Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
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November 26, 2007

Carrie Underwood's 'Carnival Ride' Strikes Chord with Fans
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After releasing top-selling album of 2006, former American Idol winner
is repeating her success with her latest CD Carrie Underwood had the
top-selling album of 2006, and she's continued to dominate the Country
charts again this year. In addition, the Oklahoma native won 13 major
industry awards in 2007. And, Carrie shows no signs of slowing down.
VOA's Mary Morningstar has more on Carrie Underwood and her new album,
Carnival Ride.







Carrie UnderwoodSince winning the 2005 American Idol  title, Carrie
Underwood has seen many of her dreams come true. She sold more than
six-million copies of her debut album, Some Awards.

Only three years ago, Carrie was in her final year at Northeastern
State University in Oklahoma. Following the release of her debut
album, Carrie completed her studies to earn a degree in mass
communication.

"That seemed to be where I was headed, and I had spent
three-and-a-half years working to get my degree," she said. "So, I
thought it was very important that I go back and finish. I'm glad I
did."





Carrie took a more active songwriting role for her second album,
Carnival Ride. Earlier this year, she spent time with some of
Nashville's top songwriters collaborating on dozens of songs. Carnival
Ride includes 11 of the tunes from the songwriting retreat, four that
Carrie co-wrote. She also added one cover version on the album. "I
Told You So" is a ballad Randy Travis wrote and took to Number One in
1988.

There were high expectations for the commercial success of Carnival
Ride. Carrie explains how she avoided pressure to repeat the
phenomenal popularity of "Some Hearts."

"[We] just disregarded all the numbers from the first one, and decided
to start over with something fresh and new, and do the best job that
we possibly could," she said. "I think everybody did an amazing job on
this album and I'm so proud of it."

Carnival Ride sold 527,000 copies its first week of release to debut
at Number One on Billboard's Top 200 and Country Albums charts.

After taking some time off for the holidays, Carrie will begin 2008
performing a co-headlining tour with Australian Country star Keith
Urban.

The debut single from Carnival Ride became the first song by a female
performer in 43 years to enter Billboard's Country chart in the Top
20.


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