Idol’s Other Cook Lands Record Deal
American Idol’s most proudly (or maybe just strategically) American finalist has landed herself a record deal.
Maybe she can celebrate with some apple pie.
The recently betrothed Kristy Lee Cook has inked a deal with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville for a twang-heavy album debut, with her first single, “15 Minutes of Shame,” already getting an Aug. 11 release date.
The as-yet unnamed album will be recorded, as with Davids Cook and Archuleta, on the road this summer during the Idols Live! tour. While no firm release date has been announced for the album, like the Davids’, it will be due out this fall, presumably after David Cook’s.
Kirsty Lee Cook is wasting no time taking a page out of past Idols’ playbooks: Arista Nashville is also home to Carrie Underwood, and her album is being produced by Brett James, who cowrote Underwood’s megahit “Jesus Take the Wheel.”
(Hopefully Cool will fare better than Idol alums Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, Katharine McPhee and Blake Lewis, all of whom have been dropped by their respective RCA-owned labels this year.)
Signing up with Arista Nashville also marks a return to Cook’s roots, as the singer was signed to the label as a countrified teen but parted ways with the company before getting the chance to record anything.
Taylor Swift with the Wins at CMT Awards
Blondes really do have more fun. At least, they do at the CMT Music Awards.
Taylor Swift, the winner of last year's trophy for Breakthrough Video, was promoted to seasoned status Monday, taking home the awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for the sweet-natured "Our Song," off of her self-titled debut album.
"Are you serious? I can't even believe this," the 18-year-old singer-songwriter said upon accepting female video honors, for which she beat out LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert and the belle of last year's ball, Carrie Underwood, who seemingly for the first time since accepting the American Idol crown came up empty-handed at a country-themed kudosfest.
"I wrote that song in the 9th grade for a talent show," Swift added while accepting the evening's top honor. "I never thought it would be on an album, never thought I'd record it, never thought it would be a single, never thought it would be No. 1 and certainly never thought it would win video and female video of the year."
Topping Swift numerically, however, was similarly fair-haired Idol also-ran Kellie Pickler, who had a leading three wins at the fan-driven event celebrating the crème de la crème of Country Music Television.
The calamari-hating 21-year-old from Albemarle, N.C., was handed the Breakthrough Video of the Year torch for "I Wonder," which also was named Tearjerker of the Year and earned Pickler a third statue for best performance from her rendition of the song at the 41st Annual CMA Awards.
"Thank you American Idol, you are the rocket that launched my career," Pickler said in response to her breakthrough win, the same honor a just-starting-out Underwood snagged in 2006 for "Jesus Take the Wheel."
Speaking of taking the world by storm, Monday's ceremony at Nashville's Belmont University was hosted by Disney Channel phenom Miley Cyrus and dad Billy Ray Cyrus, who let the fans at home know he was onto 'em.
"I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday…it's pretty obvious what you're all doing. You're just using Miley to get to me," he said. The father and daughter also teamed up on the tune "Ready, Set, Don't Go," the elder Cyrus' first top-40 hit on the country charts since 2000's "You Won't Be Lonely Now."
In keeping with the harmony in the Cyrus clan, the proverbial battle of the sexes never made its way into the theater Monday, with most of the evening's collaborative awards going to male-female duos.
Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland took home their second straight Duo Video of the Year award, this time for "Stay," while Jon Bon Jovi and Rimes were honored for best collaboration for the steamy "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore."
"I had a lot of fun rolling around with Jon in bed," Rimes said before quickly telling hubby Dean Sheremet, "Sorry, honey, I love youyou're hotter."
"Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)," from the so-wrong-it's-right pair of blugrass chanteuse Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelinite Robert Plant, won the Wide Open Country video award, which embraces the artists who have strayed into the genre and ended up fitting right in. The seemingly odd couple have won rave reviews for their 2007 album Raising Sand.
Meanwhile, holding down the fort for the gents were Celebrity Apprentice runner-up Trace Adkins, who won best male video for "I Got My Game On" and spawned a top Supporting Character award for "Game" vocalist Rodney Carrington; the perennially honored Rascal Flatts, whose "Take Me There" won for group video; and Brad Paisley, who apparently tickled fans' funny bones in "Online," which was named top Comedy (albeit still musical) Video of the Year.
Here is the complete list of winners from the 2008 CMT Music Awards:
- Video of the Year: "Our Song," Taylor Swift
- Male Video of the Year: "I Got My Game On," Trace Adkins
- Female Video of the Year: "Our Song," Taylor Swift
- Group Video of the Year: "Take Me There," Rascal Flatts
- Duo Video of the Year: "Stay," Sugarland
- USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year: "I Wonder," Kellie Pickler
- Collaborative Video of the Year: "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore," Jon Bon Jovi and LeAnn Rimes
- Performance of the Year: "I Wonder," Kellie Pickler, 41st Annual CMA Awards
- Supporting Character of the Year: Rodney Carrington, "I Got My Game On"
- Wide Open Country Video of the Year: "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)," Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
- Tearjerker Video of the Year: "I Wonder," Kellie Pickler
- Comedy Video of the Year: "Online," Brad Paisley
- Video Director of the Year: Michael Salomon
For the lowdown on who walked the red carpet wearing what, check out our CMT Awards photo gallery
Carrie Underwood Wins Best Female Vocalist
Carrie Underwood Wins Best Female Vocalist
Some girls have all the luck. And ever since Carrie Underwood hit the American music scene via American Idol, it seems that she’s been an instant success.
And last night was just another example of how everything the “Jesus, Take the Wheel” singer touches turns to gold. As she arrived at the Academy of Country Music Awards last night, she must have realized that something big was about to happen.
When it came time for the award for Best Female Vocalist to be presented, Miss Underwood sat in eager anticipation to see if presenters Karolina Kurkova and Dwight Yokam would call her name… and they did.
In her acceptance speech, Carrie credited God, as well as her fans for the win. “Wow. God is good. I know I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take it! Fans got me everything that I have, and I owe everything to you.”
To see the entire gallery from the Academy of Country Music Awards (May 18) - !
Carrie Underwood - So Small Lyrics and Video
So Small by Carrie Underwood, Music Video and Lyrics
What a beautiful voice, Carrie sounds amazing, Great song and video!
Carrie Underwood’s first single from her sophomore disc, “So Small,” is racing up the charts and setting a record along the way. The song hit number 20 on the Billboard/R&R country airplay chart, marking the highest chart entry by a solo country female in Nielsen BDS history.
Penned by Underwood with Luke Laird and Hillary Lindsey (who co-wrote three tracks on Underwood’s debut disc, including the chart-topping “Wasted” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel”), “So Small” was this week’s most-added new single at Billboard/R&R and Country Aircheck. Serviced to country radio last Monday, with an official airplay impact date of today, “So Small” is already spinning on 128 country reporting stations.
The track also earns the distinction of becoming the highest debuting single of any country artist this year.
Underwood’s to-be-titled new album, which will include “So Small,” arrives Oct. 23. source countrystandardtime.com
Here is a live performance at CMA Awards 2007.
Carrie Underwood - So Small Lyrics
What you got if you aint got love?
The kind that you just wanna give away
It’s okay to open up
Go ahead and let the light shine through
I know it’s hard on a rainy day
You wanna shut the world out
And just be left alone
Don’t run out on your faith
Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
What you’ve been out there searching for forever,
Is in your hands
When you figure out love is all that matters, after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small
It’s so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big, at the time
It’s like a river that’s so wide
It swallows you whole
While you’re sittin round thinking about what you can’t change
And worryin’ about all the wrong things
Time’s flying by, moving so fast
You better make it count, cause you can’t get it back
Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
What you’ve been out there searchin for forever
Is in your hands
Oh, When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Seem so small
Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
What you’ve been out there searchin for forever
Is in your hands
Oh, When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
Oh it sure makes everything else
Seem so small