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Carrie Underwood Grew Up a Huge Fan of 90s Grunge

The country superstar listened to Nirvana and Soundgarden as a child

While, yes, Carrie Underwood's preparing for the release of a gospel album, her musical tastes before her country career were far more diverse: She was a fan of grunge acts Nirvana and Soundgarden.

While speaking to the UK's Sunday Express, Underwood counted herself "lucky" to grow up a fan of the artists behind "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart-Shaped Box," plus notes that Soundgarden's lead singer Chris Cornell was a favorite too.

She said, "I loved everything he did."

The vocalist who passed away in 2017 had a legendary four-octave vocal range that inspired not just grunge classics like "Black Hole Sun" but also work, including being the lead singer of early 2000s rock supergroup Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog, a late 80s act that included Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard.

However, she also says that she "always loved" country music, counting the genre as "[her] home and my heart."

Underwood is currently preparing for an Easter Sunday live stream broadcast of My Savior, her forthcoming gospel-country hybrid album from country's "Mother Church," also known as the Ryman Auditorium.

Regarding the event, she said: "I had such an amazing, inspired time making [September 2020 album] My Gift, [so] I wanted to stay in that mindset. With My Savior, I wanted it to feel like I was in the church I grew up in, to freshen the hymns up but keep the traditional feel and the heart...It was all about wanting to bring these songs to life again, and obviously, now I wanted to do something on stage. The Ryman is so inspirational; it feels like a church."

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