Rascal Flatts thrills with country and pop
Kellie Pickler isn't stupid.
Whether by calculation or luck, Pickler has managed to open for arguably the two biggest country tours of the past two years.
Last year, Pickler was the opening act for Brad Paisley's megatour across the country, and now she is the warm-up for Rascal Flatts at EnergySolutions Arena tonight.
"It's a huge production, and their whole set is killer," Pickler told The Salt Lake Tribune by phone from a stop on the tour. "It's one of the biggest productions I've been involved in, and it's an honor to be a part of it."
Pickler's run of good luck can't be attributed to, uh, dumb luck. The 21-year-old North Carolinian was the sixth-place finisher on the fifth season of "American Idol" and, like Carrie Underwood, has parlayed good looks and television exposure to continued success on music charts and television. On top of a gold-selling debut album featuring the hit "Red High Heels," she's a frequent visitor on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and a sitcom based on her life is in development.
Her recent appearance on Fox's game show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th-Grader?" created a YouTube sensation and gave credence to critics who claim she is acting as a dumb blonde to boost her celebrity. (She was asked what country had Budapest as its capital. After musing that she thought Europe was a country, she appeared shocked when she was told the answer was Hungary. "Hungry?" she responded.)
"I'm just honest," Pickler said after being asked if it was an act. "It's just that one question I didn't know. . . . The person on after me didn't make it past the first round."
Pickler managed to win $50,000 for the AARP and American Red Cross for appearing on the game show.
While she has no plans to tour Hungary anytime soon, Pickler said the tour with Rascal Flatts has given
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her even more experience onstage and she's improving as a country singer.
Rascal Flatts is the hugely successful pop country trio of Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney, whose tour is called "Still Feels Good." The band became the top-selling artist of 2006 in all genres by selling 5 million CDs - meaning that one of every 14 country albums bought that year was a Rascal Flatts CD.
Its last tour, in 2006, played to more than 1 million fans in 74 cities, with 61 of them sell-outs. Its most recent album, "Still Feels Good," has already gone platinum after being released in September.
As for Pickler, she enjoyed the recent albums of John Mayer and Britney Spears, and said Dolly Parton was her role model.
However, "I never want my music to mimic anyone else," she said.
dburger@sltrib.com
Deseret Morning News | Rascal Flatts thrills with country and pop
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