Kellie Pickler Earns Gold Record for "Small Town Girl"

Today, the 18^th of January, 2007, on ABC's The View, upon the absence of show creator Barbara Walters, Kellie Pickler returned to the hot seat to fill in as guest co-host.

After returning from a commercial break, Rosie O'Donnell reached beside her and pulled out a plaque, which she then presented to Pickler. The plaque was a Gold Record for Pickler's debut album, Small Town Girl.

Pickler was stunned and exclaimed that she had no idea her album had done so well. It currently has sold upwards of 300,000 records.

Kellie Pickler got her start on Season 6 of FOX's hit reality television show, American Idol. She made it to the final six, where she was eliminated in her first appearance in the bottom two. Despite her being voted off of the show, she was able to impress someone at 19 Recordings/BNA Records enough to be offered a record deal. She signed on July 17, 2006, and promptly began working on the album.

Small Town Girl was released to the public on October 31, 2006, and the first single, "Red High Heels" (released on September 25) made it to number 17 on the U.S. Country chart. "Red High Heels" also appears on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and U.S. Pop 100 charts at 65 and 69, respectively.

The album as a whole reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums, #9 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and #12 on the Canada Top Country Albums.

As a child, Pickler idolized Dolly Parton. She still looks forward to the day when she will finally meet this country music icon.

This summer, Pickler plans to tour with Braid Paisley on the Hershey's Presents Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour. The tour also features the likes of Jack Ingram and Taylor Swift. The tour begins in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 26, and will continue throughout the United States and Canada until August 23, when it will end in Saint Paul, Minnesota. For a full listing of the tour dates, which will hit 21 states and 1 Canadian province, click here to view the full schedule at CMT.com.

Pickler will guest co-host ABC's The View again tomorrow, welcoming guests Kathy Griffin and Les Stroud. To see Pickler perform her next single, "I Wonder," tune in to tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.

"I Wonder," released yesterday, was written by Kellie Pickler in collaboration with Aimee Mayo, Karyn Rochelle, and Chris Lindsey. The song is about Pickler's relationship with her mother, which as Pickler has not shied from announcing has been very rocky.