Interview with Carly Pearce

Hello!

One of my favourite albums of 2017 was Carly Pearce's Every Little Thing. The songstress who has had her fair share of highs and lows already in the music industry brought out her debut album back in October 2017 after her single Every Little Thing went to number one on the Country Airplay charts. It was a pleasure to catch up with Carly and discuss her songwriting process and influences.

Can you tell me a little bit about your journey so far in Country music?

I’m from Kentucky and always loved music, I come from a family of people who love music, I truly have not known a day where I didn’t want to sing Country music as crazy as that sounds and at 11 years old I fronted my first bluegrass band and moved to Dollywood when I was 16, I dropped out of high school to pursue that. It’s really just been my lifelong quest!

The new album is fantastic, it’s one of my favourites of 2017! Can you talk me through the process of writing and making that come to life?

You only make your debut album once and I wanted to make sure that it showed every aspect of my personality or everything that I’ve been through or am going towards. I feel like it was my “hi” to Country music fans.

Who are your biggest influences, what did you listen to growing up and what do you listen to now?

I love the 90’s and early 2000’s women of Country music, like Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, I love Alison Krauss and songwriters, I love Hillary Lindsey and Natalie Hemby and Sarah Buxton.

What’s your favourite aspect of the industry, Writing, Performing or Recording?

I love each aspect as I think it’s a little bit different each thing and you never get bored, each process helps to link the other and you see the pay off when you see the songs you wrote and recorded, live, when people are singing back to you.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever written a song about?

I wrote a song called Black Sheep once, just about feeling different.

What are your mid-gig thoughts?

I think I play off each crowd depending on what’s going on, I definitely know what I’m going to say and how I’m going to perform each song but you never can predict what a crowd’s going to be like.

What’s next for you?

I’m gearing up for a huge 2018! I’m going to be on tour with Blake Shelton, then Thomas Rhett and some others I can’t announce yet.

And do you plan on coming to the UK?

I do, I’m not sure when yet.

What’s your message for aspiring songwriters? What’s the most important piece of advice you can give to them?

I would just say really dive into my story, I’ve been really transparent as to how difficult it’s been and how many times I was told no. Keep at it, keep writing, keep getting better, keep carving out your identity as a writer and look what can happen.

Carly Pearce’s favourite quote: “She believed she could so she did”