Another chapter in Carly Pearce‘s 29: Written in Stone is officially closed. The Kentucky native performed the second of two sold-out shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on October 27, where she sang songs not only from her latest record, but from her debut Every Little Thing, and eponymous sophomore project, celebrating her five years in country music.
Pearce kicked off the show by emerging onto the top of a staircase, masterfully climbing down while singing “Diamondback,” the first track from 29: Written in Stone. Pearce eased into “Kissed Me First” and “Easy Going,” before paying tribute to Loretta Lynn with “Dear Miss Loretta,” only a few weeks after she passed away
“We lost one of the greatest trailblazers, in my opinion, the greatest trailblazer in country music a few weeks ago. I’ve always loved Lorena. I grew up in a small town in Kentucky. I’m probably related to them.” Pearce quipped from stage. “My Mama Pearce, she loved Loretta. And when I started singing and loving country music, she told me that if I was gonna love country music, I needed to love Loretta. And when your mamaw tells you to do something, you do it.
“My mamaw actually was a coal miner’s daughter, but it wasn’t until some certain events in my personal life did I really understand the way that Lorena told it like it was,” she continued. “So, I wrote this as a letter. I’ve never met her. These were all of the things that I would’ve asked her if I met her.”
Pearce followed “Dear Miss Loretta” with “Should’ve Known Better,” “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” and “If My Name Was Whiskey,” the latter a nod to her first record.
Pearce then returned with Mountain Heart, the bluegrass group that opened for her, to sing “Drivin’ Nails in My Coffin.” followed by “Next Girl,” before Ronnie Dunn surprised the crowd to sing the Brooks & Dunn hit, “Cowgirls Don’t Cry,” which they originaly recorded with Reba McEntire.
The 32-year-old got serious with the crowd, when leading up to her performance of “29,” which she wrote with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne.
“Things got uncomfortable,” Pearce said, recalling March of 2020. “Things got hard. We were scared. And for me, the first thing to go was the stage. And if you don’t know much about us artists, this is where we feel the most at home, and where we feel the most understood. So when this was taken from me, it was super hard.
“And it also didn’t allow me to pretend that everything was okay on stage,” she added, subtly referring to her divorce from Michael Ray, after less than a year of marriage. “Everybody goes through hard things. And sometimes, you think your life is going to go this way, and it goes this way. Or maybe it goes up and then you think it’s going to go down, and it doesn’t. I think it’s all about the way you tackle whatever hardship is going on in your life, and you come out the other side, and you’re better for it. I will write a lot of songs, and I have written a lot of songs. But I don’t think that I will ever quite write one like this again.”
Next up was “Every Little Thing,” the song that Pearce credits with, quite literally, changing her life. The song came out while Pearce was still cleaning Airbnbs, while dreaming of a career in country music.
“People are nasty,” said the singer. “I saw things that I don’t want to see again. When I wrote this song, I loved this song. And I knew that it was the most artistically-true song to who I am that I had written. But I didn’t think that it would ever change anything for me. And when you move to Nashville, you hear this song of, ‘You gotta find your song. You gotta find your three minutes. You gotta find the one.’ And I certainly did not think this was the one.”
Pearce publicly praised JR Schumann, who was the one who made sure others heard the vulnerable song as well.
“It takes one person to hear it, and then if they hear it, they can get it to the other people that can do something with it,” Pearce acknowledged. “And JR, God bless you, because you heard this song, and you told me that this song was going to change my life, and you put it out on SiriusXM The Highway, and it did change my life.”
Pearce continued the emotional roller coaster with “Show Me Around,” which Pearce wrote in honor of her late producer, Busbee, who passed away in 2019, just as she was finishing her sophomore project. Returning to the highs in her life, Pearce celebrated her love of ’90s country with the Dixie Chicks‘ “Cowboy Take Me Away,” shocking the crowd when Kelsea Ballerini joined her for a collaboration on the cover.
Pearce closed out her set with “Hide the Wine,” before returning for an encore with Trisha Yearwood, to sing “How Do I Live.”
“I know that this night is about what we built, but I want you to know that there’s an army behind me in country music, and it’s the kind that I wanted to, so thank you for having me,” Pearce concluded, ahead of the final song in her set with the award-winning “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”
The big events continue for Pearce, who will be inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame on Friday night, October 28. She is nominated for five CMA Awards, including four for “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” with Ashley McBryde, and Female Vocalist of the Year.
Pearce will join Blake Shelton next year for his Back to the Honky Tonk Tour. Find all of Pearce’s music and upcoming shows at CarlyPearce.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of BMLG / Alexa Campbell and Everything Nash
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