Ben Fuller has shared some touching words of praise for his ‘If It Was Up To Me’ collaborator, Carrie Underwood, with the Vermont native paying tribute to the country icon's humility.

Fuller recruited Underwood for his soul-stirring 2025 anthem, ‘If It Was Up To Me’, with the duo joining forces on the Grand Ole Opry stage later that year to perform the powerful duet.

In a new interview with CCM Magazine, Fuller reflects on the experience of working with Underwood, and celebrates how, despite Underwood's dizzying array of awards and No. 1 hits, she'd much prefer to focus her attention on something more grounding.

Fuller explains, “What I love about Carrie, is she'd rather talk about baking bread than anything to do with any of the songs or accolades or anything she's ever done musically”.

He movingly goes on, “She's just been so sweet and so kind and so amazing, but really keeping the main thing the main thing, which is Jesus. Have yourself some calluses and go garden. Go build a roof on your cabin. Like, do the things where you can spend time with God, instead of trying to play Him or even try to outperform Him”.

Underwood's modesty has clearly struck a chord with the ‘If I Got Jesus’ singer-songwriter, with Fuller seeing the ‘Before He Cheats’ chart-topper's love of seemingly unassuming past-times - such as baking bread - as betraying something deeper about her character. He interprets this as a sign that she'd much rather spend time doing quiet, meditative activities like this, because it's in moments like these where you can have a quiet word with God and Jesus. When you're boasting about your achievements, you're likely not doing so while in prayer.

‘If It Was Up To Me’ remains one of the most popular Christian-Country crossovers of the 2020's, and it's exciting to see more artists bridging this gap. Forrest Frank recently shared a country-infused single, ‘2 STEP THE ENEMY’ with LOST & FOUND and ZVC, for instance, while Brandon Lake continues to assemble an ‘Avengers’-style roster of collaborators ahead of his rumoured country project.