UPDATED: Carrie Underwood announces “Blown Away” tour in support of new album, including Oct. 25 Oklahoma City show
Carrie Underwood (AP file)
UPDATE: Tickets for Carrie Underwood’s Oklahoma City show will go on sale Friday, May 11, according to a Chesapeake Energy Arena representative. Prices for the OKC show as well as prices and sale date for the Tulsa show are still to be announced.
Oklahoma country music superstar Carrie Underwood announced this morning on “Good Morning America” that she will launch in fall a headlining North American arena tour in support of her new album, “Blown Away,” released today.
“The Blown Away Tour” will include an Oct. 25 stop at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena.
In addition, she will return to Oklahoma to play Nov. 21 at Tulsa’s BOK Center. I’ll have more information on the Checotah native’s home state tour stops as soon as it becomes available.
The tour will also include an international run of shows this summer sponsored by Olay, including Underwood’s first-ever United Kingdom concert on June 21 at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London. Her British date sold out in 90 minutes.
Additional international concert dates will be announced soon.
The North American tour dates will be presented and hydrated by vitaminwater, sponsored by Olay, and promoted by AEG Live. Special guest Hunter Hayes will open.
“I can’t wait to get back out on the road and perform new music from my new album for my fans,” said Underwood in the tour announcement. We have a lot of exciting things planned!”
Underwood is donating $1 from each ticket sold on the North American leg of “The Blown Away Tour” to support Red Cross disaster relief. Every year, the American Red Cross prepares for and responds to nearly 70,000 disasters across the United States. This donation will help the Red Cross provide shelter, food, and emotional support for those in need after a disaster. Proceeds from her Canadian concerts will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.
The 2005 “American Idol” winner’s two previous headline tours, 2008’s “Carnival Ride Tour” and 2010’s “Play On Tour,” performed for a combined total of nearly 250 shows with 2.2 million fans in attendance, and she wrapped both years as the top-ranked female country touring artist.
Since releasing her debut “Some Hearts” in 2005, Underwood, 29, has sold more than 14 million albums with “Some Hearts,” 2007’s “Carnival Ride” and 2009’s “Play On.” She’s amassed 14 No. 1 singles, six of which she co-wrote, and became the first country artist in history and the only “American Idol” winner ever to achieve 10 No. 1 singles from their first two albums.
She is a five-time Grammy winner, a two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, a three-time Country Music Association and ACM Female Vocalist winner, and a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Underwood currently leads the nominations for the upcoming CMT Music Awards with five. The fan-voted awards will be handed out June 6 in Nashville, Tenn. To vote, go to www.CMT.com.
Hunter Hayes, the multi-talented writer, musician, producer, and performer, is the only country artist to play every instrument, write/co-write every song, and co-produce his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. As a 2012 ACM New Artist of the Year nominee, Hunter has been touring and performing live for decades, most recently selling out venues across the US and Canada on his “Most Wanted” headline tour. This multi-instrumentalist continues to garner praise from fans and critics alike as he made his world-premiere national television debut on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” and also performed with The Roots on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and on “Good Morning America.” The Louisiana native has shared the stage with Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, and Hank Williams, Jr. to name a few. His current Top 40 hit “Wanted” is quickly climbing the radio charts and holds the unprecedented No. 1 slot for three weeks in a row on GAC’s Top 20 Countdown. For more information on Hunter Hayes, go to www.HunterHayes.com.
For more information on “The Blown Away Tour,” go to www.carrieunderwood.fm.
See her full schedule of 2012 shows, including “The Blown Away Tour” dates and additional festival dates, after the break.
Video: Carrie Underwood performs “Good Girl” on “Letterman”
Due to severe storms here in Oklahoma, primetime and late-night network programming tonight (Monday) was preempted by weather coverage.
That included Oklahoma country music star Carrie Underwood’s performance as the musical guest on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” She belted out her latest hit “Good Girl,” the lead single off her fourth album, “Blown Away,” due out Tuesday, and I’m posting it here so her home state fans can see it.
Since it’s after midnight, “Blown Away” is now available on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/blownaway. To read my review of “Blown Away,” click here.
On Tuesday, Underwood will return to Good Morning America to perform a special live outdoor concert in Times Square, followed by an iHeartRadio Live performance streaming live online that night.
The 2005 “American Idol” winner will then head west to Los Angeles to perform on “Idol” Thursday; “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 9; “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on May 10, and “Dancing With The Stars” on May 15, followed by the Billboard Music Awards live from Las Vegas on May 20.
She also will make appearances across various programs on the CMT, GAC, VH1, and MTV networks throughout the month of May.
-BAM
Video: Carrie Underwood featured on “Good Morning America” today, performing on “Letterman” tonight
Oklahoma country music star Carrie Underwood will be the musical guest tonight on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” which starts at 10:35 p.m. on CBS. She will perform a song from her highly anticipated fourth album, “Blown Away,” due out Tuesday. To read my review of “Blown Away,” click here.
The Checotah native also will perform on the “Live On Letterman” webcast concert series streaming live online starting at 7 tonight from the world-famous Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
The Checotah native already has been featured last week on “Nightline,” and earlier today, “Good Morning America” aired an exclusive interview.
On Tuesday, Underwood will return to Good Morning America to perform a special live outdoor concert in Times Square, followed by an iHeartRadio Live performance streaming live online that night.
The 2005 “American Idol” winner will then head west to Los Angeles to perform on “Idol” Thursday; “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 9; “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on May 10, and “Dancing With The Stars” on May 15, followed by the Billboard Music Awards live from Las Vegas on May 20.
She also will make appearances across various programs on the CMT, GAC, VH1, and MTV networks throughout the month of May.
-BAM
Carrie Underwood plans media blitz for the launch of her new album “Blown Away,” out Tuesday
Superstar Carrie Underwood will launch her highly anticipated fourth album, “Blown Away,” due in stores Tuesday, with numerous television, radio, and online appearances.
The Checotah native already has been featured this week on “Nightline,” and on Monday, “Good Morning America” will air an exclusive interview. On Monday night, she’ll appear on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and she will perform on the “Live On Letterman” webcast concert series streaming live online that same evening.
On Tuesday, Underwood will return to Good Morning America to perform a special live outdoor concert in Times Square, followed by an iHeartRadio Live performance streaming live online that night.
The 2005 “American Idol” winner will then head west to Los Angeles to perform on “Idol” Thursday; “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 9; “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on May 10, and “Dancing With The Stars” on May 15, followed by the Billboard Music Awards live from Las Vegas on May 20.
She also will make appearances across various programs on the CMT, GAC, VH1, and MTV networks throughout the month of May.
Her new album, “Blown Away” is available for exclusive streaming on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/blownawaystream.
To read my review of “Blown Away,” click here.
-BAM
CD review: Carrie Underwood “Blown Away”
A version of this review appears Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. Look for continuing coverage of Carrie Underwood’s new album launch here at BAM’s Blog.
Country
Carrie Underwood “Blown Away” (19 Recordings/Arista Nashville)
A little bit of extra time makes a huge difference with Carrie Underwood’s fourth album, “Blown Away,” which mostly lives up to its bombastic title.
When it drops Tuesday, the 14-track collection will follow the Checotah native’s last album, 2009’s platinum-seller “Play On,” by 30 months, stretching her previous every-two-years release schedule by just six months. But the country music superstar clearly put those additional months to good use: Over the past seven years, Underwood’s devotees have watched the 2005 “American Idol” victor grow up, but never has her progress as a singer, songwriter and artist been as striking as on “Blown Away.”
Underwood, 29, already has another top 10 single to her name with the album’s rollicking first single and opening track “Good Girl.” Despite its bouncy hand-claps, full-on rock guitars and the five-time Grammy winner’s go-for-broke belting, the infectiously feisty pop cautionary tale might give fans pause, since it bears no small resemblance to her “Play On” launcher “Cowboy Casanova.”
But “Blown Away” whips in a sharply different and unprecedently dark direction for Underwood with the title track, a vivid story song about an abused girl who leaves her drunken daddy to the swirling winds of fate during an Oklahoma twister. The singer sticks with the revenge theme and delivers another haunting vocal performance on “Two Black Cadillacs,” a spine-tickling tale about the wife and mistress of a supposedly good man meeting face to face for the first time at his funeral.
The album sweeps Underwood back onto more familiar territory with “See You Again,” an uplifting pop ballad about reuniting with a lost loved one, and the sweet, downhome ode to first love “Do You Think About Me.” They are among the eight tracks on “Blown Away” that she co-wrote.
Whether she had a hand in penning them or picking them, the songs on Underwood’s fourth album continually propel fans in different and interesting directions: The emotions come gusting in with the relatable tearjerker “Forever Changed,” which chronicles a woman’s courtship, marriage and birth, followed by the loss of her memory, while her daughter struggles to cope. The album floats into much brighter territory with the effervescent empowerment anthem “Nobody Ever Told You,” then catches the island breezes for “One Way Ticket.”
A bittersweet air drifts through “Good in Goodbye,” which she penned with frequent collaborator Hillary Lindsey and Grammy-winning Tulsa native Ryan Tedder, and the album catches a raucously fun vibe with the good-natured romp “Cupid’s Got a Shotgun,” which she wrote with Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins and turned into the latest surefire-hit collaboration with her superstar pal Brad Paisley, who contributes his trademark scorching electric guitar licks.
For Underwood’s legions of faithful followers, the eclectic and ambitious “Blown Away” will prove worth the extra wait.
— BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on April 26, 2012: Hear Zac Brown Band at Chesapeake Energy Arena
Today’s featured event:
Hear Zac Brown Band at 7 tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W Reno.
On Wednesday, the two-time Grammy winners announced that their forthcoming album will be titled “Uncaged” and released on July 10 on Atlantic Records/Southern Ground Artists.
The album will also mark the official debut of ZBB’s newest member, world-renowned percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
In a recent phone interview, ZBB fiddler Jimmy De Martini told me that the group will play new music from the upcoming album during the OKC show.
“We’ve been in the studio. We’re actually finishing up on the new album. … We’ll play three or four new songs from the album, and we’ll also play all the ones that you love,” he said.
“It’s the same formula we always do. It’s the same Zac Brown-type song, you know. We’ve got some great songs written just the way we do it: We’ve got country songs, rock songs, island songs, all our influences melded into one the Zac Brown Band way. It’s just more of the same from us,” he added.
“A lot of us grew up listening to Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett and that kind of laidback stuff. But we also play some fast-picking bluegrass kind of stuff that’s high-energy and some heavy rock tunes, too. So it kind of spans the board as far as the genres that we’ve been influenced by and the stuff that we take from it. But the laidback stuff is definitely one part of it.”
To read more of my interview with De Martini, click here.
The band is currently nominated for Billboard Music Awards’ Top Country Artist and for two CMT Awards, Collaborative Video Of The Year for “Knee Deep” featuring Jimmy Buffet and Best Group Video for “Keep Me In Mind.”
Zac Brown Band’s double-platinum major label debut “The Foundation” (Atlantic Records/Home Grown/Big Picture) was named one of Billboard’s Top 20 albums of 2009, and the platinum follow-up “You Get What You Give” (Atlantic/Southern Ground Artists) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2010.
Zac Brown Band is De Martini, singer/guitarist Zac Brown, bassist/singer John Driskell Hopkins, guitarist/organist Coy Bowles, multi-instrumentalist/singer Clay Cook, drummer Chris Fryar and percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
Zac Brown Band announces new album “Uncaged” to be released July 10, adds new member to lineup, playing Thursday Oklahoma City show
With two Grammy wins and more than 50 award nominations under their collective belts, Zac Brown Band have have announced that their forthcoming album will be titled “Uncaged” and released on July 10 on Atlantic Records/Southern Ground Artists.
The album will also mark the official debut of ZBB’s newest member, world-renowned percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
Influenced by guest performer Trombone Shorty and past appearances with Kings of Leon, Zac Brown tells AP that the lineup “creates a new kind of pulse within the band…” and the music is “really about making people dance.”
The Atlanta-based band will play Thursday at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena. For more information, go to www.chesapeakearena.com.
In a recent phone interview, ZBB fiddler Jimmy De Martini told me that the group will play new music from the upcoming album during the OKC show.
“We’ve been in the studio. We’re actually finishing up on the new album. … We’ll play three or four new songs from the album, and we’ll also play all the ones that you love,” he said.
“It’s the same formula we always do. It’s the same Zac Brown-type song, you know. We’ve got some great songs written just the way we do it: We’ve got country songs, rock songs, island songs, all our influences melded into one the Zac Brown Band way. It’s just more of the same from us,” he added.
“A lot of us grew up listening to Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett and that kind of laidback stuff. But we also play some fast-picking bluegrass kind of stuff that’s high-energy and some heavy rock tunes, too. So it kind of spans the board as far as the genres that we’ve been influenced by and the stuff that we take from it. But the laidback stuff is definitely one part of it.”
To read more of my interview with De Martini, click here.
The band is currently nominated for Billboard Music Awards’ Top Country Artist and for two CMT Awards, Collaborative Video Of The Year for “Knee Deep” featuring Jimmy Buffet and Best Group Video for “Keep Me In Mind.”
Zac Brown Band’s double-platinum major label debut “The Foundation” (Atlantic Records/Home Grown/Big Picture) was named one of Billboard’s Top 20 albums of 2009, and the platinum follow-up “You Get What You Give” (Atlantic/Southern Ground Artists) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2010.
Zac Brown Band is De Martini, singer/guitarist Zac Brown, bassist/singer John Driskell Hopkins, guitarist/organist Coy Bowles, multi-instrumentalist/singer Clay Cook, drummer Chris Fryar and percussionist Daniel de los Reyes.
-BAM
Carrie Underwood to play first U.K. show at London’s Royal Albert Hall
Oklahoma country music star Carrie Underwood is planning to play Britain for the first time – and she will be playing her debut United Kingdom show at no less than the London’s famed Royal Albert Hall on June 21.
A multi-platinum artist, five-time Grammy winner, a style icon and versatile performer, the Checotah native has transcended expectations and the country music genre like no other and her musical vital statistics are astonishing.
Her debut album went seven-times platinum and sent her on the way to becoming America’s foremost sweetheart. Fourteen No. 1 1 singles later, she prepares to release her fourth album, “Blown Away,” as her first official U.K. release.
“I had such an amazing time making this album,” said Underwood in the announcement. “We worked really hard and the end result is a wonderful collection of diverse material. The album sounds bigger and more epic, expanding even more than my previous albums. I’m influenced by so many types of music, and I think you can hear that in the songs. Even the album artwork is amplified – I wanted a stronger and more fierce feel than what we’ve done in the past to take things to a new level.”
From the first single on the album, the sassy, “Good Girl,” to the title track “Blown Away,” Underwood sounds like an artist in full control of some of 2012′s essential chart hits. The U.K. version of the “Blown Away” album is being released June 18, which will also feature four of the superstar’s previous No. 1 U.S. hits. (The new album is due out Tuesday in the U.S.; look for my review in the coming days.)
Underwood’s previous two headline arena tours, the “Carnival Ride Tour” in 2008 and 2010′s “Play On Tour,” performed for a combined total of 2.2 million fans in nearly 250 shows.
Ubiquitous in the USA as the face of Olay beauty products and vitaminwater(R), Underwood has completed a transition from American small town girl to an embodiment of the American dream, expanding her horizons at all points while staying in touch with her roots.
Bringing her talent to the U.K. for the first time, Underwood intends to impress. “It’s been a long time coming to head over to London to perform for my U.K fans. … I’m so excited to play there in June. It’s the home of some of my musical influences. I’m a huge fan of George Michael, Annie Lennox, The Rolling Stones, and of course, Adele. I want to do that tradition proud. There are so many great British artists doing well in the U.S. at the moment; I want to show the U.K. another side of America.”
For ticket information:
June 21, 2012 – Royal Albert Hall, London
Prices £22.50 – £45
Buy Online:
24hr cc hotline – 0844 811 0051
-BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: Carrie Underwood to appear on “Nightline” tonight
Oklahoma country music superstar Carrie Underwood talks about the five things she must have on tour – which range from her dogs to a “super-comfy” comforter – in this video, which is a preview of her interview tonight on “Nightline,” which airs at 10:35 p.m. on ABC (KOCO-5 in Oklahoma City).
The Checotah native is beginning her promotional blitz in support of her fourth album, “Blown Away,” due out Tuesday.
Look for my review of “Blown Away” in the coming days.
-BAM
Listen NOW: Carrie Underwood’s forthcoming album “Blown Away” streaming free on iTunes
Starting today, one week before superstar Carrie Underwood releases her fourth album “Blown Away on May 1,” fans can exclusively stream the album on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/blownawaystream. In addition to hearing the entire 14-song collection, fans can also pre-order the album in advance of its release on May 1.
“Blown Away,” produced by Mark Bright, is the Checotah native’s fourth studio album on 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville. Here is the full track listing for “Blown Away”:
1. Good Girl
2. Blown Away
3. Two Black Cadillacs
4. See You Again
5. Do You Think About Me
6. Forever Changed
7. Nobody Ever Told You
8. One Way Ticket
9. Thank God For Hometowns
10. Good In Goodbye
11. Leave Love Alone
12. Cupid’s Got A Shotgun
13. Wine After Whiskey
14. Who Are You
“Good Girl,” the lead single from “Blown Away,” was just certified gold by the RIAA for sales of more than 500,000 digital singles. The song is currently top 10 and climbing on the country airplay charts.
Since releasing “Some Hearts” in 2005, the Oklahoma-born and bred superstar has sold more than 14 million albums with “Some Hearts,” 2007’s “Carnival Ride” and 2009’s “Play On.” She’s amassed 14 No. 1 singles, six of which she co-wrote, and became the first country artist in history and the only ”American Idol” winner ever to achieve 10 No. 1 singles from their first two albums.
Underwood currently leads the nominations for the upcoming CMT Awards with five. She is a five-time Grammy winner, a two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, a three-time Country Music Association and ACM Female Vocalist winner and a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry
Look for my review of “Blown Away” in the coming days.
-BAM
