Carrie Underwood's Holiday Treats

After winning "American Idol", Season Four, songstress Carrie Underwood went on to win four Grammys, be named 2009 Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year and be crowned the CMA and ACM Female Vocalist of the Year. Carrie's cross-over tunes appeal across the board to teens hot for Country and great pop ballads as well.  Her new album "Play On" was released on November 3rd and on December 7th, you can catch Carrie with a ton of her pals (Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, David Cook, Kristin Chenoweth and more) as she headlines "Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special", a two-hour variety show on Fox TV from 8 to 10 PM Eastern and Pacific time.  
    
We wanted to catch up with Carrie on her music, her holiday traditions, her superstar musical artist pals and her advice for "Idol" contestants trying to follow in her successful footsteps.  Check it out.....

TeenTelevision: Can we clear something up? Some tabloid accused you of cutting off Brad Paisley at the CMA awards when he was praising Taylor Swift so that the focus went back to you. Can you comment on that?  

Carrie: I just want to say that that was really hurtful.  My brain would never operate that way at all.  I have so much respect for every single person that is in that room, because most of (them) are in the music industry.  They are part of it.  I would never dream of doing anything like that.  It was really hurtful to see such a great night and such a great moment be turned into trash.  That just made me sad. I feel like stuff like that (is) turning somebody’s great moment into a tabloid headline and that’s sad.

TeenTelevision: Thanks for that. Carrie, before your career really took off, what was your typical Christmas growing up and to what extent was music involved with it?
    
Carrie: Growing up, basically we didn't really have too many traditions as a
family.  But we would always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Of course,
Santa would come on Christmas morning.  But we had (Christmas) records that weren't by any specific artist.  It was just like a choir or something.  We had these old records that I would always play for Christmas.  I have them now.  Thank God, my mom didn’t throw them away.  I still like to play them.  It makes me think about Christmas.  

TeenTelevision: Will you perform some of your hits as well as holiday music on the special?     

Carrie: Yes, we’re doing several new songs, as well as a few that people should recognize.  Other artists get to come on and do some of their own stuff, too, which is really cool.  And I do stuff with them and it’s just a big mish mash of awesome music.  
    
TeenTelevision: When you were a little kid, did you watch variety musical shows?  Is this a dream of yours to do this show for Fox?

Carrie: Well, I think I kind of just missed some of the variety stuff.  I’ve seen the Mandrell sisters (on TV) before, but it wasn’t something that we all gathered around to watch.  I kind of missed that era and I’m glad to see that there’s other people doing their stuff, too, and I think it’s really great family programming.  It was a lot of fun to tape and I think we ended up with a great show. And I’m glad to see that that format may be catching on again.  

TeenTelevision: Brad Paisley is so cute. What was it like co-hosting with him at the CMA Awards presentation?  And I understand he is going to be on your Holiday special. You guys seem to get along great, right?  

Carrie: Brad and I have a bit of a history together. I got to co-headline a tour with him not too long ago, but he’s just a great guy.  I’m lucky to have gotten to know him over the past few years and I got to co-host with him last year.  I feel like the more we’re around each other, the more we get comfortable with each other and things just get better and better.  He’s a great guy.  

It was a lot of fun co-hosting the CMAs again.  I felt like we did a good job.  I was really proud of both of us for managing to not cause any major problems.  It was just a lot of fun and, yes, he is on the special.  We get to do a song together and he performs one of his own.  We had do it in a different way, though, because he couldn’t actually be in LA for the taping, so we did something kind of cool to bring two locations together.   

TeenTelevision: Have you ever thought about cutting a Christmas record yourself?

Carrie: I was lucky enough to record a few songs last year.  I was so busy last year, I didn’t actually have time to do a full album, but I would love to.  I love classic Christmas songs.  They have been around forever and everybody knows them and I like doing things very traditional as far as Christmas songs go, so I would love to do that some point.  I’m going to finish the album, I guess.

TeenTelevision: So you’re into the Christmas crooners?  

Carrie: Yes.  I just think there’s so many things that are just perfect the way they are.  When you get some good classics, of course, you can put a little bit of yourself in there.  If we all sang the same song the exact same way, that would be really boring and nobody would want to hear anybody else sing it.  But I love to keep things as traditional as possible and I love strings and I love to just keep them traditional and very classy.  

TeenTelevision: Will Dolly Parton be joining you on the special and what is she like?

Carrie: Yes, she was nice enough to come and be a part of the show.  I got to sing with her and she did some stuff on her own, too.  I’d never met her before this, so I was so excited to be able to get to talk to her and obviously get to sing with her.  It felt like such a special moment for me in the show to be able to perform with her.  It was a dream come true.

TeenTelevision: Did you do any skits with her on the show?

Carrie: I did something with her.  It really wasn’t a skit.  It was more kind of an impromptu fun moment.  When Dolly’s there, you just step out of the spotlight; let her do her thing because no matter how hard you try, she’s going to steal the spotlight.  It’s great.  It’s the way it should be.  
    
TeenTelevision: Do you have favorite Christmas song of all time?

Carrie: I love things like O Holy Night.  I think that’s probably my favorite, but Little Drummer Boy, and things like that.  I have those on my old records.  They’re just the things that really put you in a Christmas frame of mind.  

TeenTelevision: What was the best present you’ve ever received for Christmas?

Carrie: Oh, I don’t know.  I remember when I was little, I wanted a TV so bad.  There’s wasn’t a box underneath the tree big enough to have a TV in it.  So I was kind of getting disappointed, the closer it got to Christmas because there was never another box that was under there that was big enough.  And my mom had wrapped up the remote and it was like whatever, the smallest TV you could possibly get, it was my TV.  I think I had that sucker until I was like, they might even still have it at the house to be honest, I was probably like 15, 20 years old, but that was really awesome to like a seven year old girl.  

TeenTelevision: What will you be doing for Christmas this year?

Carrie: I’ll just be with my family.  We don’t really have that many traditions, but we are together and that’s the most important thing.  We eat ourselves silly and try, of course to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

TeenTelevision: Do you have a favorite food to eat on Christmas?

Carrie: My mom always makes like a broccoli cheese casserole and we do like potato casseroles and stuff like that.  Just whatever is meat free.  I can load on my plate, I’m there.  I am not a picky eater.  I just love food.  
    
TeenTelevision: What did you do with Kristin Chenoweth and Christina Applegate for this special, as far as the skits and comedy?  

Carrie: They were great.  I think it’s a lot easier to do stuff like that when you have two people around you that actually know what they’re doing.  And they both have great comedic timing. So we ended up doing a medley throwback songs, like from the ‘50s and ‘60s with matching pink dresses and beehive (hairdos).  It was just a lot of fun being around them and they’re great.  They showed up and they were willing to do whatever we needed them to do.  Three blondes, we had fun together.  

TeenTelevision:  You've sung with your friend David Cook before. What do you do for the special?  

Carrie: The first time we sang together was last year at the opening in Disney World of the American Idol attraction.  They asked us to sing together and we did and it was like, 'hey, this feels really good'.  So we kind of rocked out for a minute and got to sing together again and I think, again, it’s probably one of my favorites on the show, because I just love him to death.  

TeenTelevision: Do you still watch American Idol?

Carrie: Yes, ma’am, of course.  I will always have just the biggest love for American Idol as a participant and as a fan.  Now it’s so crazy for me to watch and think, 'Oh my gosh, I was on that show.'  But I love the people on that.  I love the people working on it.  I love to go back and talk to the contestants and I vote, too, just like everybody else so it’s great to understand being a fan and being a participant.  I get to see both sides.  

TeenTelevision: You just released another hit album and it comes out now at a time when a lot of this year’s Idol finalists are also getting ready to release their albums.  What advice would you give them?

Carrie :  I feel like any contestant that comes off Idol that does well on Idol has to stay true to what people voted for. I’ve seen it happen a few times where people are one thing on the show and then they get off the show and try to do something else.  And that’s really strange because Idol is one of those things where they’re telling you what they want.  People are telling you we love this person as is.  It’s the best testing form that you can possibly have. So I think it’s just really important to remember why people voted for you and, of course, cross your fingers and say a little prayer and hope that people dig what you’re doing.  

TeenTelevision: You mentioned that you vote.  From this past season, do you have some favorites that you’d like to talk about now?  

Carrie: I really like Chris Allen.  He seemed really genuine and he was from my neck in the woods.  I use to do a few shows here and there in Connelly, Arkansas.  So it was cool to see not a hometown boy, because it was still a four hour drive, but from my neck of the woods. I love Danny Gokey, too.  I thought he was just the sweetest person.  I’ve gotten to know him a little bit from the show and he’s hanging out in Nashville now, so hopefully he’ll be done with his stuff and be on his way because I think he’s really sweet.  

TeenTelevision: Who are some of the artists in your CD collection or on your iPod that might surprise people to learn that you listen to?  

Carrie: I honestly listen to everything. I am an Idol fan, so I do have a lot of other idols on my iPod.  I love classic things.  I love like Rolling Stones and things that my parents introduced me to, Creedence Clearwater Revival. I like Ne-Yo, I don’t know.  It’s just a big mess on my iPod.  You never know what you’re going to get when you put on shuffle.  I think that’s good, though.  I love music in general.