Wednesday Video Spotlight: Carrie Underwood on “American Idol”

Posted by brandy

on March 18, 2009M at 11:47 am

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Carrie Underwood (Associated Press photo)

Oklahoma native, 2005 “American Idol” winner and Grand Ole Opry member Carrie Underwood will return to the “Idol” stage for a live performance Wednesday. The show airs from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, and this is Grand Ole Opry Week on the reality TV show.

Underwood will perform her current hit single “I Told You So” with fellow Opry member Randy Travis, who will also be participating as Idol’s “Opry” mentor for the show’s contestants.

Underwood’s version of this 1988 No. 1 hit by Travis can be found on her “Carnival Ride” album. Fans will soon be hearing another version on the airwaves as a new studio recording pairing Underwood and Travis arrives at country radio next week. A digital single of that recording will be available for sale at online music providers everywhere to coincide with their “American Idol” performance.

“I am so excited that two of my musical passions, ‘American Idol’ and the Grand Ole Opry, are joining together to create a really special week of music,” says Underwood in a news release. “I am always thrilled to return to the Idol stage, and am so proud to this time be bringing with me one of my heroes, Randy Travis. I knew the Opry first, but Idol gave me my start and helped lead me to the Opry stage. It’s a great feeling to be able to help bring these two worlds together.”

For this week’s Video Spotlight, we’ll look at some of Underwood’s past “American Idol” performances, including a couple from the opening of Disney’s “American Idol Experience,” courtesy that old YouTube magic.

And don’t forget that voting is now open for the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year over at www.voteacm.com. Underwood is one of five nominees for the ACM’s top award, and we, the fans, get to choose the winner.