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On Tuesday, we sat down with country star Kellie Pickler to discuss her new work with the ConAgra Foods Foundation and Feeding America, a charitable organization dedicated to fighting hunger in America. “There’s no reason why we can’t beat this,” says the singer, who reveals that she knew various peers growing up that had to worry about having food on the table. Pickler’s main goal right now is to get people over to ConAgra’s Facebook page to learn about how to help with their Hunger Free Summer campaign.
Still, since we had a hold of her, we had to ask about her recent split with label Sony Music Nashville (she was on BNA, with whom she was contracted for three albums), and Pickler was quite open about the whole shebang.
For those who don’t know, Pickler’s third album 100 Proof has struggled more than her previous efforts and sold 74,000 copies (versus Small Town Girl, which sold over 800,000, and her self-titled sophomore disc, which passed 400,000). She looked back on making the record and looked ahead to her next step.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s interesting that this split comes after 100 Proof, which was easily your best work so far — at least in my opinion. Before we talk about the record deal, I’d like to hear about making the record.
KELLIE PICKLER: Luke Wooten and Frank Lidell — they helped me discover the artist in myself. Since American Idol, it’s been like a blur. I’ve been pulled in a hundred different directions by a hundred different people. You know, signing contracts that I couldn’t read, but I was 19 and green and it was, “Sign this contract or go back to working in fast food,” and I didn’t want to do that. Luke and Frank sat me down and I got to just sit with an acoustic guitar and I got to sing songs to them that I grew up on. You know Tammy, Merle, Waylon, Al Dexter, Kitty Wells. I could just go on and on and on. I just love traditional country music. They saw that in me, and that’s real. That’s me. When this album came out, the people that know me, my friends, went, “There’s Kellie. There you are.” READ FULL STORY »
They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and it seems the devil himself has nothing on Norah Jones.
