CMT Blog: Carrie Underwood

Oh great. Just what you want to see after you've stuffed yourself with turkey, gravy, cranberries, pumpkin pie and every kind of carbohydrate casserole known to man: the slim, trim and gorgeous Carrie Underwood doing what she does best. She'll be on CNN on Thanksgiving night performing for CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. With Anderson Cooper as host, the event will honor those selected by CNN's Blue Ribbon Panel and each hero will go home with $25,000 in recognition of their work. The big $100,000 prize will go to the hero of the year, who will be announced that night. There's no word on what Underwood will sing. Probably more patriotic upbeat stuff like "All-American Girl" versus the no-good man tunes like "Cowboy Casanova." Either way, watching Underwood on TV over the holidays is something we can all be thankful for.

Remember how on the CMA Awards red carpet, all the country stars were autographing a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS? Well that car can be yours for the low, low price of $30,500 -- or more, assuming the bidding stays active until it closes tomorrow evening. But it's for a good cause. Whatever you pay for the car (100 percent of it) will go to the USO. The USO serves the religious, spiritual, social, welfare, educational and entertainment needs of service members and their families around the world. And you don't have to worry about driving in inclement weather in a car covered with autographs. You actually get the car AND the hood full of about 100 signatures from celebs and artists like Jake Owen, Brad Paisley, Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Faith Hill, Billy Currington, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum. It may be a little hard to showcase such a large piece of country music memorabilia but I'm guessing anyone who can afford the car can afford a proper display.

Photo credit: Theresa Montgomery/CMA

If you can only read, afford or rationalize one magazine this month and you love reading about lifestyles of the rich and down-to-earth country stars, you will have to make a very tough choice. On newsstands right now are two tempting reads. There's the People Country "I Count My Blessings" issue with Alan Jackson and his wife, Denise, on the cover, as well as the December InStyle with Taylor Swift.

People is typically a lifestyle read and not so much about the music, so I was pleased to see sections on the 10 songs that changed Keith Urban's life, the music teacher who gave Carrie Underwood the courage to sing, the song that makes Martina McBride happy (Bach's "Air on a G String") and the story behind Dierks Bentley's "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes."

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The CMT New Music Video Evaluation Team met to screen one new video. It's Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home," shot live and in HD during her concert before an audience for the CMT show Invitation Only. The show will be telecast on Dec. 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Artist: Carrie Underwood
Video: "Temporary Home" Invitation Only Excerpt
Director: Ivan Dudynsky

The song, which Underwood co-wrote, builds around the words "I'm not afraid because I know/This is our temporary home" and traces their impact in the situations of a young boy, a young mother and an old man who is dying.

Panelists' comments: "That's a powerful performance." "She is really good live." "What can I say -- a great voice."

Consensus: "Temporary Home" debuted on CMT in heavy rotation on Nov. 17.

When you watch an awards show on television, there's only so much emotion you feel. But when you see it unfolding before your eyes live, like I did at last night's CMA Awards, everything's a bit more raw. The highs are higher, and unfortunately, the lows are lower. What might have just felt like a heartfelt acceptance speech from Darius Rucker when he won new artist of the year had I been watching at home, last night moved me to tears -- especially when he got the first standing ovation of the night. Or when it started snowing on Lady Antebellum during "Need You Now." I realize it wasn't real snow but it sure made the yearning in their vocals feel real. Or when Brad Paisley accompanied Carrie Underwood on a few parodies of older country tunes. Simply lovely.

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Even being nominated, they say, is an honor. But after years of watching country awards shows, I have to say it that it felt so strange to NOT have Kenny Chesney accepting anything at last night's CMA Awards with a heartfelt speech about being from East Tennessee. Or Rascal Flatts NOT joking around on stage, awards in hand, while they thanked God and their wives. And there was a big fat void without Keith Urban doing some charming Australian-accented thing (although he did win musical event of the year prior to the telecast) or Carrie Underwood trying to stop the tears welling up in her eyes while she thanked fans, country radio and her mom. I'm not saying I disagree with the decisions of the voters this year. I love that country seems to be ushering in a new era of artists. But it feels like that journey from yesterday's winners to today's went by way too fast.

The CMA Awards are always entertaining, and this year's event was no different. I do want to say that Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood infusing their hosting duties Wednesday night (Nov. 11) with some music was a welcome addition. Taylor Swift's opening performance was rockin' -- even for Taylor. I admit I'm a little speechless. Congrats to Lady Antebellum for their wins for single and vocal group of the year and to Jamey Johnson for his song of the year win ("In Color"). The Zac Brown Band's performance of Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" was probably the most fun to watch  -- especially since he did the version with the "old lyrics" -- and how about that fiddle solo?

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First George Jones. Now Rosanne Cash. Why are country's traditionalists ganging up on the progress country music has made? In an interview with the Wall Street Journal about her new album of essential country tunes, The List, Cash talked a bit about the state of country music today. When the interviewer asked, "How is the singer-songwriter tradition working today? You see Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood at the top of the charts. Is it flourishing?" And Cash says, "You mentioned two songwriters that I don't know any of their songs, I'm sorry to say. I saw (Taylor) on a TV show and thought she was adorable. But I don't listen to country radio. And I'm not an authority on what's going on in country music." I guess for some artists, looking back is a better way to make music than looking ahead.

That's all the time she had, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from asking Kellie Pickler every single question I had about her appearance this Sunday (Nov. 8) on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And then some. Luckily, I talk fast and she talks even faster. She called me from Nashville, and we jammed as many Qs and as we could into our allotted time.

CMT.com: What was it like telling the Terpenning family they were getting a new house?
Pickler: It was one of the most beautiful things. That family is so deserving, so it was such a blessing. The whole show is about embracing one another and coming together. One of the most emotional parts was seeing 200 people marching down the street to come and help.

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I have a girlfriend who refers to her midsection as "the situation." Another one who calls it her "pouch." And another who calls it her "second trimester." Like we all have a little more junk around our bellies than we'd like. But I have a really, really hard time believing Carrie Underwood has the situation. Yet she told Parade magazine, "My abs are my trouble area. If I gain weight, it's around my hips and my belly. And if you have on a great dress and it fits everywhere but your belly, that's not good. It may take me the rest of my life, but if I'm 80 and I have abs, I'll be happy!" God love her for admitting that and working hard to achieve her goals, as opposed to simply relying on the lazy-man's liposuction (Spanx) like the rest of the world. The rest of the story hits on things like how happy she'll be to be cooking and eating with family over the holidays, and hopefully, taking in a football game.