Lets spin it back to 2009 real quick.
Carrie Underwood was still in the early stages of her country music career, and had already taken the country music world by storm, following her American Idol win back in 2005.
During 2009’s season of American Idol, the show hosted Grand Ole Opry week, where the contestants paid tribute to some of the best names to ever play on the finest stage in all of country music.
With that being said, the show mashed up Underwood, along with the country music legend himself, Randy Travis.
Singing Travis’ iconic hit “I Told You So,” from his 1987 album Always & Forever, the duo put together an incredible rendition of the song.
Somewhere in the middle of the performance, you can see Travis look at Underwood in awe, and then just laugh to himself, and you can just tell he knew this young girl from Checotah, Oklahoma would soon be one of the biggest faces of mainstream country music.
In fact, Travis had some big time praise for the former American Idol winner in an interview with Billboard back in 2012:
“I don’t know how much of an influence I would be vocally on her. She’s so far beyond me that it’s ridiculous. She’s an incredible singer.
If her range is six feet tall, mine would be about a foot. I can’t touch what she can do.”
High praise coming from the great Randy Travis.
Carrie Underwood Shares Journal Entry She Wrote On The Night She Won ‘American Idol’
It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since Carrie Underwood won American Idol.
At just 22 years old, she won it all and beat out her fellow finalist, Bo Bice, for top honors back in 2005.
Of course, her insane vocal range and beautiful voice are second to none, and she’s easily in the conversation for the best vocalist in mainstream country music over the last 20 years.
The small town girl from Oklahoma has became a megastar even beyond country music, and she’s gone on to have plenty of #1 singles on the radio, won just about every award there is, from Grammy’s, to ACM’s, to CMA Awards, has her Reflection residency in Las Vegas that’s currently running, in addition to owning her own clothing line and being a mom to two little boys.
It’s pretty incredible to look back on all she’s accomplished since winning American Idol, and earlier today, she shared part of the journal entry she wrote right after she was announced as the winner.
If only she knew what more there was to come for her and her career… check it out:
“It all came down to the final moment. Ryan had the gold card in his hand. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they presented us with keys to two identical red convertible 2005 Mustangs! How cool is that?!
Anyways, back to the story. Bug moment. I took one more look at the amazing crowd and let it sink in for a few seconds. Ryan said something like ‘And your 2005 ‘American Idol’ is…’ And my heart beat fast and I closed my eyes.
‘CARRIE UNDERWOOD!!!!’ The crowd went wild. I immediately started crying. It was a beautiful moment. All the other contestants were sent out to hug me.
I was crying the whole time. Then I was asked to sing. I blubbered through ‘Inside Your Heaven’…”
She noted in the caption that she can’t believe how much time has gone by since that day, and thanked everyone again who voted for her when she was on the show, saying she could still feel that same excitement from the night that changed her life through her words on the pages:
“Today is the 17 year anniversary of my American Idol win! Where does the time go? Please enjoy a page from the journal of a 22-year-old farm girl who just had the most incredible night!
I still feel the excitement through the pages! Happy anniversary to me and a forever ‘thank you’ to all who voted!”
Here’s the footage from that final moment when she was announced as the Season 4 winner:
And way back when, for her first audition, a baby-faced Carrie wowed the judges with an a cappella rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”. Of course, she got a golden ticket from Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, and took her first flight from Oklahoma to L.A. and ended up winning it all.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Her audition video is definitely worth watching, too, if you’ve never seen it before:
