What We Know About Carrie Underwood's Two Older Sisters

Carrie Underwood fans could not contain themselves when the country crooner shared the cutest photos of her, her older sisters, and their mom on Instagram in July 2023. All four ladies got adorable matching tattoos and took some snaps together — a rare sight to see all of them together. Each of them got a little heart on their wrist with a loop at the bottom. 

Underwood captioned the photo: "When your 74-year-old mother asks you and your sisters to get matching tattoos with her in Vegas, the only questions are, 'what?' and 'where?' I never would've thought I'd see the day that Mama Carole would be gettin' some ink!" Underwood already has tattoos, though the experience was her mother's first. In May of 2023, Underwood and her sisters-in-law got matching tattoos while they were on a trip together.

Given that we rarely see all the ladies together, keeping track of what Underwood's family does can be hard. Let's see what we know about her sisters, Shanna Underwood Means and Stephanie U. Shelton.

Since we rarely see Carrie Underwood with her family members, it can be difficult to glean much about their personal lives. But when you have a cheerleader like Underwood in the family, you can't avoid it altogether. Both of the singer's older sisters, Shanna Underwood Means and Stephanie U. Shelton, are school teachers who are out of the public eye. 

Underwood took to Instagram to brag about her older sisters while they were fighting for their schools at the Oklahoma State Capitol. "So proud of my sisters...Making a difference for the best reason...KIDS! Here's hoping OK schools get the funding they need so students and teachers can come back to a great learning environment! Love you guys!" Underwood wrote. Even back in 2009, Underwood was supporting teachers in her own way. The country music star, along with her sisters and their mom, were part of a public service campaign dedicated to teachers entitled "Behind Every Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher."

Underwood's sisters are 10 and 13 years older than her, respectively. Both sisters also reportedly work teaching younger kids at elementary schools. 

Speaking with the "Today" show in 2021, Carole Underwood said that Carrie Underwood had definitely been influenced by her older sisters. She told the outlet that because Shanna and Stephanie listened to country, it helped influence Carrie's style of music. More than that, her older sisters influenced the other musical styles she enjoyed. Carrie once said that her sisters controlled the radio, which is how she came to love rock and roll. 

"They thought it was funny for me to sing, like, 'Smokin' in the Boys' Room' [by Mötley Crue] as a 3-year-old, so I did," Carrie told "Today's Country Radio." But their influence went far beyond music. Carrie told Marie Claire that, since her sisters were teens when she was very little, she fell in love with their 80s style. They would also dress little Carrie up in outfits and makeup, which prompted her love of makeup, she added. 

Yet even having cool older sisters couldn't protect Carrie from the classic bad beauty moments in childhood. She told Marie Claire, "The worst of the worst was, for some reason I would put a whole bunch of gel in my bangs and comb it over. It would dry and you could, like, flick it. I remember my mom trying to talk me out of the crunchy bangs, and I was like, 'Whatever—you're not cool.'"