No one loves the Grand Ole Opry more than Carly Pearce. The singer just celebrated her 75th performance on the hallowed stage, performing with Steve Wariner, Lee Brice and her husband, Michael Ray in an empty venue, due to COVID-19. Still, whether she is performing in front of guests or not, the Opry will always be Carly’s favorite place to perform.

“I associated playing the Grand Ole Opry with making it,” Carly told Everything Nash and other outlets. “When I played my debut, I was an Airbnb cleaner, so I had not made it. But I felt like in that moment, that the Opry took a chance on me. I didn’t have a song on the radio, but they just believed in what I was doing.

“I know people play the Opry, but I don’t feel like there’s another artist in my generation that’s really put in the work the way that I have with the Opry,” she continued. “I do feel like they were one of the very first champions for me. I meant it the day that I stepped on that stage: I want to be a face of the Opry. I want to be one of those people, in the way that I feel like Carrie Underwood really took it on at the height of her career and put into it what it deserves. I want to carry on that legacy. And I think performing 75 times in five years, hopefully they know that by now.”

At Carly’s last Opry performance, she introduced a new song, “Show Me Around,” written about the loss of her good friend and collaborator, Busbee, who passed away from brain cancer last year. The 30-year-old is already working on new music, after releasing her self-titled sophomore album in February. Although Carly Pearce includes her recent No. 1 hit, “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” with Lee, Carly says that her new project will be different, and very, very country.

“‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ solidified for me, and I think re-reminded people that I want to be the modern country artist, the throwback kind of vintage [style] that becomes progressive,” Carly said. “I’m going to lean hard into it. I can tell you that.”