(CMT Offstage keeps a 24/7 watch on everything that's happening with country music artists behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.)

Carrie Underwood doesn't want to have to choose, so she doesn't. When the Chicago Tribune asked her about the state of country music (and what's with all those pop remixes, anyway), Underwood said, "I've never been one for doing remixes. Then I've gotta decide which version am I gonna be tonight: country Carrie or pop Carrie? I'd rather just make country music that anybody can get into no matter what they listen to." That sure makes it easy to know what you're getting when you're listening to her. "I'm not gonna try to make it something that it's not. I'm not gonna think, 'I need to "countrify" this by adding more fiddles and steel guitar.' We do creatively what the song wants," she said. She also talks about how she can share radio space with artists like Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban and yet fans won't ever get the sense that they're listening to the same song. So Underwood is different enough to not be the same -- and country enough to not be pop.