Allister Ann
A lot has changed since Carly Pearce last graced the cover of Nashville Lifestyles.
In February of 2020 the country singer posed beside then-husband Michael Ray for our annual Love Stories issue. But a year later she's single, making new music on her own terms, and ready to take her rightful place in the spotlight.
“I’m just so happy that I get to do this now and stand on my own,” she says proudly.
In February she released some of her most personal work to date. 29, a seven-song project filled with introspective lyrics about her difficult 29th year, gets to the honest heart of Pearce’s struggle with loss and moving on. In September of 2019, Pearce’s longtime producer, collaborator, and friend Busbee passed away from brain cancer. One month later she wed fellow country singer Michael Ray in a family-filled ceremony in Nashville. The marriage would last eight months. It would be an understatement to say that each of those events played a fundamental role in both her new music and her mental state.
“29 is a pivotal time for everyone—you’re an adult. You're aware of things and in a lot of ways know better, but yet still have wonder,” she says.
“I wanted to name this project 29 because these songs came out of that season in my life. I will forever look back on this project as losing Busbee and having to figure out what music looked like without him, and going through something that was super crazy as far as getting married and getting divorced and trying to find my way out of that. I had to swim through all of that and go through all those emotions and heal from that and be able to come out on top.”
Pearce pulls no punches as she addresses the demise of her marriage throughout her new project with songs like “Liability” and lead single “Next Girl.” But it’s the vulnerable title track that delivers the most heart-wrenching look into her personal life.
“For me 29 is the year that I got married and divorced / I held on for dear life but I still fell off the horse / From a miss to a missus then the other way around / The year I was gonna live it up now I’m never gonna live it down,” she sings on the album’s title track.
“The only way that I've ever known how to deal with life is by writing it. I think that what’s so great about this music is that I've had the time to process all of this. I think now it's more about being a woman that understands,” she says. “My message platform has become so much greater than what I ever thought it was going to. Not exactly what I wanted, if I'm totally honest, but also in a lot of ways exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel grateful for that. And I'm proud of this music, because I think it can help a lot of people.”
In the song “Show Me Around,” Pearce pushes through the grief of a different type of loss with a tribute to Busbee. The song’s chorus offers up an optimistic spin on loss.
“I bet you’re up there right now / Making plans and writing out / All your favorite places / That you just can’t wait to take us / And we’ll get to spend forever talking ‘bout whatever / When I get there, promise you’ll track me down / And show me around.”
Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum/ Studio B
Pearce performs with her late producer Busbee.
“My whole world was falling apart when I wrote this song. And he was so much more to me than just a producer. I think everybody has different relationships with people that they work with. But he was like family to me and I often wanted to be able to talk to him and I couldn't,” she says. “There are so many songs speaking about loss that are sad, and we need those songs, but I wanted to write something that was hopeful. I wanted to write it from a place of like they're there, they're getting the next part of your story ready for you. They're figuring out what they need to show you when you see them again. It's given me this whole new perspective. We can think sweet memories about the people that we've lost and not that we'll never see them again. Because we will.”
For Pearce, making the album without her trusted collaborator was another step in that process. And though she felt his absence in the creative process she knows he’s cheering her on.
“All he ever wanted me to do is just own who I am and be confident in that, and I think he would be really proud of this music because he knows this was ultimately the kind of music that I wanted to make.”
In the midst of a dark time, Pearce reached one of her greatest goals when “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” her duet with Lee Brice, was named Musical Event of the Year at the CMA Awards.
Allister Ann
“’I Hope You're Happy Now,’ that whole entire storm of that song—having it be the biggest song of my career to date and watching it go to number one and watching it just have a life of its own was such a gift to make me still feel connected to fans in a year that felt like I was underwater,” she says. “To get that win and to forever be able to say I’m a CMA Award winner for a song that was about my story. It just validated for me that people care what I have to say. And all I've ever wanted was for people in country music to care what I have to say.”
It’s not just the industry and the fans who care. Pearce has a solid group of girlfriends who have supported her through it all. Friends for more than a decade, she says her core group of pals know her better than anyone. Well enough to know when she needed a serious dose of holiday spirit in the midst of a tough season.
“I wasn't going to get a Christmas tree last year just because I was sad. I felt like, you know what, I'm just going to skip a year,” she says. “And at my door showed up ornaments. They had come together and mailed ornaments to one of the girls here [who brought them over together]. And it was all like a June [Pearce’s puppy] ornament, ornaments with them, wine, country music,” she says, smiling at the memory.
“You have to have good friends. You just do. And it's so important to keep that a big part of your life. I think this year, in a really positive way, reminded me of how important those relationships are and to really make sure that you're intentional with them.”
Allister Ann
Pearce’s faith has also been a comfort. Raised a Christian, she says she always relied on that faith, but this past year she says it was tested in every way—and each time she felt more sure of her choices.
“Divorce is not something that Christians want to talk about, and I just felt so validated in that decision through God. He continued to validate at every step that I was making the right decision. I feel forever changed as a Christian through that,” she says.
“I just really was taken down. They say you have to sometimes go down to ash to be rebuilt again. God takes all things and makes them good, and I feel like in a lot of ways that's what this whole project is. It's taken me from ashes back to good.”
In a year that could have broken many, she was able to rise above and find ways to turn the hard times not just into art, but into teachable moments that will last a lifetime. Through her 29th year—and writing the songs on 29—she found herself.
“We all had an uncomfortable last year in some form or fashion. Obviously, mine was a little different than a lot of people's, but it's all about what you do with it,” she says. “Am I going to let this year define me or refine me? And I think it's refined me. I absolutely will take everything that I have experienced, good and bad, in the last 18 months and be forever changed by it.”