Carrie Underwood Returns To ‘Sunday Night Football’ With Joan Jett
With the official kickoff to football season right around the corner, NBC just announced that superstar Carrie Underwood will return…

Joan Jett, Carrie Underwood; Photo Courtesy Sunday Night Football
With the official kickoff to football season right around the corner, NBC just announced that superstar Carrie Underwood will return to the network with a brand new Sunday Night Football show open.
This year’s opening will feature Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett, whose 1988 Top 10 hit, “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” was the basis for the original SNF show open music, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” in 2006.
This year’s opening will include a new rendition of the song with Underwood, who is appearing for the seventh consecutive year, and Jett, who appears for the first time ever. The clip will also feature a number of NFL stars, who will be announced at a later date.
“I have always been a huge fan of Joan’s, and I’m thrilled that she’s joining us for the Sunday Night Football open,” Underwood shared. “What better way to pay homage to the original SNF opening song than by getting to play with her on primetime’s biggest stage?”
“When Carrie brought us this idea, we immediately embraced it as a terrific way to evolve the performance, while also celebrating the song we used in our first 10 seasons of SNF,” said Fred Gaudelli, Executive Producer of NBC’s Sunday Night Football. “We were excited when Joan agreed to join us, and we can’t wait to debut the finished product.”
NBC’s Sunday Night Football is primetime television’s No. 1 program for an unprecedented eight consecutive years. A sneak preview of the new SNF show open will air at halftime of this Sunday night’s preseason game on NBC (Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans, 8 p.m. ET). The complete new clip will make its debut Sunday, Sept. 8, as the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Underwood and Jett previously joined forces at CMA Fest in June when the rocker joined the seven-time Grammy winner to sing a number of Jett’s biggest hits on stage at Nissan Stadium.
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.