Joann Butler: Do you think being honest gets easier as you get older? Carly Pearce: I remember people being afraid for me to call my album 29 because it said my age. Saying I'm 36 is not something I'm going to be afraid of. Joann Butler: What did you think success in music looked like back then and how does it compare now?
Carly Pearce: I think I'm chasing more contentment and peace than success. Joann Butler: And tell us about Dolly. What's she like? Carly Pearce: She wears high heels even to rehearsal.
Joann Butler: Is there one song on the album that was especially difficult to finish because it hits so close to home or? Carly Pearce: "Dream Come True" is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. It exposes the nasty side of comparison. Joann Butler: Which song on the album are you most excited to play live?
Carly Pearce: "He Don't Like My Dogs." I dated a guy for a short time who was not nice to my dogs and, my dogs are still here and he's not. So… Joann Butler: Do you believe in love? Carly Pearce: Hey, it's Carly Pearce and I'm in studio with Joann Butler.
Joann Butler: Hi, Carly. How are you? Carly Pearce: Good. How are you?
Joann Butler: Good, thanks. Thanks for joining us on LifeMinute. Carly Pearce: Thanks for having me. Joann Butler: Congrats on your new album.
Carly Pearce: Thank you. Joann Butler: Amazing. Honest Woman, tell us about it. Carly Pearce: I, a couple years ago, went into a writing room and was feeling really low and I wrote exactly how I was feeling, which was a song called "Dream Come True" that is out.
And what that song did for me is it really made me realize I needed to go back and fall in love with music again and find my "why" in a season of high highs and low lows and success and then not success and getting wrapped up in that comparison game. And so what this album is for me is it's the return to form. It is owning my stories, owning the pieces of me that have been good, the pieces that have been bad. I think that these songs and this place in my life only comes from life experience that only comes from age and it's kind of just a celebration of not being afraid to say I'm a woman and I'm not a girl anymore and that age has been a huge strength for me and I think this is my best music yet and I found that girl again.
Joann Butler: Was there a moment when you realized you were ready just to, you know, to do this? Like what was the moment for you? Carly Pearce: I think I just, it snowballed once I started writing the album. I started to really be inspired by, what are the other pieces of my heart?
Yes, my career's been built on vulnerability, but what are other things that maybe fans don't know about me or what do fans not know is important to me? And I think I just felt really inspired as I was making this album to show more of myself. And I think I did that. Joann Butler: Yeah, for sure.
Your fans always say they feel like you're talking right to them and telling their story, you know, which is so vulnerable. Are you thinking about the audience at all when you're writing? Carly Pearce: For sure. I think I know who my fans are.
I know what they want from me. I think they can sniff out if I'm not being completely honest, no pun intended. I think vulnerability is what brings people to my shows. So, yeah, I definitely am thinking about them.
And honestly, when I write from a very real place, I know that I'm speaking straight to them. Joann Butler: Right. I love how you said about age, too. I was going to ask you, do you think being honest gets easier as you get older?
Carly Pearce: I do. I think you stop caring so much what other people think. And in a society where we're all trying to stay young, which, I love Botox like the best of them, but I think saying I'm 36 is not something I'm going to be afraid of. I remember people being afraid for me to call my album 29 because it said my age and that is terrible.
I think you should be celebrated at any age and you can find true happiness at any point in your life, not just when you're young. Joann Butler: I love that. Carly, you have such a long way to go yet. You're still so young.
Wow. I can't wait to see what else you're going to do. My goodness. And you say Honest Woman drops all the facades, the storylines, protecting others, and the person you were supposed to be.
Wow. Is there one song on the album that was especially difficult to finish because it hit so close to home or? Carly Pearce: "Dream Come True" was really hard, but I will say "Happy for Myself" is, it's one of my favorite songs I've ever written. But it exposes the nasty side of comparison even to the people that are closest to you.
And it kind of tells you a real-life story of one of my closest friends, me being jealous of her. Joann Butler: Interesting. Because you always think of the other side and now you're putting it onto yourself and that, that's interesting. Boy, there's nothing more honest than that, Carly.
Really, it's amazing. Which song on the album are you most excited to play live? Carly Pearce: "He Don't Like My Dogs." Joann Butler: Yeah, tell us about that one. How did that come to be?
Carly Pearce: Well, I dated a guy for a short time who was not nice to my dogs and my dogs are still here and he's not. So... Joann Butler: I love it. Carly Pearce: It's an anthem for all of us animal lovers where, you know, you always say like, dogs know best.
They can sniff it out and mine did. They were not having it. It’s my favorite song on the album. Joann Butler: I love it, I love it, I love it.
What's your next favorite song on the album? Carly Pearce: I mean, there's so many for different reasons. I love my collaboration with Molly Tuttle and Dan Tyminski, "What If You Loved Me?". That's really a return to my bluegrass roots that I've never gotten to share.
People are always like, "You should do a bluegrass album." And I want to do that eventually, but I think this really gives like a nod to that. Dan Tyminski and Molly are just incredible. Dan's been my favorite male vocalist since I was a kid, so it's really special to get to collaborate with him. "Same Circus" is a fun one.
Yeah, there's so many different moments on the album that I love. Joann Butler: Awesome. And you've been performing since you were 11. Tell us about that.
How did you get into it? Did you always know you wanted to be a musician? Carly Pearce: My mom says she convinced somebody to take me on as a vocal student at six because she knew I could sing. So there was just never a question that this is what I wanted to do.
I have no idea where it came from. My parents love music, but they were not musical, but my grandparents, as you will learn in this album, they had a really large influence on me musically. And yeah, I've just always wanted to be on stage. I feel way more myself there than I do not.
Joann Butler: So interesting. And then you left Kentucky at 16 to sing at Dollywood. Carly Pearce: That's normal, right? Joann Butler: Yeah.
Totally right. Carly Pearce: I know. When I, now as an adult, I'm an only child and I ask my parents all the time like, "What was wrong with you that you allowed that?" And they just, you know, I was a good student. I've always been a driven person and applied myself in anything I wanted to do.
But I think they just knew this is what I wanted to do. Joann Butler: And good parenting, too. I think that's so important. Parents that help you pursue your dream and believe in everything.
My gosh. What did you think success in music looked like back then? And how does it compare now? Is there any comparison?
Carly Pearce: I think I would have said, "Oh my gosh, if even half of the things that have happened in my career would happen, I would be set." And I think the life of a tortured artist with the highs and the lows and somebody who, you know, sets the bar very high as you realize, “I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out what success means to me.” I think I'm chasing more contentment and peace than success at this point. Joann Butler: Besides music, how do you just keep it together with the life you have and everything you've gone through? Carly Pearce: I drink wine.
I have really good people around me. I have a lot of the same friends that I've had since long before this took off. My parents would kick me in the butt if I ever changed. I live a very simple, normal, not glamorous life outside of this.
I have zero desire to be in the "scene," if you will. And I think that's what keeps meaning. Joann Butler: We can hear it. Honest.
And tell us about Dolly. You have a close mentorship with her. What's she like? Carly Pearce: You know, the thing that you would probably just assume, she wears high heels even to rehearsal.
Cannot relate. And I mean, I'm talking like this high. She is so musical still and so on it, so driving everything that happens, which you look at everything. I mean, she just opened her own gas station truck stop.
Like, she's just incredibly, still motivated at her age and very quick with all of her, anything she needs to do. It was mind-blowing when I got to sing with her and watch her in rehearsals, just, she’s, there's a reason why there's only one Dolly Parton. Joann Butler: What's your favorite Dolly Parton song? Carly Pearce: "Jolene," hands down.
Joann Butler: How come? Carly Pearce: Those women, they wrote from such, just an honest place and she's literally pleading to this woman, "Don't take my man." And if you really think about that, that is the most honest woman you could be. And she wrote that and "I Will Always Love You" in one day, which, queen. Joann Butler: What would you say inspires you creatively?
Carly Pearce: My life, the things around me that make me feel something. Country music has always been the thing that made me feel. From the time I was a little kid, I loved sad songs. I'm sure my parents thought there was something wrong with me when they could hear "You Don't Even Know Who I Am," Patty Loveless, coming from my bedroom when I was like 11.
I'm always inspired by things that make me feel something. Joann Butler: I love that. I have goosebumps. Who were some of your other influences growing up?
Carly Pearce: Loretta, for sure. The way that she wrote music, she didn't care at all. Dolly, Faith, Trisha, The Chicks, Alison Krauss, The Judds, Wynonna, all the good singers. Joann Butler: So good.
So good. Carly Pearce: Lee Ann Womack. Joann Butler: I love it. I love it.
What's something you always bring with you on tour? Carly Pearce: Running shoes. Joann Butler: Yeah? Carly Pearce: Yeah.
I love movement and I think it centers me and it's the only time where nobody can find me and I like that. Joann Butler: What's the first album you ever bought? Carly Pearce: The Woman in Me, Shania. Joann Butler: Any collabs you'd want to do, like, you know, in your dreamscape?
Carly Pearce: My dream was always Stapleton and I did that. And then I think on this album, getting to have a collaboration with Dan Tyminski. That was, I've loved Alison Krauss and Union Station for a long time and that was really special. So maybe Alison next.
Joann Butler: Cool. Awesome. Coffee or tea? And favorite cocktail, which you kind of told us a little bit already.
Carly Pearce: Coffee and wine. Joann Butler: Favorite comfort food? Carly Pearce: Pizza. Joann Butler: Skin care regimens and beauty secrets because you have the most, you're gorgeous and you have beautiful skin.
Carly Pearce: Thank you. Microneedling, I think, is my big thing at this point in life. I love all the kind of serums and retinols. I'm very into skincare, so all of it.
Yeah. I think microneedling would be my big thing though now. Joann Butler: Awesome. Awesome.
Any beauty tips or healthcare advice? Carly Pearce: Never sleep in your makeup. I can't stand, that's like a pet peeve of mine when people do that. I'm like, "You have five minutes.
Do it." I think less is more in a skincare routine. I think people want to put all this stuff on their face and then wonder why it's breaking out. I don't know. I think less is more and drink water.
Joann Butler: So good. Do you believe in love? Carly Pearce: I do. I so do.
Yeah. Joann Butler: If you weren't making music, what would you be doing? Carly Pearce: I don't know because I quit high school. I have a ninth-grade education, so I'd have to marry a rich man.
Joann Butler: Oh my God, I love it. What do you like to do when you're not working? And how do you relax? Carly Pearce: I like to be home.
I like to be with my dogs. I like to cook in my kitchen. I like to go to the grocery store. I like to do laundry.
I'm really boring. I really just enjoy peace when I'm not on the road. Joann Butler: What's your favorite thing to cook? Carly Pearce: I make really good steak.
Had it last night. Joann Butler: What's your best life advice? Carly Pearce: Don't spend a dollar that you don't have. Joann Butler: Oh my God.
So good. You're so good. Yeah, you're so smart. Carly Pearce: No I'm not.
Joann Butler: You are. Your answers are so good. What's next for you? What's something you want to do that you haven't done yet?
Carly Pearce: I really have a heart for young people with creative dreams and I obviously partnered with the CMA Foundation, I continue to do that. I've done a lot of things. But I think continuing to, mentorship, whether it's young artists that I'm taking on tour with me or really young kids in high school, just really helping to be a part of making people realize you can make any dream that you want happen. So, I don't know what that is, but I want to figure out how to do that.
Joann Butler: That's so great. What's your best piece of advice for them? For those kids? Carly Pearce: That I came from a town of less than 5,000 people and went to school with so many kids that wanted to be actors or dancers or singers and somewhere along the way, they felt like they couldn't do that.
And I never lost faith. And if I can do it, you can, too. Joann Butler: I love it. And you will be touring a bit besides just the two shows or?
Carly Pearce: Yeah, I'll be, I'm doing a limited residency, two nights in specific major markets starting this fall with the Honest Woman Tour. So, yes, I'm very excited. Joann Butler: Awesome. And what are fans going to get when they see you play live?
Carly Pearce: I think what I've learned more than anything is people come to hear my storytelling and hear me sing. And I think I'm really doubling down in a way that I haven't before with this tour. And I think it'll be the best yet. Joann Butler: Awesome.
You're such a lovely person. Thank you so much for doing this. Carly Pearce: Thank you, of course. Thank you.
Joann Butler: You are so special and I wish you the best of luck with your beautiful new album and I can't wait to see what you do next. 35. Carly Pearce: 36. Joann Butler: 36, okay.
Carly Pearce: Thank you. Joann Butler: The next Dolly for sure. Carly Pearce: Oh, that's very nice. Thank you.
Joann Butler: Thank you.
