On the morning of Friday, August 28, 2009, Carrie Underwood was standing backstage at Checotah High School in Checotah, Oklahoma, the same school she had graduated from eight years earlier. Out in the auditorium, before the program had even started, a fifth-grade girl named Kenedee Rittenhouse was singing “So Small,” the No. 1 hit Carrie had co-written two years before. Carrie heard her from backstage. By the end of the morning, the two of them would be singing it together.
A “Last-Minute” Assembly
The students had no idea what was coming. Music students from across the Checotah district were called to what was presented as a last-minute assembly, and buses brought in children from Checotah Intermediate and Checotah Middle School to join the high schoolers.
Behind a blue velvet curtain sat 31 brand-new instruments, worth more than $117,000. Carrie Underwood, then 26 and the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, had arranged the gift through her brand-new hometown charity and ACM Lifting Lives, the Academy’s charitable arm.
For all her arena experience, she was not calm about it. Principal Brian Terry told the Tulsa World afterward that Carrie had confided something to him backstage.
“Carrie told me backstage that she’s never been so nervous.”
Terry pointed out that this was a performer who sang for thousands of people on a regular basis.
The Girl Singing “So Small”
The Tulsa World reported that 11-year-old Kenedee Rittenhouse had captured the room before the assembly began, singing “So Small” from the side of the auditorium on a whim. Carrie noticed from backstage.
Years later, in remarks quoted by CBN News in 2018, Carrie Underwood described what she heard that day:
“I heard somebody singing and everybody got really quiet, and it was this little girl I never met her before named Kenedee and she was singing ‘So Small’ and so I knew she knew the words, so I decided to bring her up and have her help me out.”
Kenedee’s own memory of that moment is hazier. She later told her local newspaper that she “happened to sing a Carrie song, then Carrie walked out,” and admitted she was so starstruck she could barely remember it.
A Duet on the New Piano
Later in the program, while Carrie’s keyboardist broke in the new electric piano that had just been unveiled, Carrie invited Kenedee onstage for an impromptu duet. Both of them looked nervous. Kenedee cried as they sang, and Carrie’s eyes filled with tears as she placed her hand over her heart. The crowd applauded loudly.
Carrie told her “Great job.” Afterward, Kenedee summed it up in three words: “Oh. My. Gosh.” She called it a once-in-a-million chance.
The Teacher Who Gave Carrie Her First Stage
Standing with Carrie that morning was Kathy Cooper, the intermediate music teacher who had taught her in fifth grade. Carrie said Mrs. Cooper gave her her first chance to perform on stage, and called her “such a positive influence.”
The night before, Carrie said, she had been going back through old videos of herself singing as a little girl.
“I was yay high, 6 or 7 years old. Mrs. Cooper thought it was a good idea to sing all by myself.”
Accounts differ slightly on how Carrie was introduced. The Tulsa World described Cooper making the introduction, while Carrie’s official announcement credited Principal Terry. Both agree Cooper was on that stage with her, and the Tulsa World recorded her telling the students, “You never know, we might have some more stars out here.”
What Was Behind the Curtain
The 31 instruments, bought through Yamaha at a special philanthropic price and shared across Checotah’s schools, included cornets, sousaphones, concert tubas, French horns, saxophones, bass clarinets, flugelhorns, an oboe, a marimba, a xylophone, a vibraphone, an electric guitar with an amp, and the Clavinova electric piano used for the duet.
It was the first gift from the Checotah Animal, Town and Schools Foundation, which Carrie had announced only the week before. She explained that the name, C.A.T.S., was a nod to her old school mascot, the Wildcats. ACM Lifting Lives liked the idea so much that it turned the donation into the start of a yearly matching gift offered to each new ACM Entertainer of the Year.
Carrie apologized to the teachers for disrupting classes, told the students “you’re welcome,” and urged them to “Do what you love and love what you do.” Then she stayed to greet her former teachers and pose for picture after picture.
Nine Years Later
In 2018, Kenedee Rittenhouse, now 20, auditioned for the revival of American Idol on ABC. She said that day in fifth grade “would change my life forever,” and she was clear about why she was there.
“I’m auditioning for American Idol because I want to show America that Checotah can produce TWO country music singers. Carrie did it once, and I’m ready to make it a round two.”
She sang “I Told You So,” the Randy Travis classic Carrie had recorded. The judges loved her personality but were not fully sold on her voice at first. Luke Bryan told her that when you choose a Carrie Underwood song, you have to match Carrie or go beyond. After a second try with Katy Perry’s “Firework,” they heard enough to send her on to Hollywood.
In her audition video, Kenedee put it simply: “Carrie is proof that if you follow your passions, your dreams really can come true.”