Carrie Underwood talks 'selfish' duet with Axl Rose, 'timeless' appeal of 'Denim & Rhinestones'
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Carrie Underwood's country music career has reached unparalleled acclaim.
Underwood, a 39-year-old Muskogee, Oklahoma, native, is wearing rhinestone-encrusted golden cowboy boots while standing across from a display featuring a rhinestone-bejeweled distressed T-shirt she wore while recently singing "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City" with Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose at Stagecoach Festival.
On Friday, her seventh studio album, "Denim & Rhinestones," was released. On Saturday, she sang on the main stage at CMA Fest.
'Greatest night of my life': Carrie Underwood rocks Stagecoach with Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses
To celebrate the new album, Underwood live-streamed an Amazon Prime concert Thursday evening at Bell Tower. A museum-style fan exhibition was housed in the space during CMA Fest, highlighting some of her recent show-stopping fashion choices.
Underwood tells the story of one of the outfits displayed: the denim-fringed jacket and tee she wore alongside Rose at Stagecoach.
"I'd been waiting for this moment almost my whole life," says Underwood, a hint of the Oklahoman accent of her youth entering the conversation. "Before we went on stage, I told him, 'There are tens of thousands of people out there, but I'm going to be selfish. It's going to (feel like it's) just you and me."
"I'm physically and vocally pushing myself by doing different things that keep my career spicy and interesting," Underwood says about her present work.
This includes achieving Academy of Country Music, iHeartRadio and CMT Award wins for her Jason Aldean duet "If I Didn't Love You." Plus, she's just completed a grueling run of dates for her ongoing Las Vegas residency at Sin City's Resorts World Theatre. She also has concert dates scheduled from October to March with Jimmie Allen opening.
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Underwood embraced "fun," first and foremost, while working on her newest album.
"We didn't get in the way of what needed to work its way out, working its way out," she says of recording the album with collaborator David Garcia.
Underwood is at a place in her career where she could rest on her laurels and likely coast into the Country Music Hall of Fame. But she shows no signs of slowing down.
In Garcia, she's paired with a multi-platinum selling, four-time Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer known for hits including Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line's "Meant to Be."
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Garcia's synergy in the pop-Christian and pop-country spaces (where Underwood is renowned) allows for honest, connective material and performances to emerge.
Underwood and Garcia's in-studio cohesion is driven by what she describes as "equal and humble creativity" lacking "power-tripping." "We want to make the best music possible that reflects the best of our talents," she notes.
She placed no restrictions on maintaining a cohesive tie to country music's numerous sonic traditions. The album's title track is countrified yet synth-laden mid-'80s radio-power pop in the same vein as mid-tempo tracks produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. As for the song "She Don't Know," it's traditional country-leaning – the tale of a love gone wrong featuring a mandolin, fiddle and shuffling rhythm.
The album's title represents more than a fashion choice for Underwood.
"Looking at photos of iconic women like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, what were they wearing?" she asks. "Like all of the sounds on this album, denim and rhinestones are timeless in this genre."
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