Country music icon Carrie Underwood recently shared how she persuaded Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose to perform with her in an unexpected endeavor. Underwood, a huge admirer of Axl Rose’s distinctive voice, recently told the tale of how she was able to get the legendary rock vocalist to play with her in a Sirius XM interview.
Since Underwood grew up listening to Guns N’ Roses, she has long had a deep respect for Axl Rose. She’s always wanted to sing alongside him because she thinks that every song is made better by his unique voice, which is unlike anybody else’s. According to Underwood, “His voice just did different things,” in the interview.
The country singer has been a devoted fan of Guns N’ Roses and their music; over her career, she has covered a number of their classics, including “Paradise City,” “Patience,” and “November Rain.” After seeing one of their performances in Las Vegas after finishing her “Cry Pretty” tour, Underwood’s admiration for the group was further cemented. She had the opportunity to meet Axl Rose in person that evening, which further increased her admiration and esteem for the iconic rock musician.
Axl Rose was quoted by Underwood as saying:
“I’ve been a fan since almost birth. His voice is something that just cut through the air to me. He didn’t sound like everybody else and sometimes it wasn’t pretty [because] that’s not what the song was meant for. He was willing to, you know, get into the song and do what the song needed. His voice just did different things.”
She added, “We’ve covered GN’R since the beginning. Paradise City, Patience. I think we’ve done November Rain.”
She then explained how she met Axl: “After the Cry Pretty tour wrapped up, I was like, ‘Hey everybody band, let’s go to Vegas and see Guns N’ Roses because they were playing a couple of shows there. So we went. They were like, ‘Do you wanna say hi afterward?’ I was like, ‘I’m not worthy to breathe the oxygen.’ They took me back to his dressing room and I just got to chat with him. We talked for a minute about the show, about touring, and stuff like that.”
To fulfill her desire to perform alongside Axl Rose, Carrie Underwood didn’t think twice to contact Guns N’ Roses. In a last email, she persuaded them to work together by expressing her respect for Axl and how much of an impact he has had on her music.
She uttered: “I have been trying to sing with him for many years. We’d asked for stagecoach last year because we were like ‘We’re in your neck of the woods. We know you’re gearing up for a tour so maybe you’re in that mode.’ So I wrote an email and sent it and just explained why because it does sound unexpected. But I think just knowing what an influence he was and is to me.
We have fun, when I’m on stage by myself that’s one thing but then when there’s somebody else you get to play off of it’s just a different energy, a different vibe.”
Carrie Underwood was committed to realizing her goal of sharing a stage with Axl Rose. She notices that while they are performing together, she takes on the energy of the legendary frontman, and her mood shifts as a result of their mutual attraction to one another. Both the artists and their followers will surely remember this unexpected cooperation for what it produced.
