Carly Pearce Conquers the Mother Church: 'All My Country Music Dreams Are Coming True Tonight'
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Alexa Campbell Carly Pearce
Since announcing her first headlining concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium last May, Carly Pearce has had to wait five long months to make the stage her own. But in so many ways, she says, "it really does feel like I've waited my whole life for this."
Even as a little girl growing up in Kentucky, Pearce knew the Ryman is the Mother Church of Country Music. Her country music-loving grandparents made sure of that. She knew its stage is where all the greats have stood and that headlining there is an anointment. And she knew, if she had the career she dreamed about, it would take her there.
Her date with destiny arrived on Wednesday night, and fittingly, she gave the performance of a lifetime: Over the course of an hour and a half, the 32-year-old artist exquisitely told her story in song and spoken words, tracing her arduous journey from that little girl to her present-day reign as CMA and ACM female vocalist of the year.
"I'm gonna say it probably all night," she told her sold-out crowd, "but all of my country music dreams are coming true tonight."
And still one had to ask, what took her so long? No doubt the strength of her blockbuster 2019 hit "I Hope You're Happy Now" could have moved up this milestone.
But sitting in the cozy Minnie Pearl/Roy Acuff Dressing Room a couple of hours before her performance, Pearce pointed out what arrived in the intervening years: her career-making album, 29, which heralded her turn to a more traditional country sound.
"I'm honestly glad [the Ryman debut] was on this album [cycle]," she told PEOPLE. "I feel like I just figured out a lot of my artistry through this album."
The vulnerability of 29, written in the painful aftermath of her divorce from fellow artist Michael Ray, also bonded her to fans in ways she hadn't fully experienced before — a fact borne out by her Ryman ticket sales: The Wednesday night show sold out in an hour, and an added show, on Thursday night, was also a sellout.
That fan response, said Pearce, is what means the most: "I'm so grateful for hit songs. I'm really grateful for awards. But to sell hard tickets? That is a whole other ballgame. There is no luck of the draw with that. You earn that. … I've watched a lot of [Ryman] shows and been a part of a lot of shows with every pew full. But tonight it's full because people wanted to come and see me."
Alexa Campbell Carly Pearce
Savoring the moment, Pearce easily reflected on what's made the Ryman so special to her, beginning with her beloved grandparents, who listened on the radio to the Grand Ole Opry during the 31 years that the Ryman was its home.
"My mom actually had that radio refurbished for me," Pearce said, "and now I have that radio. It's in our blood, especially on the Pearce side of my family. My grandparents just loved when they figured out that I loved country music. It was just what we did together. So they had books on the Opry and on the Ryman, and they really just took me to school."
After moving to Nashville, at age 19, to pursue her career, she spent hard-earned money to buy a ticket for her first visit to the Ryman — to see Nickel Creek, an Americana trio with bluegrass roots (again reflecting Pearce's love for traditional country).
Pearce made her Opry debut in May 2015 at the Grand Ole Opry House, and later that year, she first stood on the Ryman stage during the time the radio show moves there for a couple of winter months.
"Oh my gosh, scared to death," Pearce says, recalling that moment.
Standing on the stage, she points out, offers performers almost a spiritual sensation, staring up at the former church's iconic stained-glass windows on the facing walls. "My guitar player actually has the stained-glass windows tattooed on his arm," Pearce shares. "There's something about that sight. You feel the artists that shaped you. They've all stood in that same spot. Then the ones that have passed on, they're almost up there. I don't know how to explain it, but it does really feel sacred."
At the time, Pearce was still an unsigned artist, still trying to make ends meet by cleaning Airbnb houses, but she says, the Ryman appearance still "felt like a 'made it' moment."
Alexa Campbell Carly Pearce
Over the years, as her career has taken off, Pearce has had many more opportunities to appear on the stage, perhaps most notably as the host of the last two ACM Honors awards show, so by the time Wednesday night arrived, she says, the building has come to "feel just like home."
For her headlining show, Pearce revealed, her first inclination was to simply reprise her successful "29" tour, which she took around the country earlier this year.
"And then my manager was like, no, no, no, no, no," she recalls. "He said, 'I want you to put together a show that really reflects your 13 years here and also your six years as a mainstream artist.'"
Embracing the challenge, Pearce threw herself last summer into designing the one-of-a-kind show. Leaving nothing to chance, she and her band spent two full days in rehearsal this week, and she worked on final fine-tuning during a meticulous soundcheck the afternoon of the show.
Significant attention was paid to one small but crucial detail: her descent of a steep riser, used during her grand entrance, while she balanced on pencil-thin heels. That jitter-inducing moment was on her mind later as she sat on her dressing room couch, portraits of Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff, like guardian angels, hanging above her.
"I think once I make it down the stairs on the first song," she said, "I'll be fine."
Practice made perfect: When the Ryman's curtains parted, Pearce floated down the dozen steps, buoyed by the crowd's roar and the sparkly sass of opening song "Diamondback," from 29.
Alexa Campbell Carly Pearce
She seamlessly segued from memorable moment to moment, revealing the sweep of the show in her first song selections, which hopscotched around all three of her albums. During her introduction to "Dear Miss Loretta," a song that connects Pearce's heartaches to the late Loretta Lynn's own hurtin' songs, she also quickly signaled her intent to pay tribute to her heritage throughout the evening.
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"My Mammaw Pearce loved Loretta Lynn," she explained to her audience, "and when she figured out that I loved country music, she told me that I was gonna love Loretta Lynn, and I don't know if you all agree, but when your mammaw tells you to do something, you do it. So I've always loved Loretta. 'Blue Kentucky Girl' was the first song that I ever learned to play on guitar."
A half-hour into the show, Pearce brought out first surprise guest, Hall of Famer Bill Anderson, another nod to tradition that obviously pleased the crowd, which greeted him with a standing ovation.
Aware that many of today's country fans may not know who he is, the 84-year-old Anderson embraced the ovation with modesty.
"When they stood up, I thought they was going home," he quipped to Pearce.
Alexa Campbell Bill Anderson and Carly Pearce
Introducing their duet, she explained that Anderson requested they sing "Some Day It'll All Make Sense," which Anderson just released in August with perhaps Pearce's all-time favorite idol, Dolly Parton.
"You said, 'I put out this song with Dolly — would you mind doing that with me?'" Pearce recalled, pausing to offer a "would I?" eye-roll. "I said, 'I think I could do that.'"
After ramping up the crowd with barn burners "Next Girl" and "Everybody Gonna Talk," Pearce had four of her band members circle around her like a campfire to offer new acoustic interpretations of three of her most soul-baring songs: album title track "29"; her first No. 1, "Every Little Thing"; and "Show Me Around," her eulogy to producer Busbee, who died of brain cancer in 2019. For the latter, she sang mostly with eyes closed and a hand pressed to her heart, clearly caught up in emotion.
Highlighting her love for bluegrass, Pearce then brought out second surprise guest, Ricky Skaggs, a fellow Kentuckian and Opry member who arrived with mandolin in hand, ready to join her for the bluegrass standard "Blue Moon of Kentucky."
Alexa Campbell Ricky Skaggs and Carly Pearce
Pearce introduced the song by recounting how, as a fourth-grader, that was what she sang to win an elementary school talent show. (In fact, she added, the outfit she wore for the show, hand-sewn by her mother, will be unveiled behind glass on Friday as she's inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.)
"We're about to take the church to bluegrass music!" she exulted as she launched into the duet with Skaggs, a Hall of Fame member. "I'm gonna die. I wish I could tell my fourth-grade self that had braces and wasn't cute that this was gonna happen."
Pearce topped the show with two more of her biggest crowd-pleasers, current climbing single, "What He Didn't Do," and "Hide the Wine," a favorite off her first album. Both evoked lusty singalongs from the crowd, which had been showering Pearce all evening with shouts of "I love you!"
"I love you, too!" Pearce responded each time.
At one point, that wasn't enough for one audience member, who shouted, "We love you more!"
Alexa Campbell Gary LeVox and Carly Pearce
The encore arrived with one last surprise — the appearance of Gary LeVox, who traded vocal runs with Pearce on his Rascal Flatts hit, "What Hurts the Most." The two became friends when Pearce toured with the superstar group in 2018; two weeks ago, LeVox offered more props to Pearce when he presented her with a CMT artist of the year award.
Pearce ended her show on the high of "I Hope You're Happy Now," which she joyfully duetted with her opening act, label-mate Jackson Dean.
As she introduced the song, the tears that she'd warned all night had been threatening finally began to fall.
"I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, and girls dreamed of a lot of different things," she said, the words catching in her throat, "but this is what I dreamed of."
Alexa Campbell Carly Pearce and Jackson Dean
For Pearce's second sold-out show on Thursday night, she brought out surprise guests Kelsea Ballerini, Trisha Yearwood and Ronnie Dunn, as well as opening act Mountain Heart. On Friday, she was headed to Mount Vernon, Kentucky, for her hall of fame induction. In two more weeks, she'll be at the CMA awards with five nominations, including female vocalist of the year, and two performance spots during the show.
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And after that?
Before the Wednesday show, Pearce confirmed that she is ready to close the "29" chapter — the Ryman performances, she added, are helping to put a period on that — and to move on to the next chapter. And, of course, life has given her new inspiration.
"Am I happy? Am I in love? Absolutely," she confirmed with her boyfriend of more than a year, Nashville real estate entrepreneur Riley King, sitting just a few feet away in the dressing room.
Studio time is reserved in just three weeks, and she'll be arriving with a new batch of personal songs. "I know what's coming," she teased, "and I feel really excited about that."
