BAM Column: Carrie Underwood’s star keeps rising with “Play On”

Posted by brandy

on November 3, 2009M at 8:39 am

carrie underwood - oklahoma music hall - bryan terry

Carrie Underwood (Photo by Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman Archives)

From Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.

Carrie Underwood’s star bright in ‘Play On’

Carrie Underwood’s star just keeps rising with today’s release of her highly anticipated third album, “Play On.”

It’s been fewer than five years since the Checotah native won “American Idol,” but Underwood’s music career has been supernova hot since. Between her first two albums, 2005’s “Some Hearts” and 2007’s “Carnival Ride,” she already has sold 10 million records, notched 10 No. 1 hits and won four Grammy Awards, along with numerous other industry accolades.

So, sky-high expectations hang over “Play On,” but the Oklahoma native seems poised to meet them. The album’s first single, “Cowboy Casanova,” rocketed into the top five in just seven weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. A sassy cautionary tale about a man “who looks like a cool drink of water, but he’s candy-coated misery,” it blasted out of the gate with first-week sales of more than 110,000 digital copies.

Underwood co-wrote seven of the 13 songs on “Play On,” penning “Cowboy Casanova” with fellow Okie Brett James (who also co-wrote her Grammy-winning hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel”) and hip-hop impresario Mike Elizondo.

She keeps the country-rock sound and tough-chick tone on “Undo It,” a scathing kiss-off to someone “who stole my happy.” She collaborated with three other writers on the song, including “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi.

But Checotah’s sweetheart also shows her softer side on “Play On.” The ballad “Mama’s Song,” about a woman assuring her mother that the man in her life is a keeper, is sure to be a favorite at weddings. And “Temporary Home” tugs the heartstrings as effectively as her previous smash singles “So Small” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

Underwood is marking the album release with a publicity blitz in New York City. She performed Monday on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and she will play an outdoor show at the Lincoln Center today on “Good Morning America.” On Thursday, she will round out her Big Apple outing with an appearance on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

Then, it’s back to Nashville for the white-hot star, who will perform on “Good Morning America” outside the Sommet Center with fellow country luminary Brad Paisley on Nov. 10, the day before they co-host the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards on ABC.

-BAM

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