the bald dynamo from season 6 who made it all the way to the final six, will be doing his play-by-play for the Naples News, a Florida newspaper. He’ll be doing it on a weekly basis, giving us behind-the-scenes looks at Idol 8 the way only a former Idol can. He describes his experience on Idol 6 as one in which he felt like Willy Wonka at the Chocolate Factory. He’ll go into the way auditions are done, and which contestants you should “keep an eye on.” All told, Stacey was a formidable opponent himself in season 6, garnering a record deal as well as performing on some of the biggest stages around. - Naples News http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/08/american-idol-blog-former-idol-finalist-write-week/And finally, some Idols cleaned up at the People’s Choice Awards. Carrie Underwood won three such awards, garnering “Favorite Female Singer,” “Favorite Star Under 35,” and “Favorite Country Song.” In the above video (thanks MJ) she sings “I Know You Won’t” during the awards ceremony. And Jordin Sparks took home a trophy, a “Favorite Combined Forces Award,” for her song featuring Chris Brown which was called “No Air.” don’t you just love these award titles? LOL Anyway, it’s good to see so many Idols staying in the spotlight. Hope it continues.