Carly Pearce

And so I see, in choir, it's like, ooh, auditions.

And I'm like, Dolly Parton, I would love to sing at Dollywood.

Hey, can I do this?

And they're like, no.

And so I took the summer to find a homeschooling program that wouldn't require any attention from my mom because my mom was like, I don't know how to teach you.

And so it was like an online kind of like college, but for high school.

And I just kind of presented this to them.

And I'm an only child.

And they were like,

okay let's do it like and so I audition and you just think about the sacrifices that your family make for you and for me my parents were married and they still are married but they sacrifice like my mom lived with me in Pigeon Forge my dad stayed back in Kentucky and took care of my grandfather that was sick at the time and I mean I don't know I just feel like I got such a head start being able to go and perform and kind of have that regimented like grueling schedule of shows and

I was doing six shows a day, five days a week.

And, you know, just as a kid, I think it just really solidified for me.

What I wanted to do because it just taught me like how to sing sick, how to, how to do a show when you don't feel like it, how to work hard.

You know?

I think I was so determined to prove everyone wrong and really to prove to myself that I could do it.

And so I feel like my, from the time I was tiny, tiny, I knew that that's what I wanted to do.

And it was just kind of like, no matter how difficult, because it was even after that, like I spent almost 10 years in Nashville before I ever quote unquote made it.

But I just was like, no, like I am absolutely going to do this.

in more ways than just obviously like as a songwriter you think about you know she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same day it's like two of the most iconic songs in history so like as a songwriter and as a singer for sure but more than that I think what I admire about her she's what in her late 70s yeah and she's still reinventing her brand and gaining fans and

just trying to push the envelope and I've gotten to work with her a few times and I'm sure that you know this it's like she is just so focused and so on her shit in everything she does to where it's just like she doesn't have to right but she's so determined to not be stagnant and that is just something that I really there's very few people that continue to do that decade after decade like she does