walking upstream…
Carrie Underwood
sourcesWikipedia
Carrie Underwood grew up singing in the choir of a small Baptist church outside Checotah, Oklahoma, and reached country stardom by an unusual route: winning American Idol's fourth season in 2005 as a 22-year-old with no industry apprenticeship behind her. Her debut single, the gospel-tinged 'Jesus, Take the Wheel,' set the template for a career built on big, precise, athletic vocals wrapped around both church-pew reverence and blunt-force revenge anthems like 'Before He Cheats.' Across a run of diamond and multi-platinum albums she became the most awarded woman in CMA and ACM history, pairing arena-scale power balladry with plainspoken small-town storytelling, and has been a Grand Ole Opry member since 2008.
the sound in question
2006
Before He CheatsCarrie Underwood
walk the tributaries ↓
Dolly Parton1970s-80s · Country / Bluegrass / Pop
On her Apple Music radio show in September 2020, Underwood named Dolly Parton as the one artist she'd want to emulate 'not just in music or voice or not just in any one area,' praising her as an 'incredible writer, vocalist, entertainer' who 'blazed such a trail for all of us women who are in country music right now.' The two also performed Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' together during Underwood's 2009 holiday special. That admiration surfaces musically as a shared instinct for a plainspoken, almost hushed verse building toward a hymn-like, full-voiced climax.
listen: upstream & heresource: Music Mayhem Magazine ↗
1973
JoleneDolly Parton
2005
Jesus, Take the WheelCarrie Underwood
listen forSet Parton's 'Jolene' beside Underwood's 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' — both start confessional and restrained before the chorus lets the voice open all the way up, turning a simple plea into something closer to a prayer than a pop hook.
Reba McEntire1980s · Country / Country pop
Wikipedia's sourced account of Underwood's influences lists Reba McEntire directly among the country artists she has named, and the two have shared Opry and CMA stages together for years since. McEntire built her reputation as 'The Queen of Country' on big, dramatic, story-driven vocal performances — a narrator's song escalating verse by verse toward a payoff, sold by sheer vocal size. That same instinct for turning a country song into a plotted short story, saved for a final dramatic reveal, runs through Underwood's own narrative singles.
listen: upstream & here
1990
FancyReba McEntire
2012
Two Black CadillacsCarrie Underwood
listen forCompare McEntire's 'Fancy' with Underwood's 'Two Black Cadillacs' — both unfold as a plotted story sung in escalating, theatrical verses, withholding a twist for the final act and using a big, unleashed vocal to land it.
George Strait1980s · Country / Neotraditional country / Honky-tonk
Underwood has named George Strait among her country influences since early in her career, and in a 2025 interview said she can't pick a single favorite of his songs because 'he's one of those artists that I feel like I've been listening to for my entire life who's just always been around.' Where Strait built decades of number ones on plainspoken narrative and understated, twang-forward restraint, Underwood's occasional turns toward a fiddle-and-steel-led arrangement — trading vocal fireworks for a loping, small-town shuffle — read as a nod to that Texas dancehall tradition.
listen: upstream & heresource: Backstage Country ↗
1982
Amarillo By MorningGeorge Strait
2008
All-American GirlCarrie Underwood
listen forPlay Strait's 'Amarillo By Morning' next to Underwood's 'All-American Girl' — both trade any vocal showboating for an easy, fiddle-led swing and a plainly told story, letting the arrangement's gentle lope carry the song rather than a big chorus.