Carrie Underwood talks music, marriage, Oklahoma shows and more

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Carrie Underwood to “Play On” back to Oklahoma

Even when she returns to her native state just long enough to play a show, Carrie Underwood still feels like she has come home when she arrives in Oklahoma.

“I’m always excited to come and play hometown shows, and I’ll probably know half the people in the audience. It just makes me feel really cool because I used to play places in Oklahoma when there’d be about five people listening. So this is pretty special,” Underwood said in a phone interview last week from Los Angeles, where she was rehearsing for her sold-out show last Saturday at the celebrated Hollywood Bowl.

The Checotah native, 27, has become accustomed to much larger crowds since she won “American Idol” five years ago. She is bringing the fall leg of her hugely successful “Play On Tour” Sunday to Tulsa’s BOK Center and Oct. 20 to Oklahoma City’s Ford Center.

Touring in support of her platinum-selling album “Play On,” which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts last November, the country music superstar will play more than 100 shows by the end of the year. The tour’s three-month spring leg sold out all 54 shows and played for nearly 400,000 North American fans.

But the perpetually in-demand Oklahoman isn’t just busy touring. This year, she made her acting debut on the hit sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” and filmed her first movie, the upcoming drama “Soul Surfer,” in Hawaii. She performed the National Anthem at the 2010 Super Bowl, the most-watched event in TV history. In April, she made history at the Annual Academy of Country Music Awards when she became the first woman to capture the entertainer of the year title twice.

And on July 10, Underwood became Mrs. Mike Fisher, marrying the professional hockey player at a lavish ceremony at a Georgia resort. Although the couple already has revisited their wedding day in the music video to her autobiographical “Mama’s Song,” the newlywed singer said they still are adjusting to their divergent schedules.

Carrie Underwood’s gift hits write note with museum

Here's the rest of the story we had mentioned earlier this week, as reported now by NewsOK.com...

Checotah native donates original sheet music of a song she co-wrote

MUSKOGEE — Country music superstar Carrie Underwood has donated original sheet music of her song "I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore” to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

The hall of fame unveiled the gift from the Checotah native Thursday evening at the hall of fame and museum, where officials also talked about plans for a multimillion-dollar expansion and statewide music trail.

Underwood, keyboardist Rocky Frisco and yodeler Ramona Reed were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in September.

Underwood said then, "This is where we all come from. This is where we all call home. So the fact that throughout all our lives and careers, the fact that we’ve had this amazing state behind us is a wonderful feeling.”

Underwood co-wrote "I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore” for her 2005 debut album, released six months after she won "American Idol.”

The sheet music, framed with her signed photo and dedication to the hall, will be displayed immediately at the museum’s home in the historic Frisco Depot.

"It’s astounding what Carrie Underwood has done for us,” said Andrea Chancellor, hall of fame board member. "She has remembered us by putting together a true piece of art that shows her tie to Oklahoma.”

Board President Max Boydstun said the gift is the kind of artifact he can imagine going into a Carrie Underwood exhibit in the planned museum expansion.

>> More on the planned Oklahoma Music Trail at NewsOK.com

ETA: Carrie formally donated the sheet music for "I Ain't In Checotah Anymore" on Thursday night at a dinner at the museum.