Carrie Underwood On ‘Storyteller’, Her Varied Career And Returning To The UK – Interview

We were lucky enough to be front and centre during the press conferences at the recent C2C Festival in London. Carrie Underwood stopped by to talk to the media about returning to the UK, the thinking behind ‘Storyteller’, American Idol, collaborations, picking covers, her fame and influence and evolving as an artist. You can read what went down below.

Think Country: For your Storyteller, Travis Meadows came and taught you harmonica for ‘Choctaw County Affair’. I just wanted to know for future tours, what would be your instrument that you would wanna learn, one that you don’t already?

Carrie: I mean, it has to have a purpose… I never would have thought, “I think I’m gonna learn harmonica!” but that particular song was like “Man it would be really cool if I could do that for that song.” So I learned how to play harmonica. I think it would just have to depend on what songs I have in the future. I think the drums would be really cool to learn. I don’t know. I’m up for anything!

Sounds Like Nashville: Recently you had posted an Instagram of your trainer about cyberbullying, and then there was another image that was taken down. With your platform, is this a new thing that you’re gonna stand up for? How could anyone cyberbully Carrie Underwood I don’t know! But is this something that you’re more passionate about now that it’s happened to people close to you?

Carrie: Well it’s not like I was looking for any reason to say anything, but if you catch somebody saying really nasty things about your friend, obviously it’s gonna be like “Woah woah, excuse me!” That’s your human reaction to somebody being not nice. So it’s not like that’s a new platform or anything. But I’m just like anybody else, if I see somebody not being nice, somebody that I care very much about, I’m gonna have a problem with it! (laughs)

Country Radio: In 2014 TIME named you one of our most influential people in the world. I’d just like to know how that feels, and how you manage the responsibility that comes with something like that.

Carrie: When they mentioned to us that I might potentially be on this list, it was just kinda like, “Wow! Just wow.” I think my immediate reaction was very much, “Well I hope I’m being a positive influence to the world.” It is a responsibility; I try not to think too much about it, I think you could drive yourself crazy, thinking “Oh my gosh, should I sing this, should I wear this, should I be this?” Hopefully I can just be myself, and if people think that’s a good thing, then they can get behind me and hopefully like me and my music and what I stand for, and if not that’s okay too! I just try to live my life like my mama would want me to, and be that person.

For The Country Record: You typically have quite a big rocking sound that’s perfect for venues like the O2. Would you ever make a record that was more acoustic and stripped back?

Carrie: I think that would be really cool. It all depends on what I’m into at the moment; I feel like I’m always just exploring different sounds and types of songs, and types of music. My last album ‘Blown Away’ was very dramatic, and there was a lot of instrumentation and stuff like that, it was all a little bit darker. This one, ‘Storyteller’, is a little more twangy and laid-back. Who knows what’s next? I’ve always said some of my favourite – I love giant venues like this, there’s nothing like the energy from the crowd. But it is nice sometimes when there’s a songwriters event or something where I get to sit there, and just kinda sing with a guitar, and enjoy other people. That’s really nice too. So maybe at some point I’ll get to do that.

RW Publicity: You had the Greatest Hits come out, the best of, but ‘Storyteller’ to me seems like a real step forward. You’ve clearly thought a lot about this ‘Storyteller’ record; can you just briefly say why it’s called ‘Storyteller’ and how you did it? Because you’re doing songs where you’re not just thinking about the radio here, are you?

Carrie: I’m into what I’m into at that moment. Whenever you start making an album it’s a blank piece of paper, it’s just completely like “What on Earth am I gonna do?” I started writing and started just waiting for that sound to hit me on the head, like “Oh my gosh, this is it, I love this! I’m into this! This is what I want the album to be.” I heard ‘Choctaw County Affair’ and I thought “Wow. This is a cool catalyst.” And started writing, spiralling out from that song. And ‘Storyteller’ [the name] was just kind of an afterthought. Trying to name it I was trying to think of songs that I loved that sounded like great titles, and then I would think, “Does that song represent the album as a whole? No.” So that was like, well, a lot of these songs are personal stories, or they’re little mini-movies in song form, so that’s where ‘Storyteller’ came from.

UKcountrymusic.net: Since you started your career you’ve been one of those artists who has brought a lot of new fans to the genre. I think it’s safe to say that you’ve become an ambassador, especially internationally, for the genre. So how does that feel?

Carrie: It feels wonderful! I think there’s a group of us that are really making an effort to meet our fans in other places, and of course if the end result is more people being interested and lovers of country music, then that’s wonderful. Like you were saying, we were here a few years ago, and look how far it’s come, and how many more people are gonna be in that audience tonight. There’s more people on the bill. It’s three days here, and that’s incredible. So hopefully we can just take that and run with it, and grow it even more.

RW Publicity: Are you conscious that there are younger people now coming to your concerts? Cause I think that first one at the Albert Hall was quite a mixed audience, but then back here there were much younger people at the O2.

Carrie: Well, I think it’s very much like my audiences back home, I mean there’s families that come to the show. It is a family-friendly show, and you can do that. There is a big mix of ages; it’s really cool to see everybody getting into it.

Meridian FM: You famously found some of your success through TV; coming up through the talent shows, American Idol, and you’re not alone here in the performers at Country to Country this year. Whether it’s coming up through talent shows or through acting, is that a route that you would suggest to up-and-coming aspirational artists?

Carrie: I mean, you gotta look for the doors that are open to you. There’s no one way to get into the entertainment world. I think you just look for opportunities and take the ones that are in front of you, look for open doors or open windows, and try to meet everybody you can, and see what happens. There are no rules anymore. I don’t know if there ever were, but there certainly aren’t any now! So I would definitely recommend anybody looking to be an actor or musician or whatever, just do the thing you love as much as you possibly can, and just look for those open doors.

Nashville Over Here: Last time you were here you performed at the Apple Music Festival at the Roundhouse. On that evening you performed a cover of Charlie Puth’s ‘See You Again’ with a rap; something that we wouldn’t expect for you to perform. What do you take into consideration when you perform covers, and how do you choose them? Can we expect anything this evening?

Carrie: Well I definitely like things that are unexpected. Things that people will know and be into, but definitely things that might make people be like “Oh, well this is different!” That’s cool to me. I by no means think I can rap! (laughs) But it was fun for me to just do something different. Trying to think if I have any covers tonight… I don’t think I do. We have a couple surprises. Oh wait I do! I do a cover tonight.

Official Charts Company: Ryan Seacrest said in a recent interview that you are the ultimate American Idol. How does that feel, and also who’s your ultimate idol?

Carrie: I mean that feels pretty cool. I feel like shows like Idol were made for people like me who love to sing but didn’t really know what to do with it. I grew up in a really small town and had sang everywhere I possibly could, bars and church and everywhere in between. That was obviously the thing that led me here and I’m so grateful for it, and I think it’s really cool that he would make a statement like that. My idol, my idols… I have really amazing parents. They sacrificed a lot for us, and really made their way in the world. Had three kids that love and respect them very much and appreciate what they do for them. I know that’s probably a cheesy answer, but they’re my life idols.

Chris Country Radio: You’ve done some duets over the years – Brad Paisley, Randy Travis, more recently Sam Hunt. But who else is on your bucket list of people you’d love to duet with?

Carrie: There’s a lot. It has to be the right moment, and the right song. You can’t force it. So you might think, “Oh I wanna do a duet with so-and-so,” but if you don’t have a song, if try to find one, pull one out of thin air then something’s gonna be off about it. The stars have to line right up for it to all make sense. In country music, I’m always looking to do more things with other women. I bet Miranda and I will end up singing again down the road at some point! I don’t know… Keith Urban… I’m up for anything. I said recently I would absolutely love to sing with Axl Rose. I think that would be like “Can’t believe that just happened. Check that off my bucket list!” But I’m up for anything. It has to be organic, just the right thing.

RW Publicity: Well thank you so much for coming back.

Carrie: Thank you. I’m really happy to be here! Everybody’s been so nice to us – not that we expected anything different! I’m excited to see how this has grown.