Hers is superstardom with a human face. With just two albums behind her, Carrie has built a career that would be the treasured work of a lifetime for most artists. She has passed the ten million mark in CD sales and become the first country artist, in history to achieve ten #1 singles from her first two albums. She is reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year, just the seventh woman in the show’s 42-year history to take that crown, and has been both ACM and CMA Female Vocalist of the Year for three consecutive years. Her list of awards includes five CMAs and eight ACMs, as well as four Grammys and a host of others from People’s Choice, Billboard, the American Music Awards, Teen Choice, CMT and many others. She has twice been chosen co-host of the CMA Awards, and she was the top-selling country female touring artist, of 2008, as her headlining ‘Carnival Ride Tour’ played to more than 1.2 million people. Among Carrie’s most treasured milestones is her induction into the Grand Ole Opry. Her love for music is evident throughout her third album, Play On, as is her arrival as a mature artist,, confident, fully in command of her extraordinary vocal skills, and tackling a wider artist,ic range both lyrically and musically. Equally important, in co-writing seven of the CD’s thirteen songs, she emerges as a songwriter of real depth, opening a wider window into her creativity and allowing her fans their most intimate look at Carrie the artist, and person.
Carrie’s songwriting had already brought her two awards from BMI, the performing rights organization, for ‘All-American Girl’ and ‘So Small,’ and Play On brings that side of her work to fruition.
By now the particulars of Carrie’s early years are well known. She grew up in Checotah, Oklahoma, ‘playing on dirt roads, climbing trees, and, of course, singing,’ something she did in church, and in grade school musicals and talent shows. She attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK, majoring in broadcast journalism with an eye to a practical career. During her senior year, she heard about auditions for American Idol, and the magic that accompanied her tryout has been unfolding before the eyes of the American public ever since.
