Fans who saw Kellie Pickler open Taylor Swift's Fearless Tour in Greensboro in June witnessed a performance that was confident, poised and mature. It was quite a contrast to the inexperienced teenager who scored a sixth-place finish in the fifth season of TV's "American Idol."
Pickler's talent earned her a recording contract with Nashville's BNA records, which released her chart-topping debut CD, "Small Town Girl," in 2006. The album's title was a reference to growing up in Albemarle, a Stanly County community of 16,000.
Now 23, Pickler is winding down the concert season with a new single ("Don't You Know You're Beautiful") from her self-titled sophomore album, and a performance Saturday at the N.C. State Fair. Ask her how she has changed since her American Idol days, and she responds thoughtfully and with a coming-of-age enthusiasm that belies her small-town roots.
"Oh, my gosh! I've changed so much," she says. "I would say I'm much smarter at what I'm doing. I'm not a teenager any more, I'm transitioning into a woman. It's been a little challenging in the public eye, because people don't want change. I'd hate to think I was the same naïve, gullible girl I was when I first started.
"Getting out of my little home town and experiencing different things has changed me. I'm not closed-minded at all, I'm open-minded to almost anything. I say I've changed for the best."
Pickler has crisscrossed the country with the "American Idol" tour, opened shows for Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts and Swift, as well as performing her own solo shows. Last Christmas, she performed for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pickler's travels have opened her eyes to people and places she could not have imagined had she remained in Albemarle.
They've also been the realization of a lifelong dream, fulfilling a restlessness and desire for experience that Albemarle's constraints could not offer.
"Well, I'm from a small town, but I don't think small town," she says. "I've always thought bigger. I've always wanted to travel the world and learn about other cultures and their religions and how they live. I've always been interested in the world.
"I think my biggest fear in life has always been to settle. To settle with a career and a lifestyle that I'm not completely happy about. ... There's nothing wrong with staying in a small town. But if you get a chance to step outside, go ahead and do it. That small town is always going to be there."
For Pickler, growing up in Albemarle had another, darker dimension. Abandoned by her parents and raised by her grandparents, she agonized that something deeply important was missing from her life. Her pain presented itself in a spectacular moment during the nationally televised CMA Awards in 2007 when she broke down while singing "I Wonder," an intensely personal song she wrote about her mother.
Pickler's travels and her charitable involvement with the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have given her a perspective on her life in relation to the problems lived by others. More significant than gold records or awards, it may be her greatest achievement.
"Traveling and getting to see how different people live has given me a greater appreciation for my life," she says. "I feel that, yes, my family life has been absolutely crazy, but there are so many kids who have absolutely no stability in their lives. ...
"I made good friends with a girl in the children's hospital in [California]. She's 5 years old and has no hair, but she's beautiful. She has a similar life to mine. My struggles, if that helps these kids today, then I'm glad I had to experience hell."
As an additional mark of her maturity, Pickler is taking a more direct role in producing her next album. A fan of traditional artists such as Hank Williams. Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard, she says her next CD will be a more honest reflection of who she is deep down inside.
"I listen to older country," she says. "When I get on stage, I'd rather sing Merle Haggard covers than anything. People don't really know me except that I'm in love with country music. But I don't think they know what kind of country music. Hopefully on the next album, I can really convey that.
"On the first two albums I worked so hard trying to make everybody else happy that I haven't made myself happy. You shouldn't have to try to be yourself, you should just naturally be yourself.
"In my shows we play some of my favorite classics. I don't worry if younger fans don't care for it. You know what? Shame on those parents for not exposing them to real music."
