Carrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama on her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
“Fourteen years ago I was on American Idol. My career is like a seventh grader,” Carrie Underwood quipped with her signature easygoing, dry humor as she spoke to the Birmingham, Alabama, crowd on Friday evening (May 3), during the second night of her recently launched Cry Pretty Tour 360. “Every day there is some moment that happens that I have to pinch myself and say, ‘How do I get to do this?’ The thing I wanted to do when I was like three years old, I’m doing right now.”
Indeed, over the past 14 years, Underwood has steadily built a career as a multi-talented entertainer, songwriter, singer, awards show host, clothing designer, fitness enthusiast and a role model for a generation of fans. Along the way, Underwood has also crafted a song catalog that relies as much on substance of lyric as it does awe-inspiring vocal runs.
Similar to her 2016 Storyteller Tour outing, Underwood opted for an in-the-round stage for her Cry Pretty Tour 360, this time with the stage arranged in a sleek eye shape, paying homage to the tour’s namesake album, Underwood’s sixth studio project (and first for new label home UMG Nashville), Cry Pretty.
Carrie launched the evening with the sunny, summery “Southbound,” which she recently debuted at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Underwood’s unmistakable voice brought everyone to attention, as she held court from a riser in the middle of the stage. Each corner of the riser was accented with pops of light, before Underwood descended to the main stage, and worked her way around the arena, shimmying to the song’s party-ready grooves, waving and greeting fans.
She continued with “Cowboy Casanova” and “Last Name,” before offering a new track from the Cry Pretty album, “Blacksliding.”
Carrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama as part of her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
After descending beneath the stage momentarily, Underwood reappeared in a sparkly pantsuit, welding a guitar for rendition of “Church Bells.” She was then flanked by eight band members, each on a separate riser that ascended to varying heights, each accented with sparks of fire, as they offered “Two Black Cadillacs.”
Throughout the show, she highlighted other instruments—bongos during “End Up With You” from the new album, and later played an upright piano for “See You Again,” as members of the audience held up cell phones throughout the arena.
While still clad in the sparkling pantsuit, Underwood donned a black hat as she slunk across a center stage catwalk and seated herself on a red velvet couch. Holding a classy microphone fit for Sinatra, she crooned a version of the sultry “Drinking Alone,” accented by jazzy saxophone and piano accompaniments.
The concert was marked by those subtle twists and turns on Underwood’s hits. She melded the military ballad “Just A Dream” with Aerosmith’s “Dream On”—made complete when Underwood stunned as she tilted her head back and let loose with a piercing, nearly feral-sounding falsetto note rarely heard from the country singer.
Underwood offered several songs that had been absent from her Storyteller tour, along with some fan-favorite deep album cuts.
Calling the medley a “walk down memory lane,” she performed “Temporary Home,” followed by the aforementioned “See You Again,” before letting loose with one of her strongest vocals of the evening, dipping into her Carnival Ride album for “I Know You Won’t.” Given the way the audience roared, the song might as well have been a chart-topping hit.
She followed with her debut hit “Jesus Take The Wheel.” As she walked across the stage, each riser acted as a stair step, lifting Underwood ever higher as song reached its inspiring crescendo.
“I’m proud to be part of a genre of music where I can sing songs like that, songs that are important to me. This next one is very important,” she said, introducing one of the most gut-wrenching songs from her Cry Pretty album, “The Bullet.” As Underwood stood on a riser over the audience, smoke billowed over the edges like a cloudy waterfall as she followed with “Something In the Water,” melding it with a segment from the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Runaway June, Carrie Underwood, and Maddie & Tae. Photo: Ralph Larmann
Not only is she singing important songs, she’s offering herself to important causes.
Underwood is one of three female country artists—alongside Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris—spearheading all-female tours this year, one of three female artists using their headlining platforms to lift up other newcomer female artists, in light of the stark void of female voices on today’s country radio.
In addition to welcoming the all-female acts Maddie & Tae and Runaway June to open her concerts, Underwood and company paid tribute to the female artists who have paved the way by performing bits of their most iconic radio hits.
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if there had not been so many incredible country women,” Underwood said, before singing Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” a cappella. She was soon joined by Runaway June and Maddie & Tae for Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5,” The Judds’ “Rhythm of the Rain,” Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With The Boy,” Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” Faith Hill’s “Wild One,” Reba’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”
Throughout the evening, multiple thin screens projected images—plumes of smoke and a swirling tornado on “Blown Away,” jewels and photos of Underwood with husband Mike Fisher and their two sons, Isaiah and Jacob, as “Kingdom” played.
The vibrant and captivating stage production was matched only by the intensity of Underwood’s hallmark voice.
As the concert began to draw to a close, a live shot of Underwood putting on the purple and pink glitter tears (as featured on her Cry Pretty album cover) played on the screens, just before she again took center stage, belting out the vulnerable and fearless titular track as strands of glitter hung above the stage. She ended the evening with another hit from Cry Pretty, flanked again by her band as she ended with a message of hope and acceptance on “Love Wins.”
It was hard to miss that the show was a celebration of women, along with their triumphs and struggles, whether they are fighting to be heard on country radio, or whether they are facing battles of a more personal nature.
Carrie Underwood and guest Jessika belt out “The Champion.” Photo: Ralph Larmann
Prior to the launch of the tour, Underwood invited fans on social media to submit video of themselves performing Ludacris’ rap portion of “The Champion,” for the chance to perform the track with Underwood during the tour. For the Birmingham show, Underwood welcomed local resident Jessika to the stage, revealing to the crowd that Jessika’s daughter Olivia was fighting cerebral palsy.
Jessika offered a fearless delivery of the rap portion of the song, while waving and pointing to her daughter in the crowd. In one of the highlights of the evening, she surprised even Underwood when she belted the song’s final piercing melody in a moment that had fans and Underwood alike clapping, pumping fists and stomping in support.
While Underwood’s previous tour proved she is indeed an award-worthy, headlining superstar, with the Cry Pretty Tour 360, she’s building on that superstar status, using her own platform to encourage other women to fearlessly pursue their dreams, and to fight for the things and people that matter to them.
Judging by the smile that rarely left her face throughout the performance, she’s clearly having fun while she’s at it, a living embodiment of her own lyric from “The Champion”: Don’t think I did it for the fame/ I did it for the love of the game.
The Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
Cumulus Names Brian Philips Executive VP, Mike McVay Exits
/by Jessica NicholsonBrian Philips
Cumulus Media Inc. has appointed Brian Philips as Executive Vice President, Content and Audience, effective May 6, 2019. Philips will report to Mary G. Berner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cumulus Media. He succeeds Michael McVay, who is returning to full-time consulting, with Cumulus as his first client.
Philips brings to Cumulus Media more than 30 years of leadership and programming experience across a range of media. Philips previously served as President of Viacom/MTV Network’s CMT channel, where he led the music network’s successful forays into long-form script series, tentpole awards shows, concert specials, and feature films. He also developed CMT’s successful national radio network. Under his stewardship, the channel grew from 36 million to a peak of 90 million homes, and set the record for the longest documented ratings growth streak among ad-supported cable networks.
Before his work in television and film production, Philips enjoyed an award-winning radio career, with more than 15 years leading radio programming at a number of major market stations, including Cumulus stations WNNX-FM and WWWQ-FM (Atlanta), and KPLX-FM (Dallas-Ft. Worth).
Old Dominion Bring The Good Vibes To Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater
/by LB CantrellOld Dominion. Photo: Mason Allen
Old Dominion brought nothing but good vibes and great music to a gloomy, overcast evening at Ascend Amphitheater on Friday (May 3). The ACM Group of the Year had the sold-out hometown crowd in the palm of their hand at the Nashville stop of their Make It Sweet Tour, and brought along Jordan Davis and Sony Music Nashville label-mate Mitchell Tenpenny.
The band cracked the night open with “Be With Me,” a track from their 2017 effort Happy Endings, and then followed it with one of their breakout hits, “Snapback.” Old Dominion had set the tone for the night by the third song into the setlist, the sexy “Said Nobody” from their debut album Meat and Candy. Fans were swaying with their eyes closed, smiling ear to ear, and slow dancing in the lawn of the outdoor venue.
“No rain in sight!” lead singer Matthew Ramsey finally said. “This is a big deal. You’re going to hear a lot about songwriting tonight because this is the town for it.”
He wasn’t kidding. Not long into the set, Ramsey, guitarist and keyboardist Trevor Rosen, and guitarist Brad Tursi put the Nashville treatment on the night, stripping the production down to three bar stools, acoustic guitars and a warm spotlight, evoking Bluebird Cafe vibes at Ascend Amphitheater.
“I moved to Nashville 16 or 17 years ago with the idea of learning how to write great country songs that maybe some other artist would record,” Ramsey said. “We really had no plan to be in a band like this. We just thought we could make a living as songwriters.”
Ramsey and Rosen played the first hit they wrote together, “Wake Up Lovin’ You” recorded by Craig Morgan.
“I told Matthew that I had had a song that was recorded by a band called The Band Perry,” Rosen said of a phone call to Ramsey early in their careers. “Somehow, miraculously, this song went all the way to No. 1. It was the first No. 1 I had as a songwriter, and that’s very hard to do.” He went on to play “Better Dig Two.”
Tursi saw Rosen’s No. 1 and matched it with Tyler Farr’s “A Guy Walks Into A Bar.”
“Trevor got his first No. 1, Brad got his first No. 1, it was my turn. Thanks to a guy named Dierks Bentley,” Ramsey quipped as he went into “Say You Do.”
With tunes like Blake Shelton’s “Sangria,” Sam Hunt’s “Make You Miss Me,” Luke Bryan’s “Light It Up” and Michael Ray’s recent “One That Got Away,” the Old Dominion bandmates reminded everyone that they are songwriters, first and foremost, and that they probably wrote one of your favorite songs.
“That story is really just a fraction of what actually happened,” Ramsey said. “But really, it’s an excuse for us to be able to say thank you. Before you guys ever really realized it, you listening to our music. And before country radio ever realized it, they were playing our music.”
They transitioned the makeshift songwriter round into their hit about great songs, “Song For Another Time,” as drummer Whit Sellers and bassist Geoff Sprung re-joined their bandmates onstage.
Old Dominion made sure to play their hit singles, like “Hotel Key,” “Make It Sweet” and “Break Up With Him,” as well as fan-favorites like “Wrong Turns” and “Nowhere Fast” to make for a truly special night. The Friday was also special as the band released a new song, a reflective piano ballad called “Some People Do.”
MCA Nashville’s Jordan Davis got the crowd warmed up for OD, getting everyone dancing with his recent No. 1 “Take It From Me.”
“I’m from Shreveport [Louisiana] but Nashville is home now,” Davis said. “I love the place in this next song but it’s good to be home. I put out an album called Home State, and one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written is the last song on the album.” He then played “Leaving New Orleans.”
Davis closed his set up with the whole Amphitheater first pumping and singing along to his breakout hit, “Singles You Up.”
Mitchell Tenpenny got the whole thing started with his fan-favorites “Drunk Me” and “Alcohol You Later” from his project Telling All My Secrets.
The Friday night in Nashville was slam-packed with hits, and plenty of good vibes. Old Dominion’s Make It Sweet Tour runs through October with support from Jordan Davis, Mitchell Tenpenny, Brandon Lay, Carlton Anderson, the Washboard Union and Jason Benoit on select dates.
Pictured (L-R): Jim Catino, EVP A&R Sony Music Nashville; Ken Robold, EVP/COO SMN; Dennis Reese, SVP Promotion RCA Records Nashville; Old Dominion’s Whit Sellers, Geoff Sprung, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, and Brad Tursi; Randy Goodman, Chairman/CEO SMN; Steve Hodges, EVP Promotion & Artist Development SMN; Paige Altone, Marketing Director SMN; Clint Higham of Morris Higham Management, Nate Ritches of Paradigm, and Will Hitchcock, of Morris Higham Management. Photo: Mason Allen
Old Dominion Bring The Good Vibes To Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater
/by LB CantrellOld Dominion. Photo: Mason Allen
Old Dominion brought nothing but good vibes and great music to a gloomy, overcast evening at Ascend Amphitheater on Friday (May 3). The ACM Group of the Year had the sold-out hometown crowd in the palm of their hand at the Nashville stop of their Make It Sweet Tour, and brought along Jordan Davis and Sony Music Nashville label-mate Mitchell Tenpenny.
The band cracked the night open with “Be With Me,” a track from their 2017 effort Happy Endings, and then followed it with one of their breakout hits, “Snapback.” Old Dominion had set the tone for the night by the third song into the setlist, the sexy “Said Nobody” from their debut album Meat and Candy. Fans were swaying with their eyes closed, smiling ear to ear, and slow dancing in the lawn of the outdoor venue.
“No rain in sight!” lead singer Matthew Ramsey finally said. “This is a big deal. You’re going to hear a lot about songwriting tonight because this is the town for it.”
He wasn’t kidding. Not long into the set, Ramsey, guitarist and keyboardist Trevor Rosen, and guitarist Brad Tursi put the Nashville treatment on the night, stripping the production down to three bar stools, acoustic guitars and a warm spotlight, evoking Bluebird Cafe vibes at Ascend Amphitheater.
“I moved to Nashville 16 or 17 years ago with the idea of learning how to write great country songs that maybe some other artist would record,” Ramsey said. “We really had no plan to be in a band like this. We just thought we could make a living as songwriters.”
Ramsey and Rosen played the first hit they wrote together, “Wake Up Lovin’ You” recorded by Craig Morgan.
“I told Matthew that I had had a song that was recorded by a band called The Band Perry,” Rosen said of a phone call to Ramsey early in their careers. “Somehow, miraculously, this song went all the way to No. 1. It was the first No. 1 I had as a songwriter, and that’s very hard to do.” He went on to play “Better Dig Two.”
Tursi saw Rosen’s No. 1 and matched it with Tyler Farr’s “A Guy Walks Into A Bar.”
“Trevor got his first No. 1, Brad got his first No. 1, it was my turn. Thanks to a guy named Dierks Bentley,” Ramsey quipped as he went into “Say You Do.”
With tunes like Blake Shelton’s “Sangria,” Sam Hunt’s “Make You Miss Me,” Luke Bryan’s “Light It Up” and Michael Ray’s recent “One That Got Away,” the Old Dominion bandmates reminded everyone that they are songwriters, first and foremost, and that they probably wrote one of your favorite songs.
“That story is really just a fraction of what actually happened,” Ramsey said. “But really, it’s an excuse for us to be able to say thank you. Before you guys ever really realized it, you listening to our music. And before country radio ever realized it, they were playing our music.”
They transitioned the makeshift songwriter round into their hit about great songs, “Song For Another Time,” as drummer Whit Sellers and bassist Geoff Sprung re-joined their bandmates onstage.
Old Dominion made sure to play their hit singles, like “Hotel Key,” “Make It Sweet” and “Break Up With Him,” as well as fan-favorites like “Wrong Turns” and “Nowhere Fast” to make for a truly special night. The Friday was also special as the band released a new song, a reflective piano ballad called “Some People Do.”
MCA Nashville’s Jordan Davis got the crowd warmed up for OD, getting everyone dancing with his recent No. 1 “Take It From Me.”
“I’m from Shreveport [Louisiana] but Nashville is home now,” Davis said. “I love the place in this next song but it’s good to be home. I put out an album called Home State, and one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written is the last song on the album.” He then played “Leaving New Orleans.”
Davis closed his set up with the whole Amphitheater first pumping and singing along to his breakout hit, “Singles You Up.”
Mitchell Tenpenny got the whole thing started with his fan-favorites “Drunk Me” and “Alcohol You Later” from his project Telling All My Secrets.
The Friday night in Nashville was slam-packed with hits, and plenty of good vibes. Old Dominion’s Make It Sweet Tour runs through October with support from Jordan Davis, Mitchell Tenpenny, Brandon Lay, Carlton Anderson, the Washboard Union and Jason Benoit on select dates.
Pictured (L-R): Jim Catino, EVP A&R Sony Music Nashville; Ken Robold, EVP/COO SMN; Dennis Reese, SVP Promotion RCA Records Nashville; Old Dominion’s Whit Sellers, Geoff Sprung, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, and Brad Tursi; Randy Goodman, Chairman/CEO SMN; Steve Hodges, EVP Promotion & Artist Development SMN; Paige Altone, Marketing Director SMN; Clint Higham of Morris Higham Management, Nate Ritches of Paradigm, and Will Hitchcock, of Morris Higham Management. Photo: Mason Allen
Carrie Underwood Digs Deep With Superstar Spectacle, Empowering Moments On Cry Pretty Tour 360
/by Jessica NicholsonCarrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama on her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
“Fourteen years ago I was on American Idol. My career is like a seventh grader,” Carrie Underwood quipped with her signature easygoing, dry humor as she spoke to the Birmingham, Alabama, crowd on Friday evening (May 3), during the second night of her recently launched Cry Pretty Tour 360. “Every day there is some moment that happens that I have to pinch myself and say, ‘How do I get to do this?’ The thing I wanted to do when I was like three years old, I’m doing right now.”
Indeed, over the past 14 years, Underwood has steadily built a career as a multi-talented entertainer, songwriter, singer, awards show host, clothing designer, fitness enthusiast and a role model for a generation of fans. Along the way, Underwood has also crafted a song catalog that relies as much on substance of lyric as it does awe-inspiring vocal runs.
Similar to her 2016 Storyteller Tour outing, Underwood opted for an in-the-round stage for her Cry Pretty Tour 360, this time with the stage arranged in a sleek eye shape, paying homage to the tour’s namesake album, Underwood’s sixth studio project (and first for new label home UMG Nashville), Cry Pretty.
Carrie launched the evening with the sunny, summery “Southbound,” which she recently debuted at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Underwood’s unmistakable voice brought everyone to attention, as she held court from a riser in the middle of the stage. Each corner of the riser was accented with pops of light, before Underwood descended to the main stage, and worked her way around the arena, shimmying to the song’s party-ready grooves, waving and greeting fans.
She continued with “Cowboy Casanova” and “Last Name,” before offering a new track from the Cry Pretty album, “Blacksliding.”
Carrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama as part of her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
After descending beneath the stage momentarily, Underwood reappeared in a sparkly pantsuit, welding a guitar for rendition of “Church Bells.” She was then flanked by eight band members, each on a separate riser that ascended to varying heights, each accented with sparks of fire, as they offered “Two Black Cadillacs.”
Throughout the show, she highlighted other instruments—bongos during “End Up With You” from the new album, and later played an upright piano for “See You Again,” as members of the audience held up cell phones throughout the arena.
While still clad in the sparkling pantsuit, Underwood donned a black hat as she slunk across a center stage catwalk and seated herself on a red velvet couch. Holding a classy microphone fit for Sinatra, she crooned a version of the sultry “Drinking Alone,” accented by jazzy saxophone and piano accompaniments.
The concert was marked by those subtle twists and turns on Underwood’s hits. She melded the military ballad “Just A Dream” with Aerosmith’s “Dream On”—made complete when Underwood stunned as she tilted her head back and let loose with a piercing, nearly feral-sounding falsetto note rarely heard from the country singer.
Underwood offered several songs that had been absent from her Storyteller tour, along with some fan-favorite deep album cuts.
Calling the medley a “walk down memory lane,” she performed “Temporary Home,” followed by the aforementioned “See You Again,” before letting loose with one of her strongest vocals of the evening, dipping into her Carnival Ride album for “I Know You Won’t.” Given the way the audience roared, the song might as well have been a chart-topping hit.
She followed with her debut hit “Jesus Take The Wheel.” As she walked across the stage, each riser acted as a stair step, lifting Underwood ever higher as song reached its inspiring crescendo.
“I’m proud to be part of a genre of music where I can sing songs like that, songs that are important to me. This next one is very important,” she said, introducing one of the most gut-wrenching songs from her Cry Pretty album, “The Bullet.” As Underwood stood on a riser over the audience, smoke billowed over the edges like a cloudy waterfall as she followed with “Something In the Water,” melding it with a segment from the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Runaway June, Carrie Underwood, and Maddie & Tae. Photo: Ralph Larmann
Not only is she singing important songs, she’s offering herself to important causes.
Underwood is one of three female country artists—alongside Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris—spearheading all-female tours this year, one of three female artists using their headlining platforms to lift up other newcomer female artists, in light of the stark void of female voices on today’s country radio.
In addition to welcoming the all-female acts Maddie & Tae and Runaway June to open her concerts, Underwood and company paid tribute to the female artists who have paved the way by performing bits of their most iconic radio hits.
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if there had not been so many incredible country women,” Underwood said, before singing Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” a cappella. She was soon joined by Runaway June and Maddie & Tae for Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5,” The Judds’ “Rhythm of the Rain,” Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With The Boy,” Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” Faith Hill’s “Wild One,” Reba’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”
Throughout the evening, multiple thin screens projected images—plumes of smoke and a swirling tornado on “Blown Away,” jewels and photos of Underwood with husband Mike Fisher and their two sons, Isaiah and Jacob, as “Kingdom” played.
The vibrant and captivating stage production was matched only by the intensity of Underwood’s hallmark voice.
As the concert began to draw to a close, a live shot of Underwood putting on the purple and pink glitter tears (as featured on her Cry Pretty album cover) played on the screens, just before she again took center stage, belting out the vulnerable and fearless titular track as strands of glitter hung above the stage. She ended the evening with another hit from Cry Pretty, flanked again by her band as she ended with a message of hope and acceptance on “Love Wins.”
It was hard to miss that the show was a celebration of women, along with their triumphs and struggles, whether they are fighting to be heard on country radio, or whether they are facing battles of a more personal nature.
Carrie Underwood and guest Jessika belt out “The Champion.” Photo: Ralph Larmann
Prior to the launch of the tour, Underwood invited fans on social media to submit video of themselves performing Ludacris’ rap portion of “The Champion,” for the chance to perform the track with Underwood during the tour. For the Birmingham show, Underwood welcomed local resident Jessika to the stage, revealing to the crowd that Jessika’s daughter Olivia was fighting cerebral palsy.
Jessika offered a fearless delivery of the rap portion of the song, while waving and pointing to her daughter in the crowd. In one of the highlights of the evening, she surprised even Underwood when she belted the song’s final piercing melody in a moment that had fans and Underwood alike clapping, pumping fists and stomping in support.
While Underwood’s previous tour proved she is indeed an award-worthy, headlining superstar, with the Cry Pretty Tour 360, she’s building on that superstar status, using her own platform to encourage other women to fearlessly pursue their dreams, and to fight for the things and people that matter to them.
Judging by the smile that rarely left her face throughout the performance, she’s clearly having fun while she’s at it, a living embodiment of her own lyric from “The Champion”: Don’t think I did it for the fame/ I did it for the love of the game.
The Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
Carrie Underwood Digs Deep With Superstar Spectacle, Empowering Moments On Cry Pretty Tour 360
/by Jessica NicholsonCarrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama on her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
“Fourteen years ago I was on American Idol. My career is like a seventh grader,” Carrie Underwood quipped with her signature easygoing, dry humor as she spoke to the Birmingham, Alabama, crowd on Friday evening (May 3), during the second night of her recently launched Cry Pretty Tour 360. “Every day there is some moment that happens that I have to pinch myself and say, ‘How do I get to do this?’ The thing I wanted to do when I was like three years old, I’m doing right now.”
Indeed, over the past 14 years, Underwood has steadily built a career as a multi-talented entertainer, songwriter, singer, awards show host, clothing designer, fitness enthusiast and a role model for a generation of fans. Along the way, Underwood has also crafted a song catalog that relies as much on substance of lyric as it does awe-inspiring vocal runs.
Similar to her 2016 Storyteller Tour outing, Underwood opted for an in-the-round stage for her Cry Pretty Tour 360, this time with the stage arranged in a sleek eye shape, paying homage to the tour’s namesake album, Underwood’s sixth studio project (and first for new label home UMG Nashville), Cry Pretty.
Carrie launched the evening with the sunny, summery “Southbound,” which she recently debuted at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Underwood’s unmistakable voice brought everyone to attention, as she held court from a riser in the middle of the stage. Each corner of the riser was accented with pops of light, before Underwood descended to the main stage, and worked her way around the arena, shimmying to the song’s party-ready grooves, waving and greeting fans.
She continued with “Cowboy Casanova” and “Last Name,” before offering a new track from the Cry Pretty album, “Blacksliding.”
Carrie Underwood performs in Birmingham, Alabama as part of her Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
After descending beneath the stage momentarily, Underwood reappeared in a sparkly pantsuit, welding a guitar for rendition of “Church Bells.” She was then flanked by eight band members, each on a separate riser that ascended to varying heights, each accented with sparks of fire, as they offered “Two Black Cadillacs.”
Throughout the show, she highlighted other instruments—bongos during “End Up With You” from the new album, and later played an upright piano for “See You Again,” as members of the audience held up cell phones throughout the arena.
While still clad in the sparkling pantsuit, Underwood donned a black hat as she slunk across a center stage catwalk and seated herself on a red velvet couch. Holding a classy microphone fit for Sinatra, she crooned a version of the sultry “Drinking Alone,” accented by jazzy saxophone and piano accompaniments.
The concert was marked by those subtle twists and turns on Underwood’s hits. She melded the military ballad “Just A Dream” with Aerosmith’s “Dream On”—made complete when Underwood stunned as she tilted her head back and let loose with a piercing, nearly feral-sounding falsetto note rarely heard from the country singer.
Underwood offered several songs that had been absent from her Storyteller tour, along with some fan-favorite deep album cuts.
Calling the medley a “walk down memory lane,” she performed “Temporary Home,” followed by the aforementioned “See You Again,” before letting loose with one of her strongest vocals of the evening, dipping into her Carnival Ride album for “I Know You Won’t.” Given the way the audience roared, the song might as well have been a chart-topping hit.
She followed with her debut hit “Jesus Take The Wheel.” As she walked across the stage, each riser acted as a stair step, lifting Underwood ever higher as song reached its inspiring crescendo.
“I’m proud to be part of a genre of music where I can sing songs like that, songs that are important to me. This next one is very important,” she said, introducing one of the most gut-wrenching songs from her Cry Pretty album, “The Bullet.” As Underwood stood on a riser over the audience, smoke billowed over the edges like a cloudy waterfall as she followed with “Something In the Water,” melding it with a segment from the hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Runaway June, Carrie Underwood, and Maddie & Tae. Photo: Ralph Larmann
Not only is she singing important songs, she’s offering herself to important causes.
Underwood is one of three female country artists—alongside Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris—spearheading all-female tours this year, one of three female artists using their headlining platforms to lift up other newcomer female artists, in light of the stark void of female voices on today’s country radio.
In addition to welcoming the all-female acts Maddie & Tae and Runaway June to open her concerts, Underwood and company paid tribute to the female artists who have paved the way by performing bits of their most iconic radio hits.
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do if there had not been so many incredible country women,” Underwood said, before singing Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” a cappella. She was soon joined by Runaway June and Maddie & Tae for Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5,” The Judds’ “Rhythm of the Rain,” Trisha Yearwood’s “She’s In Love With The Boy,” Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” Faith Hill’s “Wild One,” Reba’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”
Throughout the evening, multiple thin screens projected images—plumes of smoke and a swirling tornado on “Blown Away,” jewels and photos of Underwood with husband Mike Fisher and their two sons, Isaiah and Jacob, as “Kingdom” played.
The vibrant and captivating stage production was matched only by the intensity of Underwood’s hallmark voice.
As the concert began to draw to a close, a live shot of Underwood putting on the purple and pink glitter tears (as featured on her Cry Pretty album cover) played on the screens, just before she again took center stage, belting out the vulnerable and fearless titular track as strands of glitter hung above the stage. She ended the evening with another hit from Cry Pretty, flanked again by her band as she ended with a message of hope and acceptance on “Love Wins.”
It was hard to miss that the show was a celebration of women, along with their triumphs and struggles, whether they are fighting to be heard on country radio, or whether they are facing battles of a more personal nature.
Carrie Underwood and guest Jessika belt out “The Champion.” Photo: Ralph Larmann
Prior to the launch of the tour, Underwood invited fans on social media to submit video of themselves performing Ludacris’ rap portion of “The Champion,” for the chance to perform the track with Underwood during the tour. For the Birmingham show, Underwood welcomed local resident Jessika to the stage, revealing to the crowd that Jessika’s daughter Olivia was fighting cerebral palsy.
Jessika offered a fearless delivery of the rap portion of the song, while waving and pointing to her daughter in the crowd. In one of the highlights of the evening, she surprised even Underwood when she belted the song’s final piercing melody in a moment that had fans and Underwood alike clapping, pumping fists and stomping in support.
While Underwood’s previous tour proved she is indeed an award-worthy, headlining superstar, with the Cry Pretty Tour 360, she’s building on that superstar status, using her own platform to encourage other women to fearlessly pursue their dreams, and to fight for the things and people that matter to them.
Judging by the smile that rarely left her face throughout the performance, she’s clearly having fun while she’s at it, a living embodiment of her own lyric from “The Champion”: Don’t think I did it for the fame/ I did it for the love of the game.
The Cry Pretty Tour 360. Photo: Ralph Larmann
FlyteVu To Launch Showcase Series Highlighting Clients And Local Brands
/by LB CantrellFlyteVu is launching a new showcase series, called ‘Escape the Ordinary.’ The entertainment marketing agency will partner with different organizations each month to host artists and songwriters at FlyteVu’s office for Nashville-based brands and FlyteVu’s existing clients. Music and entertainment is at the heart of FlyteVu’s work, and in the last year the agency has grown its roster by continuing to integrate brands authentically into the pop culture conversation by creating experiences for their clients.
The ‘Escape the Ordinary’ series will feature partnerships with Creative Nation, Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville, United Talent Agency, BMG, and BBR Music Group.
Monday, May 6 at 6 p.m.
Creative Nation: 3 Writers & The Truth
Talent: Luke Laird, Kassi Ashton, Barry Dean
May Date to be Announced
BMG: Beyond Music Genres
Talent: Clare Dunn, Lucie Silvas, Ryan Kinder
Tuesday, June 25 at 5 p.m.
Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville: Music is Universal
Talent: Hunter Hayes, Caylee Hammack, Striking Matches
Thursday, July 25 at 5 p.m.
United Talent Agency: United by Music
Talent: Jimmie Allen, High Valley
Additional series events will be added in partnership with BMG and BBR Music Group.
FlyteVu To Launch Showcase Series Highlighting Clients And Local Brands
/by LB CantrellFlyteVu is launching a new showcase series, called ‘Escape the Ordinary.’ The entertainment marketing agency will partner with different organizations each month to host artists and songwriters at FlyteVu’s office for Nashville-based brands and FlyteVu’s existing clients. Music and entertainment is at the heart of FlyteVu’s work, and in the last year the agency has grown its roster by continuing to integrate brands authentically into the pop culture conversation by creating experiences for their clients.
The ‘Escape the Ordinary’ series will feature partnerships with Creative Nation, Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville, United Talent Agency, BMG, and BBR Music Group.
Monday, May 6 at 6 p.m.
Creative Nation: 3 Writers & The Truth
Talent: Luke Laird, Kassi Ashton, Barry Dean
Tuesday, June 4
BMG: Beyond Music Genres
Talent: Clare Dunn, Lucie Silvas, Ryan Kinder, Cassadee Pope
Tuesday, June 25 at 5 p.m.
Universal Music Publishing Group Nashville: Music is Universal
Talent: Hunter Hayes, Caylee Hammack, Striking Matches
Thursday, July 25 at 5 p.m.
United Talent Agency: United by Music
Talent: Jimmie Allen, High Valley
Additional series events will be added in partnership with BMG and BBR Music Group.
Garth Brooks Surpasses 1 Million Vinyl Sold
/by LB CantrellGarth Brooks just passed the 1 million vinyl mark with his vinyl release, Legacy-The Vinyl Collection.
At the first pre-sale window from rehearsal for the stadium tour on February 28, Brooks sold out 420,000 copies in 18 hours. Pre-ordering these numbered editions allowed fans the chance to pick their own special six-digit number.
“Music is so personal, now, being able to make your package with your most important date on it, makes it even more personal. I have secured my packages with my daughters’ birthdays and my anniversary,” Brooks said.
The fourth and final window for pre-sale began during Brooks’s appearance at Zynga HQ on May 1. Within minutes of the window opening, Brooks passed the 1 million mark of vinyl albums sold.
The final window is open now until May 5th. You can purchase it at garthbrooks.com/vinyl.
Garth Brooks Surpasses 1 Million Vinyl Sold
/by LB CantrellGarth Brooks just passed the 1 million vinyl mark with his vinyl release, Legacy-The Vinyl Collection.
At the first pre-sale window from rehearsal for the stadium tour on February 28, Brooks sold out 420,000 copies in 18 hours. Pre-ordering these numbered editions allowed fans the chance to pick their own special six-digit number.
“Music is so personal, now, being able to make your package with your most important date on it, makes it even more personal. I have secured my packages with my daughters’ birthdays and my anniversary,” Brooks said.
The fourth and final window for pre-sale began during Brooks’s appearance at Zynga HQ on May 1. Within minutes of the window opening, Brooks passed the 1 million mark of vinyl albums sold.
The final window is open now until May 5th. You can purchase it at garthbrooks.com/vinyl.
Lauren Daigle Earns Most Shazamed Performance At Billboard Music Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonLauren Daigle. Photo: NBC/YouTube
Lauren Daigle‘s performance of “You Say” at the recent Billboard Music Awards was the most Shazamed moment of the night, according to Apple Music. The CCM crossover star earned 25 percent of all Shazams for the evening. Daigle also earned wins in all three CCM categories in which she was nominated, taking home Top Christian Artist, Top Christian Song (“You Say”) and Top Christian Album (Look Up Child).
The Jonas Brothers‘ performance of a medley of tunes, including “Jealous,” “Cake By The Ocean” and their latest, “Sucker,” was the No. 2 most-Shazamed, followed by Dan + Shay‘s collaboration with Tori Kelly on Dan + Shay’s Grammy-winning hit “Speechless.”