[PICS] Carrie Underwood and Drew Parker @ CMAC in Canandaigua, NY

Carrie Underwood has kind of a rags to riches story. She went from no where to winning the 4th edition of American Idol way back in 2005. After that victory, she never looked back. When she released her solo album that same year titled, ‘Some Hearts,’ it quickly became the best selling solo debut in county music history. Ever since then, she has not only become one of the most recognizable faces in country music, but music overall. Underwood isn’t currently on an official tour but she is doing some scattered dates. One of these dates was before a sold out show at CMAC in Canandaigua last Friday night. She had newcomer Drew Parker open up the show for her.

Drew Parker is currently on tour supporting Luke Combs playing stadiums all across the United States. Just a few days earlier, he was playing Sofi Stadium in Los Angels and now he is on the CMAC stage in the middle of New York State. Parker Played a 30 minute set that included a brand new song that will be going to county radio on Monday titled “Love the Leavin’. He also played “Love You Longer” and the song that he said put him on the map in “Forever After All.” He gave thanks to Combs finding him playing at a local bar in his hometown of Covington, Georgia over 10 years ago. I though Parker connected with the Canandaigua crowd for the short amount of time he had on stage. Look out for more to come from this artist.

Taking the stage at 8:30pm, was Underwood. She appeared on the back of the raised part of the stage amidst of cloud of smoke. She was playing guitar along with the band to “Church Bells.” She then went down the stairs and sang to the front of the stage for “Undo It.” She also sang parts of the later half of the song in a glittered up megaphone. Since Underwood wasn’t really on tour, the stage was more of a no frills stage. Meaning it was very basic which also included a video screen. She did use that screen at times for songs like “Dirty Laundry” and the Jason Aldean song “If I Didn’t Love You” (where Alden co-sang the song along with Underwood). Underwood played a guitar a few times throughout the set. One of the songs she did was for “Two Black Cadillac’s.” She played what looked like dual exhausts attached to the guitar giving a cool visual effect for the audience. There is no mistaking how powerful Underwood’s voice is and it was no more evident than during the tune “Cry Pretty.” There, she belted out the last part of the title where she received a standing ovation. She talked about how excited she was when she first got a record deal and heard one of the songs “Jesus, Take The Wheel.” She said she immediately knew that song was written for her. She had a separate microphone stand brought out for “Hate my Heart.” This had a multitude of scarfs with a red heart attached to it. Her affinity with Guns N’ Roses still continues even after touring with them for a short time last summer. She did a fantastic cover of “Paradise City.” She then closed their set with might be her biggest song in “Before He Cheats.”

This week Underwood faced personal tragedy on Father’s Day (June 16). where she had a fire on her estate. Luckily it was contained to her her garage and no one was hurt. With this weighing on her mind, she still went out and gave a wonderful performance, showing the professional she truly is. She still remains a force in music and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.

Setlist:

Church Bells

Undo It

Southbound

Cowboy Casanova

Good Girl

Out of That Truck

Wasted

Dirty Laundry

Two Black Cadillacs

Blown Away

Cry Pretty