Carly Pearce

I got to build a career on signing with a record label that viewed me as a partner and not as an artist who didn't know who she was.

I think as I've gotten older I think it was a blessing that I didn't get a record deal until my late 20s because I think it allowed me to really grow up as Carly not as Carly Pearce.

I, for a long time, was my own tour manager.

Somewhere around 24, 25. I met Kelsea Ballerini... we were like in a girl's therapy group for artists. And she was the only one in the room, but she would, she was like, I got a record deal and my single 'Love Me Like You Mean It' is about to come out. And I hated her.

I think it's so easy for us to kind of just be robots and do day in and day out and not check in with ourselves, and not just kinda make sure we're okay.

I think 2020 for me was the biggest learning lesson of my life.

Losing busbee was such a moment of upheaval. He had believed in me... carried me... brought me through everyone getting deals around me... because he knew something I couldn't see: that it would happen.

That's my heart, I feel like I began and will die in country music.

My grandparents were very, very close with me. I was the only grandchild.

My parents and I are so close. We're best friends.

That first record, I wrote before I had a record deal.

I never intended for my singles to completely mirror my life, but they really have.

There were some really tough times during those years of true heartache and depression from just not understanding why I couldn't get anything going.

When you are starting a career you have to have confidence.

I have a problem. I love shoes, I love clothes, I love makeup.

I went through some things that I shouldn't have had to go through. But I came out on the other side. I'm not bitter. I'm not jaded.

I'm such a fan of talented people and especially women and I feel like getting to collaborate is one of the most fun things we get to do as artists.

Life doesn't always turn out the way we thought it would.

We all struggle.

When you're 29 and divorced, that certainly doesn't sound pretty.

It's my lifelong dream to be able to do what I'm doing. So it feels unbelievable to be even considered one of the women in country.

When you go through things publicly, there's no hiding.

I think for me, I've learned how strong I am.

I wish that more women would be vulnerable with other women because none of us on this side of Heaven will ever reach perfection. I think that needs to be normalized.

You can say you have faith, you can say you believe in God, but until you feel completely uncomfortable, not knowing where to turn, at your lowest - that is where you have to decide to trust that God's timing is right and that He will show you why you're going through this.

I have a lot of gratitude to so many people.

It's crazy out on the road and you really have to take care of your body to make it through.

My mom and I, we have two movies that we watch every year. We watch 'The Family Stone' and we watch 'The Holiday' and that's kind of our thing. We may watch them twice. I always know it's Christmas when my mom and I are on the couch watching that.

I try to eat organically.

I used to travel around and dream of being Sonya Isaacs of the Isaacs family.

I actually grew up singing bluegrass gospel.

I went through a public divorce and wrote a project called '29' that really just is all about speaking your truth and owning the fact that we all go through things in life and it's all about what comes out of them.

I've always been an old soul.

I refuse to give up.

I had plenty of people pass on 'Every Little Thing.'

I had no backup plan. I wanted to have a music career since I was 5 years old. I know that might be hard to believe, but it's true.

A lot of executives simply told me that my sound was dated and wouldn't work, kind of telling me essentially to go away, that my music would never work in that 'bro-country' world. It broke my heart at times, but I also believed strongly in the music.

I consider myself primarily a songwriter first, so the goal is to write songs that might be personal, but that people can translate into their own particular life.

I think when you go through a lot of changes in every aspect of your life, you kind of realize that imperfections are kind of what make us all ourselves.

Busbee was like a family member to me.

I do have fun, and I'm sassy.

I think you only make your debut album once, and you only get that one chance to make a first impression.

I'm just trying to make the best music that I can.

I think that I know in my heart that I am making music that I would bet my life on.

I grew up loving Alison Krauss and the Cox Family, Ricky Skaggs and Dan Tyminski.

I feel like I needed to grow up. I needed to grow up as a songwriter. I needed to grow up as a singer, a performer. I needed to grow up as a woman.

For so long I felt like I needed to be 18, 19, 20 years old because that's what the entertainment industry tells you.

I didn't know what 'Every Little Thing' was going to do.

My life has completely changed. Overnight it changed with 'Every Little Thing.'

Sometimes in the arenas it's hard to really feel that human connection just because you are so removed and so much further away from the crowd.