- 1 week ago
We’re all seeing a side of Carly Pearce usually reserved for her closest friends, as the singer looks to reveal new layers on her latest album, 'Honest Woman.' Pearce recently joined Katie Neal to talk about the project, awkward music videos, life on the road, and more this week during the 'Superstar Power Hour.'
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00:01ACM CMA Grammy Award winning Carly Pierce brand new album Honest Woman is out now we're going to
00:06talk all about that but first I just want to know like how has your summer been how have you
00:08been
00:09what have you been up to so good just so excited to get this music out I feel like I've
00:14I've been
00:15working on this album for almost two years and just the fact that it finally there's nothing
00:18like getting to put out a new album yes so exciting what are you hoping that people take
00:23away from Honest Woman after they've had like a full listen to a top to bottom I hope they get
00:28to know me better and I know that's an odd thing to say but I feel like I really stretched
00:34myself on
00:34this one to go places that I haven't before and I I hope I hope they get to know me
00:41better and
00:41I hope they feel seen when you say you stretched yourself what do you mean by that I this is
00:48my
00:48fifth record and I think I started to wonder what else was left to say and challenged myself to think
00:57about okay yes there are like we have no problem with heartbreak we have no problem with you know
01:04sass but like take it a step farther and I just really kind of peeled back some layers of my
01:09own
01:10self to think about maybe what people don't know about me that like my closest friends would know about
01:17me and it was like a really interesting exercise that I feel like allowed some different kinds of
01:24songs to come out of me maybe that people were not expecting I totally see that like on church girl
01:29or you can have him like you can have him the sass is full yes yes just love that talk
01:35about writing
01:36that song and like where that like the inspiration for that came from and how it like became what it
01:40was you can have him I felt like I've always said that traditional country music was a big part of
01:48my
01:48life but I'd never really had like a true to me when you start listening to that song it's upright
01:53bass um it sounds like maybe what Loretta Lynn would have sang in like 1965 on the Opry yes like
02:00we go there um and I wrote it with Carter Faith on my tour bus we were on tour together
02:04I did not know
02:06that yeah Carter's like Carter is such a special artist and kind of feels like my little sister I met
02:11her when she was like 19 um during the pandemic I had her get up at the listening room when
02:15I played
02:15long before anybody knew who she was because she just blew me away um and she's such an incredible
02:20writer and she writes from this kind of um I was not as skilled of a writer as she is
02:28at 25 she she
02:30has this kind of I don't care what you think mentality um and so we wrote this song on my
02:35bus
02:35and I think we both feel the same way about you know people with a wandering eye if you're gonna
02:40look
02:40over there go get it yeah and it felt a little bit to me of that straightforwardness that I always
02:46loved from Loretta oh my gosh it's such a good one I love that is there was there anything you
02:52were
02:52nervous to play for people or what are you like most excited that everyone's getting to hear now
02:58I I feel like happy for myself was my favorite just of the bunch it's a very very true story
03:04for me
03:05so I that just came out and I was really excited about that um that one wrecked me that one's
03:09a lot
03:10that one's a lot I think um for any of us like you know mid 30s 40s just feeling it
03:17um so that one
03:19means a lot to me same circus I love I think it's really well written if I do say so
03:23myself um but I
03:25love the whimsical side of that one and I love he don't like my dogs oh my god it's so
03:30good too we're
03:31gonna get more into that and like the um the album special that you're hosting I love that one
03:35I do want to talk about the single yeah if I don't leave I'm gonna stay obviously this got a
03:40lot of
03:40attention for the music video with Riley what I was thinking though as I was watching is like I want
03:45to
03:45see the bloopers from this because I know at some point that you must have got the giggles or like
03:48something like you know it's funny we didn't get the giggles as much as I thought we would which
03:54is surprising I've known Riley for a long time but getting that I remember when we watched the
04:00rendering that morning just of like how close we were going to be to get to each other I literally
04:05sent my assistant out to get champagne immediately like I was like I I don't know if I can do
04:09this
04:10like I'm a very um like private person in that way so I was like this is this is so
04:18unbelievably
04:19awkward um we the first scene that we had together was that scene where we're singing together
04:25like we can't even warm up we didn't get to warm up you know it wasn't just like like a
04:29hold of the
04:30hand or like a slow dance no let me see how close I can put your face to where you're
04:36not touching but
04:37you might um and there was one moment where we both because they wanted us to stare in each other's
04:42eyes and we lost it I mean it was just and you know there's tons of people around you it
04:48was just
04:48the most like we need to close set this is so awkward I was like I don't know if I
04:52can do this all day
04:53um but we I think we both knew if we would commit and sell it like it could be really
04:57something
04:57special and I think it's become something pretty special no it has I just like was thinking I was
05:02like they must have just really had time died by the end though I'm like sitting on his lap throwing
05:07my leg over his leg he's like kissing my shoulder we're like we don't care because I was like what
05:11time of day this is probably like early in the morning too right oh we started at like 10 a
05:14.m yeah
05:14you know just like very um not in a place where I'm feeling like I can handle this for 12
05:20hours
05:21amazing so you're about to go out on the honest woman up close tour you're doing two nights in
05:27multiple cities that you can be in smaller venues with fans talk about like what you're really
05:31excited about for this I've gotten to travel and tour in all different venues sizes you know all
05:38these things and I'm very lucky that I've gotten to do all of that but I think what I have
05:42found
05:43that my favorite are the smaller venues and just being able to be kind of having a conversation
05:49people don't come to my shows to like see the lights and the costume changes and the videos
05:54they come to see me sing and they come even more than that to hear me talk um that's become
05:59like
06:00the storytelling part of my shows and honestly like my band were very musical on stage I think
06:04it's because I grew up watching um Alison Krauss and her band um I wanted to be able to be
06:12close
06:12to them and have conversations and have it be off the cuff and um I think when you've done
06:18this for as long as I have you start to want to where am I going to be fulfilled and
06:24what's going
06:24to feel fun and not just like down the assembly line we have to go play this venue and do
06:28this and
06:29do it this way um I really wanted to make it different really for myself yeah I'm sure it also
06:33helps you be more present in the room when it doesn't feel like an assembly line of shows and I
06:38think that's so fun like you know I always think like a lot of times you'll see like a big
06:41huge
06:42concert and then you see it in another city and it's like oh this is the same monologue so I
06:45feel
06:45like for you to be able to like just sit down and talk and have a conversation almost like
06:49exactly every sharp you're like really in it and it's so much more fun for you specifically I think
06:54that's great yeah it's bad when you know you get to a place where your band can pretty much recite
06:58what you're going to say on stage you know what I mean like I want to I feel like this
07:01is going to
07:03reinvigorate some of my touring exactly and I know that you are super close with your band I'm
07:08always like laughing at all the content you guys are doing together when you were playing them the old
07:12recordings of you like yodeling and stuff I was dying they are yodeling that's insane is insane
07:19when when they realized it was me they keep me very humble I'll tell you that they're like the
07:24four brothers that I never had truly I I was laughing because they were saying I think it was
07:28like I wish this would have come out when like little Hank was like at Walmart like you almost like
07:33you could have been that might have been your path it could have been my path for sure yes what
07:37would
07:37you say do you have like what is in your tour survival kit like when you're going on the road
07:41what do you need with you Johnny and June obviously oh my gosh you know Johnny and June have kind
07:45of
07:45been um kicked out of touring oh no they have yeah they being naughty they're a little naughty I have
07:51to be honest like um they bite people oh no it's terrible they do they're very sweet if they love
07:57you
07:57but they'll bite you um we used to think Johnny was peeing in my guitar player's bunk but I think
08:04it
08:04was June they're bad like naughty is the word that we use for them yeah I love them so much
08:10but
08:10they've kind of become like divas okay they stay at their grandparents house um they Johnny had like
08:16a horrible episode where he ate something that hurt him we had to take my tour bus to the vet
08:20and that
08:21was the emergency vet overnight I was like you guys are fired like it's over you're gonna stay in
08:26Alabama and just chill out I can't imagine having like an emergency with the dog like Megan Maroney I
08:30was just talking to her about this she's like I literally played this huge show and she's like and
08:33the dog had diarrhea all over the bus in the middle of the night and she's like I'm like on
08:36my hands and
08:36he's crying I'm like I can't imagine doing that oh I I I don't he had some kind of issue
08:42yeah and I
08:43mean it was we had to pull the bus over and fight it was it's just not it's not ideal
08:47you don't want
08:48to be momming when you're out there you don't and I think the quality of life unless so my babies
08:52were born during COVID so they were at home to put them on a bus and do that life that's
08:58tough it's not
08:58really great so they they love their life in Alabama okay so Johnny and June stay home what else is
09:04in
09:04tour survival kit um orbit gum love orbit gum sweet men um my running shoes you run so much like
09:13I
09:13always you inspire me I never actually go out and run but when I see other people running I'm like
09:17really good I love to run or do you listen to something when you run are you like it depends
09:23okay so I run with my bass player and he's actually I don't know what is going on but he
09:30is he's like in
09:31his stride of running we've been running together for like eight years he's sending me pictures on
09:36the treadmill running 11 miles on a treadmill like he's he's lost his mind a bit so now we
09:43sometimes don't listen to music because we're both he used to be like don't talk to me if I'm
09:46gonna be able to keep up with you I'm gonna have to like skip one mile and listen to music
09:50he listens
09:50to Beyonce when he runs um but sometimes we'll talk I can't listen to like an audio book and I
09:57can't
09:57listen to like a podcast me either has to be music or I'm talking something with tempo and I
10:02yeah I I none of I don't understand people who are like oh I listen to a podcast and go
10:07for a
10:07nine mile run I'm like no no no no can't do that at all what about pre-show rituals like
10:12what is the
10:13stuff that you and the band do every night before you go out on stage we we're we are best
10:17friends um
10:18um so we all hang out um we usually have a drink or two um sometimes three uh and just
10:26like listen
10:26to music and hang out and just kind of like get a vibe we really this is truly like musically
10:32the
10:32best configuration that I've had musically but also just like personalities we are very very close
10:38that's so fun because I can't even imagine how hard it is to manage that dynamic you know so I'm
10:44on a
10:44bus with them I refuse to not be I think that's really important I I don't again I know people
10:50travel solo I I couldn't do it I need it's already an isolating life in general to have those people
10:58with you is so special but to that point I've had you know different band members that have been
11:04there forever and then some that we've changed when there is a cancer you feel it because you're
11:09living in like a tiny tiny space um and it you feel like a pressure cooker almost yeah yep we've
11:15had it overflow too we while we have you on the show are playing a bunch of songs from your
11:21catalog
11:21and I want to do some stories behind songs um and I know we've talked about these briefly before but
11:26just some like refresh of things I hope you're happy now yeah because I think enough time has passed
11:30people like may not realize especially if they're newer country that you wrote this with Luke
11:33yes yes I'm Luke and I kind of started at the same time we were playing some radio shows together
11:40he had a song out called hurricane but he was like nothing um it was just starting to hit but
11:46I was
11:46blown away by his voice and this is back when like collaborations weren't as big as they are now
11:50um and I just went up to him after the show and I was like hey he had a bus
11:55I had a van so we were a
11:57little different um and I just said hey would you ever write a song with me and he was like
12:03yeah I
12:04was like I just I love your voice and we ended up writing together what year is this this is
12:09like
12:112018 probably I don't think I realized how much time it passed from like you guys writing that song
12:16and putting it out because it came out what 2020 I think 2019 oh it did yeah we met yeah
12:22I know so
12:23wild to me someone was like in four months it'll be 2027 and 2019 is eight years ago I'm like
12:27wait
12:27what COVID I don't know what happened I don't know what's happened it's a time my sense of time yeah
12:32I'm like I think it would have been 2018 okay so never mind you wrote the song in a year
12:36later
12:37but I will say like we wrote it and I I remember thinking it was a great song um
12:46um but I had no idea it was gonna do what it did uh and I just I I had
12:54been also playing shows with
12:55Lee Bryce and heard his voice in my head and so I asked Lee if he would sing on it
13:01and he just blew
13:02it out of the water yeah Lee Bryce's voice is like I think truly one of the most like underrated
13:07he vocalists and he was like he was ripping their like I feel like you know he had all those
13:13hits
13:13right in a row and I just he is he he puts so much emotion into his singing um he
13:21is so I think
13:22he's one of the best ever yeah no I totally agree could we do the story behind every little thing
13:28yeah every little thing I wrote it with um Busby my producer at the time and a girl named Emily
13:39Shackleton and I remember going in that day and Emily nobody at that point I was an Airbnb cleaner
13:47so I was like a nothing artist but they were working with me and she went over to the piano
13:53and
13:54I was going through it and this song fell out in 20 minutes we wrote it I remember driving home
14:00and
14:01being like this is the kind of music I want to make never knowing that it was going to be
14:06the song
14:06that would change everything for me um but it was very reminiscent to me of some of those haunting
14:12ballads that I loved growing up I always forget that you one of your jobs was cleaning Airbnbs oh
14:17yeah I can only imagine what that time was like like the things that you saw like how many times
14:22did you just walk in and walk right back out oh my god I I because I didn't go to
14:26college so I'm
14:27trying to explain to my dad hey I want to be a singer and then I'm cleaning Airbnbs at 25
14:30I'm like
14:31this isn't this is not looking good for me um the two things I will say um and it I
14:39I think about it
14:40now when I stay somewhere just oh yeah they're having to deal with and I'm like that is disgusting
14:46hair just hair yeah that you don't know who's why where it came from on the body hair and the
14:55amount
14:55of stains that I would have to clean oh no I'm so sorry yeah it was but you know what
15:01it was very
15:01humbling yes it was when I meet somebody who cleans for a living I'm like I'm so sorry it's fine
15:07like you have to you have to be tough for that I was like baking cookies and cleaning stains
15:11it's so crazy I always say like I think like good character building jobs are like you either need
15:14to go work in retail or a restaurant or something like that because like it changes who you are
15:19absolutely that that was that one changed who I was all right and this story behind hide the wine
15:26hide the wine I did not write hide the wine and oh my god I forget this every time but
15:31it's a really
15:32fun story so hide the wine I remember I again I didn't have a record deal at this time I
15:37was working
15:38with my publisher at the time and he was like hey because we were in kind of the artist building
15:45you
15:46know I'm like 24 25 and we're working together and he was like I'm gonna play you this song I
15:51want
15:52you to tell me if you like it and I've always been a red wine fan since I was 21
15:56so he plays me this
15:57demo and I was like I have to cut this song and he was like well little big town they
16:02actually are
16:03cutting it on their next record I just wanted you to hear it and I remember just being like I
16:08don't
16:08do that to make like this sucks like I love this song whole year passes they cut it but they
16:15slowed
16:16it down they actually let me hear it um like over the last few years they slowed it down Kimberly
16:22actually sang it which is funny because you would think Karen would sing it just based on like the
16:27swag whatever just like Kimberly's um has like a different thing that she does so well but what's
16:33interesting is she found beat up bible in the ninth hour and she wanted to sing that song so
16:39in this moment they take it off their record I get a record deal and I got it that is
16:45so
16:46I had never heard that it's it's such a cool song or it's such a cool story because you don't
16:51realize
16:51some songs have made it their way to different artists and like they cut it and it was going on
16:56the
16:56record but it was always meant for me and I'm really glad because you know I've gotten many bottles of
17:01wine I have a semi with my conundrum label on it you know thank you very much uh Kimberly it
17:08is one
17:08of my favorite things about this town is that the song always finds the person that it's supposed to
17:11go to always I love that story when I hear somebody sad about like not getting a song and I'm
17:15like
17:15I know you want but like it just it always finds it's like the person which is like such a
17:20wild thing
17:20and then it never wanted to be that girl very similar to Luke uh Ashley and I we were playing
17:26uh in
17:27um Bakersfield and she was singing this was 2019 ish and I just was like man she sings like where
17:36I'm from her voice is so captivating and I was like would you ever write a song with me and
17:44this
17:44was a first and the only where we wrote the song together we sang it together and then went on
17:50to
17:50have such success with it but that song we wrote it with Shane McAnally and I remember we both thought
17:57it was like a great song but we didn't we were like that was cool and I was working on
18:0129 at the
18:02time and I was like I'm definitely gonna use and put this on there it's a great song never thinking
18:07but in the studio I remember being in there and you'll have to go back and listen guys because I
18:11think you'll get it we're in the studio and somebody started playing the riff as it's going down
18:17and I was like hold on hold on hold on I can hear it in my head I want you
18:21to reference um
18:23highway don't care Keith Tim and Taylor I want it to feel like that and if you ab those songs
18:31that
18:31is what brought it to life and it was my idea I have to say um but that is I'm
18:37telling you I think
18:37that reference completely made it go from a great song on the album to a hit wow I can't wait
18:44to
18:44listen yeah that's amazing Carly Pierce thank you so much for the time today yeah of course I love
18:49this album it's so amazing I'm so happy for you thank you thank you
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