Carly Pearce’s Journey

Carly Pearce has remained one of my top mentors to watch in Nashville. We have similar musical upbringings — hers in a bluegrass band, mine in a church choir. She quit high school at age 16 to be able to sing at the Dollywood theme park. A few years later,  her journey started in Nashville at age 19. She endured through years of struggle and worked as a cleaner to help pay her bills.

At one point, she lost an artist development deal and her publishing deal. Her persistence and faith on the trail of these two events is something I too sometimes speak to myself in days of darkness. Her breakthrough came in 2017 with the release of “Every Little Thing” hitting the top of the charts on country radio. The song is reflective of a personal heartbreak: the words are poignant and simple. This song reflects so purely what so many songwriters are trying to do. This is something I take to heart in my own songwriting.

One of the greatest things about her success is getting to share it with her parents who supported her ambitions every step of the way and never doubted those dreams would come true.