Carrie Underwood talks “Play On”

Posted by brandy

on November 3, 2009M at 9:46 am

carrie underwood new publicity shot 2 for blog

Oklahoma native and country music star Carrie Underwood sat down with the Associated Press to talk about her new album, where she fits in the country genre and her relationship with hockey player Mike Fisher.

Underwood, who hails from Checotah, told the AP she prefers to call her music “contemporary country” rather than “country-pop.” She acknowledges her sonic style differs from the music her childhood idols made.

“I loved Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn, those were the people that really first made me love country music. Then there were people like Bryan White who were like coming on the scene,” the 26-year-old Oklahoma native explains. “And he was like one of the people that was like ‘OK, they don’t have to all sound like this.’ People can sound all kind of ways. And he was young and hot.”

“I’ve had people tell me, ‘I never listened to country music until I saw you on “American Idol,” and now I’ve been to a Rascal Flatts concerts, and I went and saw so and so,’” she adds. “And it’s wonderful that we all kind of have our place in country music and we all pull listeners in for different reasons, and because of that we can hear everything.”

She worked with collaborators from across genres on ”Play On,” including rap producer/writer Mike Elizondo on first single “Cowboy Casanova.”

“I’m not trying to move anywhere away from country music,” she tells the AP while sitting in a production studio, dressed comfortably in jeans, a T-shirt and sandals. “I love what I do. And let’s say ‘Cowboy Casanova’ crosses over, it’s going to cross over as it is — fiddles, steel and all. Growing up I never liked it when people would have a country song and then change it for a different format.”

Underwood and songwriter Luke Laird, a friend who wrote several songs on her 2007 album “Carnival Ride,” teamed up with “American Idol” judge and pop songwriter Kara DioGuardi and Marti Frederiksen to produce two of the album’s tracks, “Undo It” and “Mama’s Song.”

“Undo It,” with its revved up banjo intro and na-na-na chorus, is a scorching spurned love song.

“I like to be sassy. I’m a smart aleck and it’s just fun to have a little sass,” says Underwood.

“Mama’s Song” is a love song about helping a mother gain trust for a good man who wants to marry her daughter. The presence of her boyfriend, Ottawa Senators center Mike Fisher, can be felt on the song, the most personal of the seven Underwood wrote for the album.

The song seems destined to get played at weddings, but she’s not getting married. But she feels comfortable enough in the relationship that it’s starting to show through in her work — and add depth to it as well.

“This has been kind of my first attempt at love songs,” Underwood says. “And I think there’s a reason for that. I think it’s because I’m a private person anyway, and I’m not so great with emotions. I consider myself more boyish in that way, so I’m pretty closed off. But you know when you’re happy in your life, you can just kind of tell.”

Click here to read more of Underwood’s interview with the AP. And look for my feature and review of “Play On” Friday.

-BAM

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