At some point in a country career, you apparently stop worrying about being the newest person in the room.
Carly Pearce seems to have reached that point.
Pearce releases her fifth studio album, Honest Woman, today, August 28, and says the record reflects something bigger than another collection of songs.
At 36, she finally feels like she knows exactly who she is.
And that means she isn’t particularly interested in trying to compete with country music’s younger female stars.
Pearce specifically mentioned artists including Megan Moroney, Ella Langley, Kaitlin Butts and Willow Avalon as women currently having their moment.
Rather than viewing them as competition, Carly says she’s increasingly found herself becoming something of a big sister and mentor to younger women entering the business.
There’s something refreshing about that.
Country music has spent decades framing female artists as though there are only a handful of available seats at the table.
Pearce seems considerably more interested in making the table bigger.
And Honest Woman reflects that confidence.
The 16-song album includes collaborations with Riley Green, Dan Tyminski and Molly Tuttle and moves Carly deeper into the classic country and bluegrass music she grew up loving in Kentucky.
That bluegrass influence isn’t some new Nashville marketing idea.
Pearce started performing in a bluegrass band when she was nine years old.
She says Luke Combs has spent years asking her when she was finally going to lean completely into that side of herself.
Apparently the answer was now.
But the most interesting thing about Honest Woman may be how little Carly seems interested in pretending she’s figured everything out.
One song, “Happy For Myself,” deals with something most people probably experience and very few enjoy admitting:
Being happy for somebody else while also being jealous of them.
Pearce wrote it after helping a close friend prepare to get engaged and realizing that while she was genuinely happy for her friend, another part of her was wondering, “What about me?”
Other songs tackle faith, relationships, bad decisions and the perspective that comes from realizing painful moments eventually look different from the other side.
That’s a long way from trying to sound 25 again.
And Carly seems perfectly fine with that.
She knows Megan Moroney is going to make Megan Moroney records.
Ella Langley is going to make Ella Langley records.
Carly Pearce finally seems completely comfortable making a Carly Pearce record.
After everything she’s written about getting here, that might be the happiest ending of all.
