Market with Apple Music

March 19, 2020 at PDT

I Hope You’re Happy Now (Acoustic Version) - Single

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June 15, 2023 at PDT

we don't fight anymore (feat. Chris Stapleton) - Single

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September 3, 2020 at PDT

Next Girl - Single

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February 13, 2020 at PST

Carly Pearce

“When I first met busbee, I told him, ‘I know you're a pop guy first, but you can't change who I am, which is a country singer,’” says Carly Pearce of the writer-producer, who helped her shape both her 2017 debut Every Little Thing and her new self-titled album before his sudden passing in 2019 from brain cancer. “I felt like really on this record we dialed into the perfect blend of that. He was able, even more on this record than the first, to really push me into seeing where we could take my voice, with it still remaining country.” The final full record that busbee made is powered by sleek, energetic rhythms but colored by incisive licks and solos played on bluegrass-style resonator guitar. “I know that he was very proud of this record and was excited for me, because he really felt like it was going to change the game for me.” Another major event also altered the way Pearce and her fans would experience the songs on her sophomore full-length. When recording began, she was in a new a romance, widely covered by country blogs, with her fellow hitmaker and now-husband Michael Ray. “Forever that will be the start of our relationship,” she says. “We really did fall in love during this record.” Here Pearce walks through each track on her second album.

Closer to You
“That song was the right moment to introduce what was going on in my life, which was falling in love. And I didn't want to come out with something that was too heavy right out the gate.”

Call Me
“That song was written by the boys of Little Big Town [Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook] with busbee and then with Emily Shackelton, who wrote ‘Every Little Thing’ with me. I could hear in there the sass and the swagger that fits my vibe. I have figured out that fans like sad from me and they like sass from me. I just loved what it said. Yes, I am married, and yes, that's an amazing thing. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to feel sexy and want to sing things like that.”

I Hope You’re Happy Now
“‘I Hope You're Happy Now’ was completely my story. I played with Luke [Combs] when ‘Hurricane’ was out, so way before he was what he is now, and I just fell in love with his voice. I felt like we grew up the same; we grew up on '90s country, we're the same age, and we just really love real songs and real singing. So I had asked to write with him, and we went in the room and just started talking and he knew exactly what I was getting out of and entering into, which is my now-husband. [Luke] had the idea, ‘I hope you're happy now,’ and he told me, ‘What if I play the role of your ex and we do a double meaning on it?’ And he started playing this groove and that entire first verse just fell out of my mouth. It just was something that I felt like I needed to say. I would have loved to have sung it with Luke, but at the time I knew I wanted to put it out as my next single, just to further explain to people who I am—I want to be the next-generation female country artist—he wasn't able to do that. I have been a Lee Brice fan for years and years and sent him the song and he flipped out over it. And I will tell you he took it to a place that I didn't even know it could go vocally.”

Dashboard Jesus
“It's almost ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’ meets ‘Wide Open Spaces.’ I kind of felt like it was my ‘Wide Open Spaces’ moment; I totally can relate to the girl in that story that's just giving it her all. I had a record deal in 2012 on Sony, and that song was actually pitched to me then. I never forgot that song. What it reminds me is so many labels in town, so many people in town told me that I was singing music that was dated, that my time had passed in country music: ‘Oh, you would've been so big in the '90s.’ And that song represents that I'm still the same girl singing the same music with the same story. It was just the right timing. And that song is just really special to me because it stood the test of time.”

Halfway Home
“This one was hard to write. I wrote this song before I was able to write ‘I Hope You're Happy Now.’ This is emotions that were happening during the end of a relationship that this person didn't know it was coming to an end. And it's just really real and raw. A lot of people don't want to say that they broke somebody's heart, but we do it. And sometimes we're the one that is at fault. This one is hard for me to even play for people, but I had to go there.”

Heart’s Going Out of Its Mind
“I wrote that song three days after my first date with Michael, and it just kind of happened. I wrote it with Laura Veltz; she's a phrasing genius. She's behind so many songs on the radio right now. I just wanted to capture that feeling of what is happening to me. And I loved that phrasing, just because it felt really hooky. There was almost magic in it; you didn't even have to really know what I was saying. When I took it to busbee, he of course really loved it. I was a backup singer for a while. I sing harmony a lot. I feel like he pushed me on a lot of these harmony parts and this was a fun one for us to build some vocal things to.”

Finish Your Sentences
“Michael and I were just dating. But it was such a moment of me going, ‘Why did I not think of this?’ Because so many people say, ‘Oh my god, we finish each other's sentences,’ but I had never heard a duet where you literally are doing what the song is about. And when [Michael and I] got in there, it was just really fun and we did a lot of layering. I just wanted to capture that fun, flirty feeling.”

It Won't Always Be Like This
“This one, I think, will forever be the most vulnerable song I could personally write about my story. It took on a new meaning in a studio. busbee actually started crying in the studio because it moved him so much, because he was going through something with his brother and making amends. Little did we know he was literally sitting there fighting brain cancer. This song, just when I thought it couldn't get any more personal, it took on a new thing, and I think that everybody can insert their own story into that message.”

Lightning in a Bottle
“Hannah Ellis is one of my good friends, and I had her out on the road with me and she played me [the song]. She was like, ‘I feel like I wrote this song for you and I didn't even know it.’ Even though the demo was pretty R&B, I felt like this could really have some old-school country moments vocally. And it was just a fun departure that I feel like will be a really cool moment live for us to strip down the band and do something a little different.”

Love Has No Heart
“This song reminded me of all those Martina McBride power ballads, and just that really challenging melody. This song really challenged me vocally in a way that I had never been challenged. Trevor Rosen of Old Dominion is a good friend, and he sent me the song and I immediately was just like, ‘I have to do this.’ Dobro has become such a part of my sound, and I wanted just to really take it to a country place in a way that I used to really love and try my hardest to sing like Martina in my bedroom.”

Woman Down
“I heard this song and immediately thought of my mom and the things that she sacrificed through her life. She's been through hell. It's an interesting time right now for women, and I wanted one of those anthemic moments for women. No matter what you've gone through, what you face, what you deal with in any capacity, you are resilient. And the women in my life are super resilient, so I wanted to sing it for them.”

You Kissed Me First
“Hillary Lindsey actually sent this song to my publisher, Daniel. I heard it and it did remind me again, the heartbeat of this record is me finding my way to Michael. I definitely experienced that moment where you're like, ‘Oh my goodness, Is this for real?’ And I loved that Hillary wrote it in mind for me, just because she's been a key part of my sound from the beginning as well.”

Greener Grass
“The lyric just really killed me. I felt like it was such a cool take on the phrase ‘the grass is always greener’ and the elements of the country lyric. I loved ‘Wildest Dreams’ from Taylor Swift, and I felt like this was a moment that we could really make into that for me, just this dreaming world.”

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October 12, 2017 at PDT

Every Little Thing

13 Tracks

February 18, 2021 at PST

29

"I kind of take you through the journey and show you that even if you have struggles or whatnot, you can get to the other side, and it's okay," the Kentucky-born singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. "And life is meant to kind of twist and turn and sometimes surprise us." At age 29, Carly Pearce had a year full of milestones—some good, others less so. Her star was rising as a country singer-songwriter, but she also went through a painful divorce and lost a close friend and collaborator when beloved producer busbee died at age 43. The seven-track 29 EP, which comes on the heels of 2020's Carly Pearce, chronicles not just the events of that year but the lessons that it taught Pearce, many of which she hopes to pass on to her listeners. Opener "Next Girl" channels one of Pearce's idols, Patty Loveless, for an anthem about moving on. "Should've Known Better" grapples with hindsight and accountability with frank compassion. And the title track challenges conventional notions of what one is supposed to achieve by the end of their twenties, reminding listeners that it's okay to take a unique path. Below, Pearce walks Apple Music through each of 29's cathartic songs.

Next Girl
"'Next Girl' was such a turning point for me, as far as just really stepping into the kind of country music that I always wanted to make. I grew up on Patty Loveless and Lee Ann Womack and Faith Hill and all of those ladies that I feel did that kind of rootsy, unapologetic female anthem so well. And it was so awesome to hear the way that we just really brought to life all of those influences that I loved. And it's just kind of what, to me, Patty Loveless' 'Blame It on Your Heart' would be in 2021."

Should’ve Known Better
"That one I actually wrote with two of my dearest friends in the industry, and it came from just a really honest, vulnerable place of trying to not assign blame for things that maybe you overlooked. And I think that that song in particular was kind of my quest, to try to not do that to myself, but I hadn't quite allowed myself to forgive myself for that. I think we all have moments of that."

29
"I've played '29' for some of my friends, and they're very similarly saying to me, 'We know this is your story, but I hear myself in this.' And I think that's just kind of the universal message of why I named the collection 29, which I feel like is a pivotal year for people. You are old enough to know better, but you still have wonder, and you're still excited about life, but maybe things in life didn't turn out exactly as you thought that they might. And you kind of feel like, 'Oh my goodness, am I running out of time? Because I feel old now.' And for me, 29 was a huge year. I lost a lot of things. I lost my producer, and I also clearly went through a super painful divorce and never thought that was going to be a part of my story."

Liability
"I had that idea, the double meaning of liability, and it was kind of one of those moments where you go, 'This is either really awesome or really stupid.' My favorite line in that song is 'The truth about a lie is it ain't never made to last,' and I think that's true in all things in life, and not just in the relationship world, but also the lies that we tell ourselves. And I think there's a lot of things that I had to silence my inner voice on, in my process of writing this album, of just that thing—we're not always nice to ourselves."

Messy
"Going through a divorce during quarantine was not pleasant. But, kind of like piggybacking on what I just said about not being good to ourselves, I think that song was me wanting people to know that when you're going through something difficult, you're going to have moments where you think you're fine. I think, especially in our society today—certainly in my position of being somebody in the public eye—you want to act like you're perfect. And I think this song was me telling myself, and also hopefully telling others, that it's okay to not be okay. And that you need to love yourself and love the process of grief."

Show Me Around
"I flew out to busbee's funeral the week after I got married, and Barry Dean, who's a writer that just is so poetic, he started speaking of heaven like Disneyland and said that he felt like busbee was finding all of the special parts to show his daughters and his wife and all of us when we got there. And I wrote 'Show Me Around' in my phone. And faith is a really big part of my life and it was a big part of busbee's, and so I had no doubt that he was in heaven and I had no doubt that this was the right messaging for him. I took it to two of his very close friends, and we wrote it and it's kind of taken on its own little life for other people. And I hope that it just brings people hope that loss can be something that's kind of bittersweet and they live on and you'll see them again."

Day One
"Shane [McAnally] and Josh [Osborne] actually had started that idea with Matt Ramsey from Old Dominion, and they were like, 'Man, we just could never figure out what it was missing, but it was never quite right.' You feel like there is no way you're ever going to get over this person, but if you can just make it through the first day, you're on the right track. And this song just kind of takes you through that time of trying to realize if you can just take that first step, all these other things are going to happen."

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September 16, 2021 at PDT

29: Written In Stone (Video Deluxe)

Written in the wake of her divorce from another country artist, Carly Pearce’s seven-track EP 29 was released to significant critical and commercial acclaim, notching a coveted 2021 CMA Album of the Year nomination and likely contributing to her June 2021 induction into the Grand Ole Opry. With 29: Written in Stone, Pearce expands the project’s scope, retaining the heartbreak and honesty that made it so beloved while also sharing some of the wisdom and strength she’s gleaned by living and surviving those very stories. “I just want people, no matter what they’re going through in their lives, to know they can listen to this album and see that even when you have to go straight through it, you can overcome it,” Pearce tells Apple Music.

The original EP, including hits like “Next Girl” and “Should’ve Known Better,” features on the collection, along with eight new tracks as well as three videos, including a live performance of the title track. Standouts include the multigenerational heartbreak anthem “Dear Miss Loretta” and the album’s closer, “Mean It This Time,” which offers a measured, hard-earned approach to moving on after heartbreak. Below, Pearce walks Apple Music through several key tracks on 29: Written in Stone.

“Diamondback”
“I want people to start the album knowing that I’m strong and in a good place. I think those whimsical fairy-tale fiddles really set up the image of what happened to me over the last year and a half. So I felt like, sonically, it was a good opener. We had such a good time making this album, and writing this song in particular, because I was at a place where I felt I could be a little sassy and write from strength.”

“Dear Miss Loretta”
“I’ve always loved Loretta [Lynn]. I grew up in Kentucky and was always into her music, but I think when so many things happened to me I realized just how much we had in common as far as really understanding the way she wrote her songs and understanding the magnitude of them. I wanted to write kind of a letter to her, even though I’ve never met her, just showing the similarities we have and how I now understand why she wrote the way that she did.”

“Next Girl”
“I think that was the one that, sonically, happened and I knew it was the direction that I wanted to go for the album, as far as that true ’90s sound, which I hadn’t heard from any female who’s out there right now. I felt like we were tapping into truly what Patty Loveless would do in 2021, or 2020, I guess. I feel like that song, in particular, really encouraged me to walk into my roots and was the starting place for the album.”

“29”
“That song, I had the idea while walking around during quarantine where my parents live. I knew I wanted to write a song called ‘29’—the year I got married and divorced—and I knew that I wanted it to be the title of the album. So I feel like this was an idea that was in my hand that I was nervous to make, in reality, but it really gave the blueprint for how vulnerable I could really go in my music.”

“Your Drinkin’, My Problem”
“I feel like some of my favorite ’90s country songs—‘Neon Moon’ by Brooks & Dunn, ‘Blame It on Your Heart’ by Patty Loveless—they had such a sad lyric but they felt so good. And this is a similar thing. This is a jam, but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s awful. It’s this tale of someone dealing with someone who’s not ready to face their demons and how it’s really affecting you way more than it is the other person.”

“Mean It This Time”
“What I really want people to take away from the album is that I am hopeful and not a scorned woman and not bitter and not feeling like love is never going to happen, and that I really desire all of those things and feel like I deserve them. That was my prayer for the future, that people can end this chapter knowing that I’m hopeful for what’s to come.”

18 Tracks

June 4, 2020 at PDT

Cowboy Take Me Away - Single

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December 3, 2020 at PST

Show Me Around - Single

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June 6, 2024 at PDT

hummingbird

Carly Pearce’s fourth studio album opens with an admission: “Country music made me do it, and I’ll do it till I die.” The award-winning singer-songwriter goes on to list a string of “its,” including taking it “way too far” and letting “the wrong boy” kiss her. Of course, it’s those very moments that Pearce so deftly documents, establishing herself as a major songwriting force in the genre with her evocative, often gut-wrenching accounts of hard times and heartache. On hummingbird, there is no shortage of such moments, though this follow-up to 2021’s 29: Written in Stone feels sonically lighter and more spacious than its predecessors, a vibe hinted at by the record’s delicate title.

Pearce co-produced the LP alongside Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, marking her first time in a producing role. Standouts include “things I don’t chase,” a slow-burn torch song for “the stubborn kind” of man Pearce just “don’t chase,” as well as the head-over-heels infatuation of “trust issues.” Chris Stapleton joins Pearce on the aching duet “we don’t fight anymore,” a ballad about a love whose spark is long burnt out. And Pearce closes the project with its title track, an image-rich accounting of memories that linger and haunt.

14 Tracks