Pickler has new album, husband, is right where she's supposed to be

Nowhere among the fun poppy country songs of 2008's "Kellie Pickler" - "Don't You Know You're Beautiful," "Best Days of Your Life," "I'm Your Woman" - could she find the old country spirit that made the platinum blonde's eyes light up when she sang.

"I was trying so hard to give people what I thought they wanted from me," Pickler said last week in a phone interview to talk about her first-ever Tucson show tonight. "I was trying to live up to everyone's expectations."

On her forthcoming third album, which she is finishing this summer, Pickler's focus is meeting her expectations.

We chatted with the 24-year-old North Carolina native about the album, her recent marriage to Nashville songwriter Kyle Jacobs and being a guest at the wedding of Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton.

The first single, "Tough," has a more traditional country edge. Is that the direction you're taking?

"We're heading back to my roots and what I grew up on, which was very traditional country music. I first fell in love with country music growing up as a child. My Grandpa Pickler taught me my first country song, and that was Hank (Williams) Sr. 'My Bucket's Got a Hole in It.' ... I want this new album to have those people who inspired me sprinkled throughout the record."

How do you balance that with the pressure from radio and the label to do country pop?

"Some of the songs that I had originally recorded for this album I was told were too country. I had people tell me that I was too country. That's one reason why with the last album we kind of tried to gear toward what people wanted from me. With this album ... I'm going to make an album that I'm proud of and that I love, regardless if it sells one copy or 1 million copies. I'm going to make a record ... that the whole thing is a reflection of me."

What made you finally decide to be true to yourself?

"My grandpa is one of them. My Grandpa Pickler is 75. He's my biggest fan, but I know that he knows my soul. He knows where my heart is, and he wants to hear ... me sing the songs that he knows are me. And one of my best friends said to me after listening to the last album, 'The songs are you, but where's the rest of you?' The people that really know me, that I grew up with or raised me, they really pointed it out to me. And I knew it, but I was 19 and green the first time I went into the studio and was trying to make an album and figure out who I was and where I'm supposed to be. I'm a lot older now, and married and more settled in my skin."

Are you where you want to be in your career right now?

"I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. I don't think I ever want to reach the top because there's really nowhere to go but down. I just want to each year, each day get a little bit better than I was the day before, not just on stage but off stage, too. ... I think slow and steady is all about the long run and not the sprint."

Congrats on getting married. You eloped?

"Yeah, we did. We were actually planning a really big wedding. We had the reception, the catering, the cake, everything. Then I looked at Kyle and said: 'Baby this ain't us. Let's run away.' He was like, 'I thought you'd never ask.' So we ran off to an island in the Caribbean and eloped, and (I) came back as Mrs. Jacobs."

How was Miranda and Blake's wedding?

"It was really, really great. ... It was beautiful. And it was Miranda and Blake to a T."

Did you spot Cee Lo Green?

"If he dresses like a peacock" - his get-up for this year's Grammys show - "I'm pretty sure he would stand out. As far as my eyes could see, I didn't see him there."

If you go

• What: Kellie Pickler in concert.

• When: 7 p.m. today.

• Where: Desert Diamond Casino, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road.

• Tickets: $25 at www.ticketmaster.com.