Carly Pearce talks '29: Written In Stone' divorce album, closing out 'biggest year of my life' in Nashville
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When Carly Pearce moved to Nashville, she heard "no." A lot.
No, her voice wasn't strong enough. No, she wasn't ready for a label deal. No, she needed better songs.
"When I drive down Music Row, I have the mental image and the weight of the years that I spent crying in my car," the 32-year-old country singer said in an interview with The Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Despite each "no," Pearce played on. For years, she sang inside the Bluebird Café and Puckett's Grocery — Nashville haunts familiar to dream-chasing storytellers. She felt at times like her proverbial wheels may be stuck in the muck of a muddy industry. She could've put her creative truck in park, walking away from the country music success she dreamed of since childhood.
But Pearce continued to trudge. Rejection isn't permanent, after all. Today, she knows that "no" meant something different: "Not yet."
Now, when many think of a teary-eyed Pearce, it's on stage at the CMA Awards last year — where she collapsed to her knees after winning Female Vocalist of the Year.
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The award anchored a remarkable rise behind her breakout album, "29: Written In Stone." Like a handful of women who received the honor before her, this Kentucky native climbed to her place among today's celebrated three-chord truth-tellers with songs about heartbreak, hard-earned healing and life in between.
Chronicling the singer's public divorce, "29: Written In Stone" connected with those who heard a familiar messiness, pain and eventual redemption in Pearce's words. The album propelled Pearce to a Grand Ole Opry induction, an ACM Award for Female Artist of the Year and five nominations at the upcoming CMA Awards — including a return to Female Vocalist of the Year.
And next week, Pearce closes the chapter on "29" with a two-night run at the Ryman Auditorium, her first headlining shows inside the so-called Mother Church of Pearce's beloved country music.
"To have my own two shows to close out what has been the biggest year of my life, it solidifies for me (that) a lot of the dreams that I had are coming true," Pearce said.
Diving into '29'
In early 2020, today's achievements for Pearce might've felt like a lifetime away. Her song "I Hope You're Happy Now," a duet with Lee Brice, cracked top five on country radio — a stop on its way to reaching No. 1 and scoring a handful of award wins.
One problem: She needed a follow-up single, and she didn't know where to turn after longtime producer Busbee died months earlier. She asked herself: How do I make music without him?
"I did not know who I was going to work with," Pearce said, "how I was going to trust somebody this fast."
She wasn't solely grieving the loss of a musical confidant, either. That season, Pearce approached another life-shaking change: Divorce. She hopped on writing session alongside go-to Music Row storytellers Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally with plenty to unpack.
"I remember the two of them coming up on my screen on Zoom - and this is very who I am as a person: I don't lie," Pearce said. "I saw them and I was like, 'I'm filing for divorce next week.' They were both like, 'Oh. My. God.'"
On the other end of the call, Osborne heard a heartbreaking story he knew could fuel emotion-stirring music.
"Shane was like, 'Do you feel like writing?'" Obsorne said. "(Pearce) said, 'I think writing's the only way I'm going to get through this.'"
They dove in head-first, changing the course of Pearce's next release.
The two-day session produced a pair of songs essential to the album: "Next Girl," a warning call to those who may follow in her footsteps, and "29," a heart-on-her-sleeve reflection of "the year that I got married and divorced," she sings.
"I remember writing '29' and being like, 'there is no way this song is going to live anywhere,'" Pearce said. "The year I got married and divorced? That makes no sense on paper (for) what commercial music is.
She added, "I never set out to write a concept album ... I was going through this in real-time. This heartbreak. If you listen to this album, you can hear that."
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"Next Girl" and "29" marked the first two entries in a therapy that Nashville knows best: Songwriting. In the weeks to come, Pearce chronicled her breakup with uncompromised storytelling delivered with a backdrop of old-school country sounds — the kind of music this Kentuckian and one-time Dollywood singer cut her teeth on.
She told her side of the story in "What He Didn't Do," reaffirmed her self-value in "Should've Known Better" and outlined how moving on can be dirty work in "Messy."
"I was writing the initial shock, the realization, the anger, the sadness," Pearce said, "the hope and the redemption at the end. I feel like I healed. I wish that everyone who went through a divorce or a heartbreak or a loss could have the blueprint that I had for myself — seeing my relationship for what it was."
'She put it all out there'
Were her songs too personal? At times, Pearce wondered if anyone could connect with lines deeply rooted in her story.
But at its best, music transforms personal experience into universal truth. "29: Written in Stone" found heavy-hearted listeners who needed to hear her songs. From Nashville to London and back again, they line barricades at her shows, carrying posters that tell Pearce she did pen a blueprint for moving on.
When she takes the stage, they hang on to every word — reciting each syllable with a passion reserved for songs that sound tailor-made for each's life story.
"29: Written In Stone" initially started as an EP, but Pearce needed to "finish the story" for herself and those she saw connecting with the songs.
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"I wanted to finish the story for anybody out there — especially young people who are shamed by divorce, young people who are staying in a marriage because they're afraid to leave," Pearce said. "Anybody who's experienced loss in any way who feels debilitated by it. I wanted to finish it for them."
In sharing a story embraced by so many, those close to Pearce saw her become more comfortable with herself, said Scott Borchetta, president of Big Machine Label Group, the record company that signed Pearce in 2017.
"She put it all out there," Borchetta said. "Through the fear of doing that and seeing the acceptance, she's become more accepting."
And on stage inside Bridgestone Arena last year, those close to Pearce watched as her year of despair transformed into the "yes" she waited a lifetime to hear. She earned Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2021 CMA Awards, one of the highest honors in Nashville each year.
Pearce sobbed speechlessly from the stage as she entered a class of women that includes Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton — artists she grew up idolizing alongside dreams of her name one day being called.
"So few of us make it to Nashville, so few of us get a record deal," Pearce said. "So few of us get a single out. So few of us get a top 40 single. Even smaller get a No. 1. How may women get Female Vocalist of the Year?
"I didn't go to prom. I didn't do that phase of my life. But it feels like the greatest moment like that you could ever have. You're a part of the group you always wanted."
Stepping on stage at the Ryman
Now, Pearce celebrates her year of wildfire success by bringing "29" to the historic Ryman stage. She'll play two sold-out shows Wednesday and Thursday inside the hallowed downtown tabernacle.
Stepping on stage at the Ryman? It means "so much more" than one album, Pearce said.
"I think it's just going to be one of the most special moments that I'll ever have," she said, "and (it will) make me feel like I'm creating a true career that'll transcend a lot of decades."
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Inside the Ryman, she'll close the chapter "29: Written In Stone," an album Pearce now describes as helping her learn "so much" about herself, her sound and her album-making process.
As for what's next? No matter what story she tells, it likely won't come with hearing "no" too many times along the way.
"In this next phase, I'm just excited to keep doing what I've always done, which is write what's going on in my life," she said. "Do I have a big divorce to write about right now? Thank God no, I don't. "I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that I conquered that chapter of my life in a graceful way. But I'm excited to be able to show fans what I've been up to."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carly Pearce on divorce album, performing at Ryman in Nashville
