Clarkson Returns To Her Roots

(CBS)  Pop sensation and two-time Grammy winner Kelly Clarkson, a Texas native, is putting on her cowboy hat Tuesday night.

The singer-songwriter will be performing at the Academy of Country Music awards show with nominee Rascal Flatts, which is huge in country circles.

Clarkson chatted with The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm Tuesday.

Told she sounded great while rehearsing with the group, Clarkson replied, "Anybody would sound good with them. They're so good!

"It's cool. It's a country show, and I'm here. So, I think it's cool."

"You see a lot of country artists go the other way and sing pop," Storm observed, "but not a lot of pop artists coming in (the other way)."

"Oh, I'd definitely make a country album," Clarkson responded. "I would, definitely. I love country music!"

Asked if performing in front of her peers makes her nervous, Clarkson answered: "No. It makes me want to be just that much better. I just don't get nervous in that way. The only time I've found that I ever get nervous in life is around boys! That's the only time I ever get nervous. Oh, I act like an idiot."

Storm said she noticed Clarkson's Southern accent coming out a bit, and Clarkson didn't disagree, saying, "Well, I've been in Texas, too. So, every time I go back home, it comes out a bit more."

She offered some insight on how her childhood helped lead her to start writing songs: "Honestly, why I got into writing was, I was the type of little girl that, we moved around a lot, different families all the time. It was really hard for me to get my emotions out. And so I would bottle it up and I would burst into tears one day. And I'd just be so mad, I wouldn't know what to do with it. My mom would be, like, 'Kelly, you can't hold it in. You need to say something when you're upset or something.'

"Now I have no problem saying when I have a problem," she laughed. "I don't have a problem with it now. But it took me forever to actually be able to talk to people. I used to be so shy when I was really, really little. So I just wouldn't say it. So my mom would tell me to write it out. So my mom is actually why I'm a writer."

And a prolific one, at that.

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