Carrie Underwood, ‘Blown Away’ Party Celebrates Chart-Topper

The skies were cloudy but spirits were sunny Wednesday (Jan. 16) in Nashville when Carrie Underwood joined songwriters Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins (pictured above) to celebrate the No. 1 status of the song the three penned together, "Blown Away."

"There is a lot of drama in the song; it's a dark song without going too far in that direction," Carrie told The Boot and other reporters before the party got underway. "When I first heard the song I knew I had to sing it. When I heard it, I couldn't imagine anyone else singing it. Then I thought, 'Album title: done. Tour name: done. Check those things off my list!' It fit so much of what I was looking for."

The songwriters explained that they went in to their writing session that day thinking they would write a song for Carrie, and when they got to the part in the lyrics about there not being enough rain in Oklahoma, they knew that direction would make the tune one that only Carrie could do.

"We decided to go for it, and we are fortunate that she liked it as much as we did," said Josh.

Carrie said one of the things she loved about the song was the dramatics that could be done with sound effects -- rain, thunder crashing, the sound of the tornado. Josh credited his co-writer with using those sounds to help make the demo more dramatic.

"It's so juicy, you hear it and see it playing out in your head," Carrie said of the minimalistic lyrics to the tune. "There aren't a lot of words but you get it. They didn't need a lot of words to explain everything; you fill in the gaps in your head. I love image-oriented songs."

Although the song is a totally made-up story, Carrie said she has seen and heard a great deal from her fans about how it might relate to their lives.

"I have seen things on Twitter, and when I meet people in meet-and-and-greets at the show, they will give me letters to read because they say they don't think they can get through their story or there isn't enough time to talk to me about it. Once I'm sitting down someplace where I can concentrate, I like to go through everything and read what they have given me.

"A lot of people tell me that is their story. You don't think about that when you're writing a song, especially one with a little more drama like this one. You always look at it as other characters, other things. I have a blessed life, but when you hear these stories it makes you realize that this is a little bit of reality for some people. It is amazing to have something that you pictured being a story hitting so close to home for some of the fans."

Carrie is in town or a few more days before heading out on the second leg of her Blown Away tour. She says there will be a few changes in the show because, "we wanted to change it up just for our own sakes, to keep us on our toes so we don't get too robotic. It is important to throw some monkey wrenches in there, not just for us but for the people who are coming back to see us. They will see and hear something different with the show this year. We play for an hour and 45 minutes, and that's a long time to keep the energy up. We've tweaked a few things to make sure the energy is as high at the end of the show as it is at the beginning."

There are 40 North American show dates on this leg of the tour, which kicks off Feb. 13 in Colorado Springs, Colo. The tour will go international in June, bringing the total concerts to more than 100 shows. Hunter Hayes continues as the special guest in 2013.

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