CMT Blog: Carrie Underwood

Bill Clinton is hardly ready to kick the bucket. But at a conference on Monday (July 19) he revealed that he has a bit of a bucket list like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson did in the movie of that name. He'd like to have grandchildren, see all children live their dreams and, on a lesser note, maybe climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. My own list is a lot less grand and has more to do with music than anything. I'd like to see the Dixie Chicks get back together for good. I'd like Garth Brooks to go on a real tour so I can see him without flying to Vegas. (In fact, as long as it's MY bucket list, I'd like Brooks to play my backyard.) I'd like to see Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift record a duet. I want to watch a songwriting session. Then a recording session. I'd like to have a tiny role in a country music video. I want to do more ride-the-bus stories. And I want to smoke weed with Willie Nelson. I know I should think bigger, like spend a week at the Louvre or go on a safari. But my list is my list. What's on yours?

You know how people sometimes ask you what you'd do differently if you got married all over again? Well, I'd pick the same man. But I think I'd want the wedding and honeymoon that Carrie Underwood's people put together for her. First of all, she had not one but two gorgeous dresses. Designer Monique Lhuillier told People that Underwood "wanted something grand and magical. She wears evening gowns all the time but this had to be really special." So the ceremony dress was a drop-waist ball gown with a Chantilly lace bodice and a pink sash. It took over 400 hours to create. Then the reception dress was a strapless, corseted, jeweled and frayed number. After all that, Underwood left for a honeymoon so extravagant it makes the wedding look like it was no big deal. The Le Taha'a Resort in Tahiti, where the newly appointed Mr. and Mrs. Mike Fisher have been reportedly staying, has Overwater Bungalows that run about $2,000 a night. I know money can't buy love, but it sure must make the honeymooning feel extra special.

I heard a Keith Whitley song on the radio the other day. One that I am crazy about. And I thought, "Well, that was nice." Nice because it was a change of pace. But would I want to hear a steady stream of old-school country? Not really. Because if there was too much old, how would you ever discover the new?

Just for the sake of argument, let's assume radio never had stopped playing Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. What if that prevented the world from hearing fresh country voices like Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert? That would be a shame, wouldn't it?

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There hasn't been a whole bunch of new news about the Carrie Underwood-Mike Fisher wedding since last Saturday (July 10). However, I did read in People that guests ate sushi and crispy risotto lollipops during the cocktail-hour part of the reception. But all I could think of when I looked at the photos taken outside, where it was at least 90 degrees, was, "Why isn't she sweating like a pig?" So I was glad to get some answers from the special issue of People StyleWatch. Underwood's make-up artist, Melissa Schleicher, says she used a neutral palette and toned down the vampy look she may use for an awards show. The flawless base was thanks to Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System. "It was so hot there that [many] foundation[s] would melt off, and airbrush is really great for heat," the stylist said. To complete the look, she also used Too Faced's Eye Kit, Pink Swoon blush, Barely Legal Glamour Gloss and soft pink Hue lipstick by M.A.C.

Photo credit: People.com

Of all the things I ever imagined might be on Ne-Yo's play list, I never in a million years would've guessed country music. But the rapper admits that is indeed what he's into. "I listen to country music -- I like country music. I feel that's one of the last genres of music where storytelling is a staple. 'She Is' definitely lives in that world," the R&B singer told Rolling Stone of the tune on his upcoming album. I hear you, Ne-Yo. No other genre can tell a story the way a country song can. If there is even the slightest nuance that makes his lyrics lean a little country, I'm buying it. Plus he wrote it with Nashville songwriter Luke Laird ("Last Name," "So Small"), so you know it's going to be powerful stuff. Laird told me he'd first hooked up with Ne-Yo when the two got together with Carrie Underwood to write. So this time he and Ne-Yo came up with the acoustic guitar melody and lyrics about trouble you never saw coming and whirlwinds and dragonflies. It doesn't sound all that country on paper, but Laird assured me that Ne-Yo's voice is just so good that it all works. "I'm a huge R&B fan, and Ne-Yo is a big country guy, and you can hear all that in the song," Laird said.

Finally. Pictures of The Blushing Bride (also known as Carrie Underwood) will be available for your viewing pleasure on Friday (July 16). She apparently gave People magazine access to her very private, very lavish wedding to hockey player Mike Fisher at the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation resort on Saturday (July 10). So what will the pictures tell us that we don't already know? The five-page spread will have snapshots from the ceremony and the reception, where she changed from her lace and silk organza wedding gown into a strapless Lhuillier cocktail dress because, as she said, "The wedding dress was huge, I wanted to get my boogie on, so I had to change."

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Some sources are saying Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are honeymooning in Tahiti. Some say Bora Bora. Some say Hawaii. But one thing we know for sure, they are somewhere gorgeous, judging by photos that have surfaced of them swimming in crystal clear blue waters. And leave it to Underwood to look all dolled up even on vacation. In the photos on E! Online and elsewhere, her jeweled bikini top looks like it was custom made for her. And the little crown of flowers she's wearing during some sightseeing is adorable. I'm sure after months of getting ready for the big Georgia wedding, and then the wedding itself packed with family and friends, it's nice to get away just the two of them. Well, the two of them plus a handful of paparazzi.

How positively common of Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher. The newly minted couple had to go through the Los Angeles airport yesterday (July 11) to get to their honeymoon destination after the bride and groom closed off an entire luxury resort in Georgia to get married in total privacy. That had to be a drag. But they sure look all in love as they head through the security check point dressed in very casual travel threads (cut-offs and a tank for her, jeans and a deep-V T-shirt and a wedding band for Fisher). If they traveled all the way from Georgia to L.A., they must be headed somewhere even farther west. Hawaii? Tahiti? Bora Bora? Wherever they go, I hope they soak up the sun, some fruity cocktails and each other for the next two weeks, when Underwood will have to head back home for a Today Show Summer Concert Series performance on July 30.

Classical music? I guess that's OK. You can't really walk down the aisle to the cry of a steel guitar. So Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher chose classical music and Bible readings to make their wedding day (July 10) a spiritual one. And according to People magazine, the bride wore a Chantilly lace Monique Lhuillier dress, which I'm sure was gorgeous even though I've seen no pictures to corroborate that. (Underwood's publicist says there are no plans to release wedding photos to the media.) "We could not feel more blessed to have found each other and to have shared this day with our friends and family that mean so much to us!" the newly-married couple told the magazine. Best of all, they signed the statement "Mike & Carrie Fisher." I'm sure it's the first of many times they'll write their names together like that. But still, that first time is just so romantic.

Carrie Underwood and hockey player Mike Fisher are now married, if you believe the tweet of an agent from Uptown Sports Management, the Canadian company that represents Fisher. So congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Mike Fisher. They are probably in their love bubble now in Greensboro, Ga., giggling over guests forcing them to kiss with the ol' tap of their fork on their champagne flutes. And you know who's probably enjoying the reception? Family and friends and, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, an odd assortment of celebs like Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and former American Idol pals David Cook and Lindsey Cardinale. And I think I speak for all the friends and fans who aren't there when I say we all wish the happy couple a lifetime of happiness. Let the honeymoon begin.