Carrie Underwood Wanted to Include ‘Softly and Tenderly’ on New Album to ‘Bring Some Healing’

Earlier this month, Carrie Underwood released her version of the Christian hymn “Softly and Tenderly,” the first song from her upcoming gospel album My Savior. In a video shared on social media on Tuesday, the Grammy winner opened up about her decision to include the song one her new project, sharing that she hopes it will bring healing to people who need it.

Underwood previously performed “Softly and Tenderly” during the “In Memoriam” segment of the 2017 CMA Awards, which paid tribute to members of the country music community who died that year as well as the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas. The performance, during which Underwood took a moment to compose herself after tearing up, was one of the show’s most emotional moments. “I felt like at the time, that song just brought a lot of healing into the room,” the singer recalled.

“I wanted to include it on this project just to kind of have it in a more ‘done’ way,” she continued. “So we decided to include it on this and hopefully it will continue to bring some healing to people who need it.”

In a previous trailer for the album, Underwood shared that she chose the songs on My Savior based on hymns she “grew up singing.” “The songs on this album are literally songs that I have heard since birth,” she said. “We had our little church, we kind of went to a couple. My first one probably would have been very tiny, wooden pews. It was probably the first place that I sang, as well, was in church. Singing these hymns in the congregation as well as being on stage and singing in front of people. It was always just familiar. These songs are like a warm hug, just familiar and sweet and songs I’ve been singing my whole life.” See the full track list for the album below and pre-order My Savior here.

1. “Jesus Loves Me (Instrumental)”
2. “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus”
3. “Blessed Assurance”
4. “Just As I Am”
5. “Victory in Jesus”
6. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness (feat. CeCe Winans)”
7. “O How I Love Jesus”
8. “How Great Thou Art”
9. “Because He Lives”
10. “The Old Rugged Cross”
11. “I Surrender All”
12. “Softly and Tenderly”
13. “Amazing Grace”