One of the young people auditioning for American Idol has big footsteps to follow. Kenedee Rittenhouse is the 20-year-old country singer from Checotah, Oklahoma, the very same town where Season 4 American Idol winner Carrie Underwood cut her teeth. Four years after winning American Idol, Underwood returned to her hometown for a surprise visit. And she didn’t come empty-handed. Underwood donated $100,000 worth of new instruments for the school’s music program. When addressing the school on stage, Underwood asked Kenedee (who was then in the fifth grade) to help her sing an impromptu duet of “So Small.” Watch video below. “So Small” was the first single from Underwood’s second album Carnival Ride (2007).
Rittenhouse, now 20, says of experience singing with Underwood: “I was so in shock, but after that, I just knew this was definitely what I wanted to do when I was older.” American Idol airs Sundays and Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
