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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2006 > December > 12 > Entry
12/12: Kellie Pickler interview
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
i caught Kellie Pickler by phone last night in Nashville after she flew in from Dallas. She’s at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville tonight at 6 p.m. for a free concert. She’ll have pre-signed CDs but won’t have time to do a personalized meet and greet. (She’s off to LA to tape the “Ellen DeGeneres Show.”) Bring a toy for Toys for Tots.
As for the conversation, she sounded harried and was apparently packing and unpacking in her apartment while she had the speaker phone on. For several questions, I couldn’t hear half of what she was saying and had to ask her repeat stuff. As a result, this wasn’t exactly the best Q&A on earth. The biggest news: she won’t talk to her estranged mom after her mom was tracked down by the Charlotte Observer. Check out the Observer story here. Overall, Kellie’s as sweet as ever and I’m looking forward to catching her tonight at Arbor Place.
Me: What are you up this week?
Kellie: I’ve been flying all over the place. Went to Tampa, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta tomorrow, then Los Angeles to do Ellen and Jay Leno.
Me: Before Idol, you had never flown before. Now you’re pulling in frequent flier miles, eh?
Kellie: I’d never been on a plane. Now I can’t get off of them.
Me: Do you like flying?
Kellie: I’d rather ride on a bus everywhere.
Me: Are you enjoying all the promotion?
Kellie: I love my job. I’m very very happy.
Me: Are you at all surprised how well your CD has done so far?
Kellie: I am. I continue to shock myself. It’s nice to think people are interested.
Me: Who have you met in Nashville so far? [She moved to Nashville from her tiny hometown of Albemarle, N.C. in September after the “Idol” tour wrapped up)
Kellie: Everyone. But the person who I want to see is Dolly Parton.
Me; Any clue when you’ll get to meet her?
Kellie. I don’t know. She’s on tour in Europe right now.
Me: How did you manage to get your CD out so quickly?
Kellie: I recorded the album while we were on the tour. We had 60 shows in 90 days. Every single day we had a day off, I was in the studio. Sometimes, I’d record after the show until 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning.
Me: What’s up with your sitcom? [There has been talks about her playing an ingenue in a sitcom.]
Kellie: That’s early in the project. It wasn’t supposed to be released but someone blabbed it everywhere. We’re working with writers from “That 70s Show.” If it happens, we’re not shooting until next year.
Me: What’s on your iPod?
Kellie: I bought an iPod while I was on tour. I lost it the next day on the airplane. I bought another one. I don’t even know how to work the dang thing. It’s still in the box. I don’t know how to download music off the computer.
Me: Do you miss Albemarle since you moved to Nashville?
Kellie: I do miss the people, but I lived there for 20 years. I’m not someone to just be in one place. I always dreamed of living in Nashville. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Me: How has your diet changed since you left Albemarle?
Kellie: I eat the same. I don’t change my diet. I did gain a lot of weight on American Idol, especially on tour. I put on 20 pounds. We ate junk food all the time and we’d have supper at 11:30 p.m., then go to sleep. I’ve gotten about 10 pounds of if off since then.
Me: How many pairs of shoes do you own now?
Kellie: I don’t even know. I haven’t been here long enought to unpack!
Me: How are things between you and your dad? [About the time the show was airing in the spring, Clyde Pickler was let out of a Florida prison after serving a three-year sentence for stabbing a neighbor. He hasn’t really been there for her. She was raised by her grandma, who died four years ago.)
Kellie: I don’t really speak to him very much. It’s hard to pick up where we left off.
Me: Who’s your family now?
Kellie: The people I’m closest to are not blood family. I learned blood doesn’t make you family. It’s people who are there for you and support and pray for you and want to see you do well. It’s kind of my adopted family in Albermarle like my best friend Summer Miller. Her parents Jerry and Caroline. They pretty much adopted me.
Me: I do an American Idol blog for my newspaper. Here are some questions I got from my readers. Marvin Atchison asks what your next single is going to be? He thinks “I Wonder” [a heartbreaking ballad about her mom, who has spent very little time with Kellie] would be good.
Kellie: It’s yet to be decided. We were not exactly sure but we’ve narrowed it to a few. “I Wonder” is one of them. It will definitely be a single. It might be second or third [after the current hit “Red High Heels”]
Me: Sarah Bowlin asked if you have had a chance to talk to your mom yet? Are you speaking to her since she talked to the Charlotte Observer? Here’s a link to the story from Nov. 17 In it, her mom said she loved Kellie and voted for her but never abused her the way Kellie said she did during the brief times she was with her daughter.
Kellie: No. I’m done. I have no desire to talk to her. I’m going to be honest with you. The guy who wrote the story, he knew a week before they even contacted me. They called me about it the night before it was published. So I just said no comment. It really hurt me that my local paper would do that to me. I’m their home girl. The sad thing is she hasn’t changed a bit. I don’t understand how you can justify your actions. It hurt me. I was finally at a point in my life dealing with closure with the whole situation not having my mom around. I was going through the forgiveness process. Then that came out. It just proved to me she’s the same person she was 10 years ago. I think it’s best to move on, just put the past in the past. I’ve made it 20 years without her help. I can make it the rest of my life. My grandmother was my mother. If anybody says something, I say my mother passed away four years ago.
At this point, I hear a snippet of Christina Aguilera in the backround and the mood lightens.
Kellie: I love Christina! “Back to Basics” is incredible. I listen to her all the time before I perform.
Me: From Kellie Bean #98, she asks, do fans mob you in Nashville? Or are folks in Nashville used to seeing country music singers?
Kellie: I think Nashville has respect for its artists. It’s not shocking to walk into the supermarket and see Kenny Chesney buying potato chips. It’s not big deal to people here. If you go downtown where all the honky-tonk bars are, where the tourists are, you’ll get mobbed. If you go to the grocery store or the mall, I’ve never had any problems. One thing people do is call me Carrie [as in Carrie Underwood, season four winner]. More people call me Carrie than Kellie! I had this boy turn to me at the Mall of America two days ago and asked me if I was Carrie Pickler. Carrie and I have talked about it before. People mistake her for me all the time, too. She gets called Kellie. It must be the blonde hair!
Me: Tina asks a pretty random question - Do you have a Christmas tree up in your new condo?
Kellie: I haven’t. I’m really lazy. I’m a bah humbug. I like Christmas. I’m not putting up a tree. A friend of mine texted me while I was the Grand Ol’ Opry. I bought you a Christmas tree. I texted her back. You better throw that in a ditch. She gets here and brings me a nightlight Christmas tree. But as soon as I took it out, the Christmas tree broke off the light. So I don’t think the Lord wants me to have a Christmas tree.
Me: Nicole Brubaker says she works at Sonic and was wondering what was the hardest part of work there? And what did you do there?
Kellie: [She paused awhile to think this one over]: The hardest part working at Sonic is as a waitress, you have to deal with different types of people, nice people, mean people and people who are just ugly. Sometimes it’s the attitudes you get. But I guess that happens anywhere.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Erskine Caldwell
December 12, 2006 4:50 PM | Link to this
This girl is so stupid she makes Ellie Mae look like a Rocket Scientist. Somebody send the hick a copy of TOBACCO ROAD for Xmas.
By Think
December 12, 2006 5:32 PM | Link to this
Kellie is a smart girl who had a rough life. Erskine’s comments are so stupid and pathetic they make Kellie look like a rocket scientist! Somebody send the fool a copy of Things That Never Cross A Man’s Mind for Christmas!
By Chrissy
December 12, 2006 5:35 PM | Link to this
I THINK SHE IS JUST ADORABLE, AND I THINK SHE WILL DO WELL AND GO FAR!!! GO GIRL!
By Bozydeco
December 12, 2006 6:14 PM | Link to this
Miss Pickler may not have a formal education beyong high school but she seems to be educated in the ways of the world and dealing with people. Miss Pickler will have a successful career in the entertainment business.
By Theresa
December 12, 2006 6:24 PM | Link to this
I would just like to ask Erskine what about the interview made her seem more stupid than Ellie Mae, and what did you glean from the interview that made you call her a hick? Just curious.
By Integrity Rules
December 12, 2006 6:52 PM | Link to this
Great interview! Kellie’s CD Small Town Girl is amazing! According to a GAC article she’s the best selling new solo artist of the year.
I’m not surprised by Kellie’s feelings towards her mom and the Charlotte Observer article, and I don’t blame her. According to other articles, Kellie’s mom is a con artist who abused and left her. I believe her mom lied in the Observer interview, and by denying her past actions she made Kellie out as a liar instead of fessing up. After reading the Observer article I thought the reporters acted irresponsibly. They should have contacted Kellie in advance to ask for her permission and determine if contacting her mom is something she really wanted before deciding to pursue and publish this personal business. This is the bad side of the media and Don Henley wrote a song about it called Dirty Laundry. Kellie deserves better treatment especially from her hometown media. On the plus side, the Observer has helped Kellie by publishing positive articles about her during and after American Idol. They also gave us the best video of her singing national anthem at homecoming and kept in on their website for months. So they are not all bad despite this mistake or judgement error.
By Robbylynn
December 12, 2006 7:26 PM | Link to this
One thing that Kellie is not is stupid, but the world is full of idiots like Erskine Caldwell. These jackasses or eaten up with hate, anger, mean-spiritedness, and stupidity.
By Joyce
December 12, 2006 10:22 PM | Link to this
Kellie is a smart girl she is true to herself. She will go far.
By Jeff Brooks
December 12, 2006 11:07 PM | Link to this
As a native of Albemarle, it’s not “tiny.” It’s about 15,000 people, and via NC 24/27 it’s only about 30 miles to Charlotte - Stanly County is about 70,000.
Tiny would be some of the places that the Georgia DOT deleted from the new highway map.
By Diana
December 13, 2006 6:47 AM | Link to this
The first poster is goofing on you. Erskine Caldwell was a famous Southern author who died in 1987. He wrote many novels including “Tobacco Road” and “God’s Little Acre”. I love Kellie Pickler and hope she has a good career, but more importantly a happy life.
By Shelby
December 13, 2006 8:37 AM | Link to this
Good News, Kelly! - Dolly is at home in Nashville…her European tour does not start until early ‘07…hope you get to meet her, she is a wonderful person.
By Donna
December 13, 2006 9:09 AM | Link to this
I love Kellie and her personality. I think she is a strong person to of been through what she has. Good Luck Kellie in all that you do.
By Tastefull
December 13, 2006 10:39 AM | Link to this
Ummmm why does ANYONE care what a no talent Karaoke singer does? My God, she’s singing for FREE at a MALL!
By Phil
December 13, 2006 10:53 AM | Link to this
I watched Kellie on Idol and I really liked her for she is herself. She is not something that she is not. Down to earth and most of all, she is honest, sincere and she will make one of the greatest country singers of all time.GO, KELLIE, GO.
By Beege
December 13, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
I think Kellie has done well for herself. Her parents should be very proud of her. With parents like she’s had she could’ve gone the other direction & been a drunk or criminal. Thank God for her grandmother & her good friends parents. At least they were good role models
By Mike
December 13, 2006 1:35 PM | Link to this
Very honest interview. Good questions from the fans.
By elle
December 13, 2006 9:41 PM | Link to this
Thanks so much for bringing us this good review of Kellie. I think Kellie is one of the freshest new faces in country music and will probably be a shoo-in for the Horizon Award on the CMA awards in 2007.
By J.D. Matthews
December 15, 2006 12:10 PM | Link to this
Anybody who doesn’t think Kellie has talent has obviously not listened to her latest album. I was NOT a fan of hers during her American Idol run, but having had some limited interaction with her since then and having heard “Small Town Girl,” I can’t imagine anyone saying the girl doesn’t have what it takes. (Of course, it always helps with one’s own insecurities to point out perceived shortcomings in others.)
And good for her for putting her mom in her place. Go Kellie go!
By Perry Williams
December 15, 2006 6:05 PM | Link to this
I was deeply honored to meet Kellie at Arbor Place mall on Tuesday evening. She was so very kind and gracious to a nine year old little friend of mine who has leukemia; she also graciously signed cd’s and photos for two precious friends of mine (one a 14 yr old Cobb county leukemia victim; the other a California mom who recently lost her teenage daughter to cancer). Kellie is a precious young lady, and contrary to “Erskine Caldwell’s” comments, she impressed me as being both very intelligent and well mannered (which is more than I can say for him).