Carly Pearce on Resilience, Authenticity, and Self-Awareness

Episode Summary

Carly Pearce, the Grammy Award-winning country music star and CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, knew from the time she could talk that she wanted to be a country music singer. Growing up in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, she had parents who backed that dream with a vocal coach at six, homemade outfits for local talent shows, and rides to open mics and karaoke nights. As a teenager, she left high school for homeschooling and took her first job performing in the country show at Dollywood.

Her path after moving to Nashville in 2009 was anything but linear. She cleaned Airbnbs, worked retail, sang backup, and landed and then lost both a publishing deal and a developmental record deal. What carried her, she tells Adam, was her ability to push through hardship, take direction and criticism, and outwork people. Recognizing that Nashville knew her but didn’t need her, she resolved to keep writing until she wrote the song that proved otherwise, and that song became her first single, “Every Little Thing.”

Carly calls self-awareness one of her superpowers: she is quick to see when something isn’t working and to course-correct. She looks for team members who share her vision for her art, can have hard conversations with her, and run at her pace, and she has fired people who didn’t meet her expectations. Living on a tour bus with the people she employs, she has learned when to be a friend, a bandmate, and the boss. The turning point in her career, she says, was “29: Written in Stone,” the album she wrote during the pandemic, when she followed her own intuition fully for the first time.

She describes creativity as the product of work, writing a lot of bad songs to get to the good ones, and names Loretta Lynn as her biggest inspiration. She reflects on what she learned from Dolly Parton, whom she watched rehearse every detail until it was perfect well into her seventies. Carly also opens up about her diagnosis of recurrent pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac around the heart that first affected her in 2020, and why she now urges people to be their own health advocates. She explains the non-negotiables that help her keep some balance, including exercise, quiet time, and blocked-off days; why she judges each day by whether she did everything she could and stayed authentic, rather than by charts or awards; and how journaling, reminders of her worth, and her faith help her fight self-doubt and tune out online negativity while still welcoming honest feedback from her team.

What You’ll Learn

Use rejection as fuel, Carly says: when Nashville knew her but didn’t need her, she kept writing until she wrote the song that proved otherwise, which became her first single, “Every Little Thing.”

Coachability and perseverance matter as much as talent, Carly says, crediting her ability to take direction and criticism for carrying her through lost publishing and record deals.

Build a team that shares your vision, will have hard conversations with you, and runs at your pace, and lead by example so they see how hard you are working.

Trust your own point of view, Carly says: “29: Written in Stone,” the album she wrote fully from her own intuition, took her career to the next level.

Judge yourself by your effort and authenticity, not by results you can’t control, Carly says, because songs she expected to be hits weren’t, and songs she doubted won awards.

Set non-negotiables that protect your health and balance, such as exercise, quiet time, and blocked-off days, and be your own advocate when your body is telling you something.

About Carly Pearce

Carly Pearce is a Grammy Award-winning country music singer and songwriter from Taylor Mill, Kentucky. She won the Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2023 for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” with Ashley McBryde, was named CMA Female Vocalist of the Year in 2022, and has also won ACM Female Artist of the Year. Her albums include “29: Written in Stone,” and she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2021. Carly has partnered with the LifeDisRPted campaign to raise awareness of recurrent pericarditis, a condition she lives with.

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