Dad knows best.
Carrie Underwood won American Idol alum during its prime back in 2005 at just 22-years-old. It’ Since 2005, she has become a country superstar, selling over 85 million records worldwide, scored 28 #1 singles, won eight Grammy’s and seven CMA Awards.
She’s become easily one of the most successful artists to come from the competition show, and her insane vocal range and beautiful voice are second to none. For me, she’s easily in the conversation for the best vocalist in mainstream country music over the last 20 years.
But back then, she was just a simple girl from Checotah, Oklahoma, and it’s hard to believe how young she really was then. Carrie grew up a small town girl, singing in church, which is still something she does today, and she has two older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie, who both are more than a decade older than Carrie (she’s joked that she was an “accident” and has only child syndrome).
Her parents names are Stephen and Barbara, and Barbara and Carrie are still very close, and she worked as an elementary school teacher for 25 years. Stephen worked in a paper mill, and she comes from humble beginnings that shaped who she is today.
And because Carrie was on Idol so long ago, they have tons of old videos from her time on the show, and they recently shared a clip on their social media channels from what looks to be around the time of her audition.
Carrie was asked about her first date, which took place in 1999, when she was 16-years-old, and she remembers how excited she was. But when she walked into the living room to watch out the window for him, she found her dad “cleaning his shotguns.”
It sounds like something exactly out of a country song, and I can’t say I blame dad one bit for that move… that’s his little girl:
“I had my first date in 1999 when I was 16-years-old. I was so excited, I walked into the living room to watch out the window for him, and my dad was cleaning his shotguns.”
Carrie recalled her mom yelling at her dad for a while, and as you can probably imagine, the guy never asked her out again:
“My mom yelled at him for a while, and the guy never asked me out again.”
I can’t say I blame him, either, but Carrie was a real catch, though the poor kid was probably scared to death…
Carrie has been happily married to her husband, former NHL star Mike Fisher, since 2010, and they have two little boys together, but I think she’s really missing out on a great country song with her first date experience.
Present day Carrie watch the old footage, laughing as she watched her younger self tell the story:
Carrie has been quite busy as of late, and in addition to being a mom, wife and successful artist, she recently performed at the Country Music Association’s celebration in honor of the late, great Dolly Parton, “CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton.”
Carrie sang Dolly’s iconic song “I Will Always Love You,” and she was easily the best performance of the night:
When it comes to dating, even back in her 20s, something tells me Carrie could more than handle herself…
