As a proud Oklahoman, I'm honored to receive this recognition from my home state and hometown community, |
Everybody seems to have their arms wide open to me, so that's been great. |
Everything has been a complete whirlwind, and I'm just trying to keep my head on straight. It's important to keep in touch with people who knew me before, and I talk to my mom every day [to stay grounded]. |
I can't have a dog or cat on tour because of allergic Idols, but when this is over, I'm having an animal in my arms. |
I saw Kenny in concert when I was 16 years old and it's now a dream come true to be going on tour with him. |
I thought about deviating from that and singing other things, but then I thought, 'Well, if I don't win ... this is what I want to do after the show, so it doesn't really make sense for me to try to be something that I'm not.' |
I want to be famous. |
I was hoping for new female vocalist and that's all I was really hanging my hopes on. This is a monumental moment for me, a milestone in my life and my career. |
I wondered how people would take me being a country music singer, |
I'm not preaching. It's just a beautiful song I figured a lot of people could relate to whether they believe in God or not. Everybody has had a time in their life when they needed help with something. |
Inside Your Heaven. |
Instead of going through it all twice, this mashed everything together, I went to a record store this morning and bought my album. ... It's been surreal. |
It has been crazy, |
It is so thrilling to be able to get back out and perform for the fans again. We put a band together last year to launch the album with radio and television promotion. We are all itching to get on a bus and really travel across the states and see the real America. |
It's a very happy thing that we're doing to help people. |