May 28, 2008 — Carrie Underwood became the newest addition to the Grand Ole Opry May 10 when fellow Oklahoman Garth Brooks handled the official induction ceremony, and it’s a moment that has given her a lot of confidence about her place in Music City.

Carrie’s had a ton of good fortune come her way in recent years — winning "American Idol," going multi-platinum with two albums, taking Female Vocalist honors from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association and the Recording Academy. Yet the Opry induction still stands out as a sign of how much she’s appreciated by her peers and her fellow citizens in her new hometown.

"You see other people [who’ve been inducted] — their pictures and stuff on the wall — and they’re so happy in their pictures," she told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "It just seems like the best night of their lives in those pictures, and you just know from seeing how other people treat it how special it is. As I got in the music business especially, and coming [to Nashville], everybody [was] so nice to me, and they didn’t have to be. You know, I came off of ‘American Idol,’ and they didn’t know what to expect from me; they didn’t know what I was going to do, and I could’ve completely shamed country music. Nobody knew what I was gonna do, but they kinda had faith in me. So it’s very special for everything to come around and for me to be a member."

Carrie makes her first post-induction appearance on the Opry Tuesday, June 3, and the show is already a sell-out. So the Opry has added a second show. Also on tap that evening are Montgomery Gentry, Luke Bryan, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Anderson and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Source: GACTV.com