Carrie Underwood rose to fame as the winner of AMERICAN IDOL Season Four. Now a four-time Grammy Award winner, the 2009 Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, the reigning Country Music Association (CMA) and Academy of Country Music (ACM) Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood is a bona fide country music superstar. Her newest album, Play On, for which she collaborated with producer Mark Bright, will be released November 3 on 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville. The album’s debut single, “Cowboy Casanova,” is the fastest-rising hit of the year on country radio, exploding with massive first-week sales of 110,236 digital copies. The achievement marks Underwood’s claim as the only solo country artist to debut a digital single this year above the 100,000 units mark – a feat she’s accomplished not once, but twice. Underwood also found success with her single “Home Sweet Home,” which served as the farewell music on AMERICAN IDOL last season. Earlier this year, Underwood became the first country artist in history to have 10 #1 singles from her first two albums, including “I Told You So,” “Just a Dream,” “So Small,” “All-American Girl” and “Last Name.” To date, Underwood is the best-selling AMERICAN IDOL winner in the U.S. with album sales of more than 10 million.

Underwood’s holiday variety special is a production of Big Red 2 Entertainment, and is executive-produced by Simon Fuller, Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman. Shankman and Lythgoe also serve as directors of the special.

After debuting last week with triple-digit digital single sales, “Cowboy Casanova” is sizzling on the radio as it leaps into the country Top 10 and makes Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” of “Top 10 Things We Love This Week,” as well as their same-issue music feature on fall’s hottest singles. EW cheers Carrie’s “gritty vocals” and the playful single’s “raucous guitars and a stomping ‘whoa-oh’ chorus.”

The song comes to life visually in the vibrant music video which premiered this past weekend on CMT’s Big New Music Weekend event, and fans can now have their own copy of “Cowboy Casanova” with the video digitally available for purchase online for the first time.

Also online now is the exciting re-design of carrieunderwoodofficial.com, bringing fans even closer to Carrie with a more appealing news section, blogs, and fan photos, as well as official videos, tour dates, and the latest Carrie updates delivered instantly when you visit the site. Fans can also choose from one of three backgrounds via skin switcher and shop for the first time for CDs and digital music in the official Carrie Underwood music store, which debuts with song previews and lyrics from her first two albums.

Available exclusively at carrieunderwoodofficial.com is a special pre-order bundle that includes Carrie’s upcoming Play On CD and a limited edition 11 x 17 print featuring new art from her album photo shoot. Printed on heavy stock paper, hand-numbered, and limited to 5,000 in all, the run will include 500 prints signed by Carrie that will be distributed at random to lucky fans who pre-order the bundle before the album’s November 3 release date.

A four-time GRAMMY Award winner, ACM Entertainer of the Year, and reigning, three-time CMA and ACM Female Vocalist winner, Carrie’s Play On re-teams her with producer Mark Bright, who helmed her Carnival Ride collection as well as seven tracks from her 2005 album debut, Some Hearts. To date, Underwood has amassed more than 10 million in U.S. album sales with Some Hearts and 2007’s Carnival Ride. Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and earlier this year became the first country artist in history and the only American Idol winner ever to achieve 10 #1 singles from their first two albums.

Underwood, the reigning Female Vocalist for three consecutive years (2006-2008), has two nominations including Female Vocalist and Musical Event for “I Told You So” with Randy Travis. Should Underwood win the Female Vocalist category again this year, she would tie Martina McBride and McEntire as the top winners in the category with four wins each.

Tickets for the 2009 CMA Awards can be purchased by logging on to www.ticketmaster.com; calling (800) 745-3000; or in person at the Sommet Center box office, 501 Broadway (corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, in Nashville). Ticket prices begin at $110 for Upper Level. All ticket prices include sales tax but exclude applicable service/handling fees.

“Rocky” marathon all day today on encore! YES!!!

The red-hot first single from Carrie’s November 3 album release, Play On, “Cowboy Casanova” makes its video debut this weekend as part of CMT’s multi-artist Big New Music Weekend of nine exclusive video premieres. Watch for Carrie as the premieres take over CMT’s music video program blocks, the first airing from 6-11 AM ET on October 2. Fans can also look for the video beginning Friday on CMT.com, as well as the continuous-video CMT Pure, also starting Friday at 6 AM ET.

A four-time GRAMMY Award winner, ACM Entertainer of the Year, and reigning, three-time CMA and ACM Female Vocalist winner, Carrie re-teams for the upcoming Play On with producer Mark Bright, who helmed her Carnival Ride collection as well as seven tracks from her 2005 album debut, Some Hearts. To date, Underwood has amassed more than 10 million in U.S. album sales with Some Hearts and 2007’s Carnival Ride. Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and earlier this year became the first country artist in history and the only American Idol winner ever to achieve 10 #1 singles from their first two albums.

In addition to this week’s sales achievement with “Cowboy Casanova,” the sizzling track is also the fastest climbing country airplay single of Carrie’s career and the fastest rising hit of the year, currently #11 at country radio.

Want to see the track listing for Play On? Go to the Music section to be the first to see the complete list!

Say hello to your friendly new Official Carrie Underwood Fan Club
forum moderators! These eight lucky fans have been selected due to
their dedication to the Carrie Underwood community and their stellar
qualifications. Over the next six months they will be your contacts
for questions and concerns regarding Carrie’s forums. Please
familiarize yourself with the new members of our moderator team:
Aimmom09, Ashmur90, Kaylahope, Carrieluver, Obie, Chsredbird, Jmekay,
and Dmark08.

See you on the forum!

Hey guys,
I’m feeling a wide range of emotions tonight…First: I’m excited that you all seem to love the new video.