The co-producer who can “Cry Pretty”: How Carrie Underwood took the reins to create her sixth studio album

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Capitol Nashville

Capitol NashvilleCry PrettyCarrie Underwood‘s first new album since 2015’s Storyteller, arrives today. Though it’s been nearly three years since Carrie’s last record, she actually started the new studio album, her sixth, soon after wrapping her massive Storyteller Tour.

“We started collecting songs pretty much as soon as I came off the road in 2016,” she recalls. “I listened to lots of demos and I think the first song I put on hold was ‘Ghosts on the Stereo.'”

“That one made it through the whole way,” Carrie says. “Usually you kinda get tired of things…You find better. But I loved that one from day one.”

The soon-to-be mother of two admits it took a little while for her to be ready to write.

“It’s so strange coming off the road,” Carrie explains. “You kind of have to figure out how to be a human again. ‘I don’t live on a bus anymore. [My son] Isaiah‘s going to school… How do I transition back into real life?’ And after everybody settled, I started getting back into the writing game.”

That’s how she discovered her eventual co-producer, David Garcia.

“He would send me demos that I loved,” she remembers, “and I really was just like, ‘What is this guy’s story? How are his demos so good?’ I knew he was doing them himself.”

Eventually, Carrie decided to step into the producer’s chair with David’s help, and by the beginning of 2018, they were off and running.

“We jumped in the studio. We had a lot of songs written, a lot of songs collected. Just had to figure out what was gonna make the cut,” she says.

In the end, thirteen songs, including the top-ten title song, and her new single, “Love Wins,” made it to the record.

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