Deana Carter is currently one of the rising and shining stars on the skies of Country music. Having been awarded for best single 1997 at the Country Music Awards in Nashville, the 40-year-old singer/songwriter is surely not to be missed. Being raised with music, so to speak - her father, Fred Carter Jr., was working in the studios and live as a session guitarrist from the 50s to the 70s with people like Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, as well as with Bob Dylan or Simon & Garfunkel. Having left home at a relativiely young age, she did however take the music she heard with her, and developed her own style out of it. Her current album (the debut one, that is) entitled Did I Shave My Legs for This? has topped the US charts. At performances, interviews and anytime possible, Deana prefers to be barefoot.

I bet this is one of the most asked questions about Deana Carter... why does she perform barefoot? And - unfortunately - it is also beginning to grow into a sort of nuisance to her, when the question is brought up ever and ever again, or when people yell (in their opinion) funny comments at her, while she's on stage. Let's hope that this will not lead to her ceasing to go barefoot - since she is one major celebrity role model to all people who wish to enjoy walking the healthy way.

Here's an excerpt from an article/interview from The Sacramento Bee with Deana Carter about that subject (courtesy of Jaime Tepes, DSS):

     Carter, 31 adopted bare feet as part of her stage "wardrobe" 
     last year during the production of her debut album, "Did I 
     Shave My Legs for This?" 


     "I was getting nervous, and I started taking my shoes off to
      chill out and relax," she said on the phone
      from Savannah, GA., where she had a concert that night. 
      "Performing is the thing I most like to do.
       It's the meat and potatoes of the business, and I think you 
       should do whatever you want on stage". 

     "With no shoes, I could pretend that I was rehearsing and goof
      off and act like Deana, rather than being an ornamental, 
      decked-out artist who's preaching music at people." 

     Bare feet are not a gimmick, she said. And it annoys her to no
     end when she's in mid-ballad and some fan hollers, "Hey, Deana,
     show us your toes!" 

     "That's not what it's all about," she said. "I would like to continue
      doing it because it's me. But it's tough with the weather getting 
      colder. "I'm wearing sweaters and suede and going barefoot." 

Deana Carter performing live and barefoot at the Jamboree in the Hills, USA in St. Clairsville, July 1997:

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A little extra (provided by a fellow DSS member): Deana Carter and fans - "bottomless" (of sorts. :))

Click here

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