Carrie Underwood’s George Michael Regret

Carrie Underwood was part of the tribute to the late George Michael at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday night (11/3). After R&B singer Miguel sang "Careless Whisper" and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 sang "Faith," Carrie took the stage to perform "One More Try."

After the performance, Underwood posted photos from the event and wrote on Instagram, "I hope @georgemofficial would've liked this… I never really got to tell him what his voice meant to mine…and one of my greatest regrets is never having gotten the chance to sing with him. But it was an honor to sing in his place to help welcome him into the @rockhall last night. It is beyond deserved…"

She added, "Also, I may have made a fool of myself to @andrewjohnridgeley whilst fangirling a bit … but he was so kind. What a night! A heartfelt congrats to all the inductees!!! #RockHall2023." Andrew Ridgeley was George Michael's bandmate in the pop group Wham!, and he did the speech presenting Michael at the Rock Hall event.

Many fans commented on her post, including one who was there who wrote, "I was there in person. You did a great job, Carrie. I think everyone could tell how much reverence you had for George and his talents. Also, don't worry about fangirling too much; we all would have done the same, lol. Thank you for honoring George. It meant so much to his fans."

The Rock Hall and George Michael's Instagram accounts posted a clip of Carrie's tribute on Instagram as well. Several fans reacted to that performance post with one noting, "FYI, she's singing in the original key (I'm sure she wanted to honor him as much as possible). That's a tough key for a female voice. Great job." Another Underwood die-hard gushed, "Gosh. So beautiful. George would have loved every second." One George Michael fan admitted, "You know, I have never liked Carrie Underwood. Never. But, I'll be damned if she didn't do that damn thing! She did fantastic."

Country music often focuses on small-town people and their love of the land and fellow people in their hometowns. There have been many songs in the country over the years paying homage to the small town and hometowns, including Miranda Lambert's 2007 song "Famous In A Small Town." Eric Church scored a hit in 2014 with "Give Back My Hometown."

Miranda's 2007 song's lyrics include, "Whether you're late for church / Or you're stuck in jail / Hey, word's gonna get around / Everybody dies famous in a small town / Well, baby, who needs their faces in a magazine? / Me and you, we've been stars in this town since we were seventeen."

Carrie Underwood also sings of the charm of small towns in her 2012 chart-topper "Thank God For Hometowns," and it is hard to forget one of Montgomery Gentry's biggest hit over twenty years ago in 2002, "My Hometown."

The Cambridge Dictionary defines small towns as "small social groups where ordinary people live." The US Census Bureau determines a small town with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. It is slightly smaller than the average suburb, which is defined as a community within an urban area with between 30,000 and 70,000 residents.

What is fun in country music today is that many of today's big stadium headliners, like Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen, play for crowds bigger than the populations of the towns they were born in. As we pay tribute to hometowns, we look at five country superstars playing to audiences each night bigger than their hometowns.

As of 2021, Huntersville has a population of roughly 60,000. That is just a bit less than the crowd size Luke plays for each night on his stadium tour. Combs is now in New Zealand playing for big crowds overseas.

Morgan is playing for audiences each night on his stadium tour for crowds more than forty times the size of his hometown. In 2020, the population of Sneedville was just 1,315.

Lainey's hometown is tiny, with a population of just 211 reported in 2021. Wilson is now on her own headling arena tour playing for crowds of more than 10,000 people, and she just wrapped Luke Combs stadium tour as an opener playing for crowds over 60,000 each night.

Eric is from a very small town with just under 5,000 (4,927) as of 2021. Church is currently on his "Outsiders Revival Tour," playing outdoor arenas with more than twice his hometown's population at each stop.

Carrie often talks about her hometown being Checotah, Oklahoma, which has a population of 2,043 as of 2021, but she was actually born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, with a population of 36,790 (2021). Either way, opening for Guns N' Roses on their "World Tour" like she has last week (8/6) and a few more times this month, she is playing for packed rock crowds of over 60,000.