Carrie co-hosts CMA Awards
By Ken Barnes on Carrie Underwood
As you may have heard, Carrie has been selected to co-host this year's CMA Awards (Nov. 12, ABC, 8 p.m. ET) with Brad Paisley, a significant indicator of her status in Nashville. She'll also perform on the show.
Blondes take root in country music By Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY Time was, you couldn't be a country singer if you didn't have a cowboy hat. These days, though, the most reliable route to a Nashville record deal seems to be through a reality show. It also helps if you're a cute blonde.
MORE: Six blond country gals conditioned by TV
Carrie Underwood walked off the American Idol set and straight into a Nashville studio; Kellie Pickler and Kristy Lee Cook followed. Miranda Lambert came from Nashville Star, Julianne Hough from Dancing With the Stars. Crossover act Jessica Simpson had Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica.
Country has plenty of blondes with no TV shows in their past — Taylor Swift, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, former Trick Pony lead singer Heidi Newfield — but TV exposure often gives artists a head start on acts coming up through traditional avenues.
"The great thing with that is instant recognizability," says Marci Braun, music director at Chicago country station WUSN-FM. "Right away, you know who Kristy Lee Cook is."
Artists with built-in audiences also don't have to rely as heavily on radio, which historically has been the primary way of breaking new acts.
"They have support among young girls who watch a lot of television, so they do sell in downloads," says radio consultant Jaye Albright.
Underwood has far outperformed the rest. She's had seven No. 1 hits, with another, Just a Dream, moving up the top 10. Lambert, Pickler, Hough, Simpson and Cook have yet to find their first chart-toppers.
"The success seems to be diminishing with each one," says David Ross, publisher of trade magazine Music Row. But consumers don't look at artists "as being the same thing they're ordering over and over."
Still, casual fans may have trouble keeping them straight. And there are indications that a little bit of these singers goes a long way with listeners. "We're seeing bad research on songs by some of these females," Albright says. "Not dislike, it's 'I'm tired of it.' "
Labels may be dipping too far into the talent pool looking for the next Underwood, who won Idol in 2005: Cook finished seventh last season. Several country stations, including KKGO in L.A., are taking a wait-and-see approach to Cook's 15 Minutes of Shame, currently No. 36 on USA TODAY's country airplay chart.
"I'm skeptical about the runner-ups until I see a proven single," says KKGO program director Tonya Campos.
Six country gals conditioned by reality TV By Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY They have the golden ticket: Six of the 13 solo female acts now in the country charts' top 40 (album or single) are blondes who found fame on TV. "So what else is new?" asks radio consultant Jaye Albright. "One label finds something that works, and every label now wants two of them." USA TODAY assesses if their prospects match up with their blond ambitions.
MORE: Blondes are big in country, TV fame or not
Carrie Underwood
•TV series: American Idol (Season 4) •Country chart debut: June 2005 •Current single: Just a Dream, No. 5
Blond highlights: Overcame the country community's aversion to her TV origins with humility and huge songs. Since winning Idol, the 25-year-old singer has become a core country artist, with 9 million albums sold. She's the Country Music Association's reigning female vocalist and up again for 2008.
Looking blonde-ly ahead: "She's young, she's beautiful, she loves country," says Gregg Swedberg, program director at KEEY in Minneapolis. "She's queen of the format."
Miranda Lambert
•TV series: Nashville Star •Country chart debut: October 2004 •Current single: More Like Her, No. 42
Blond highlights: Lambert, 24, seems to have gotten television's benefits (she placed third) without its pressure: Her career trajectory has been slower and more stable than that of her blond peers. Gunpowder & Lead, her seventh single, became her first top 10 hit this summer, and she's competing with Underwood for the CMA female-vocalist trophy.
Looking blonde-ly ahead: Country fans "all want to be Carrie, but they see themselves in Miranda," Swedberg says.
Kellie Pickler
•TV series: American Idol (Season 5) •Chart debut: September 2006 •Current single: Don't You Know You're Beautiful, No. 24
Blond highlights: Pickler, 22, who finished sixth on Idol, may always operate in Underwood's shadow. But by borrowing Dolly Parton's dumb-blonde-but-not-really shtick, Pickler has carved out a niche. She's sold 800,000 copies of her debut album (her second is new this week) without a top 10 hit.
Looking blonde-ly ahead: "I'm waiting for her to have a giant hit," says program director Mike Moore of KWJJ in Portland, Ore.
Julianne Hough
•TV series: Dancing With the Stars •Country chart debut: March 2008 •Current single: My Hallelujah Song, No. 61
Blond highlights: Radio has shown only marginal interest in the DWTS hoofer, but Hough, 20, does have an audience. Single That Song in My Head, released in March, remains a top 50 country download on iTunes. Hough's self-titled album has sold more than 200,000 units — a figure likely to increase now that the new DWTS season has begun.
Looking blonde-ly ahead: She isn't "all the way home yet, but she stands a chance because she's hard not to like," Swedberg says.
Jessica Simpson
•TV series: Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica •Country chart debut: June 2008 •Current single: Remember That, No. 54
Blond highlights: Simpson, 28, is obviously not just a TV star, though her MTV run certainly raised her profile. For pop princesses who go country, getting attention is easy; gaining respect is another matter. Single Come On Over fizzled in the mid-teens on radio, but the jury's still out: Second single Remember That is already iTunes' top country download.
Looking blonde-ly ahead: "She's running into some resistance," Moore says. But "she's really committed to this."
Kristy Lee Cook
•TV show: American Idol (Season 7) •Chart debut: August 2008 •Current single: 15 Minutes of Shame, No. 36
Blond highlights: If Hough and Simpson have struggled to climb the charts, Cook, 24, has barely gotten a toehold. Her Why Wait album has sold fewer than 15,000 copies in two weeks, and her single has barely cracked the top 40. The single's title is an unfortunate choice for someone whose Idol performances were judged "whiny" and "horrendous."
Looking blonde-ly ahead: "It'll be interesting to see whether or not she stands out on her own away from Idol," Moore says. |