Exclusive: Carly Pearce Opens up About Her 'Year of Firsts'

Carly Pearce was a big winner at the 2018 CMT Music Awards, taking home the trophy for Breakthrough Video of the Year, for her debut single, "Every Little Thing. It's just part of a whirlwind year that has already included touring with Blake Shelton and Thomas Rhett, and introducing more and more fans to her music.

"It's like the summer of firsts. I'm getting ready to, after the biggest CMA Fest of my life, I'm leaving on the Back to Us Rascal Flatts and Dan & Shay tour," Pearce tells PopCulture.com. "I'll spend my entire fall with Luke Bryan, and then we will do a couple stadiums. It's crazy ... I have wanted this my whole life, but you never think that you could really do it."

With so much time on the road, when the Kentucky native does get to return to her home in Nashville, she still loves shopping at her local grocery store as much as possible.

"If I'm home, I'm there. I love it," Pearce says, adding that her favorite thing to make is salmon with vegetables. "I'm a super healthy eater, so I'm pretty bland. I don't think anybody would want to hang out with me. But I can cook well. If I have guests, I can do it."

Now that Pearce has graduated to having her own tour bus, she gets to eliminate at least one of the perils of touring: eating out.

"You eat out a lot," shares Pearce. "That's hard. So I'm thankful to have a bus now, and be able to bring my food. The boys don't like it because it smells bad."

The guys on the bus may not like her healthy eating, but they are incredibly loyal to their boss.

"They are my family," Pearce boasts. "I have four band members and one production guy. We're buddies. A lot of them have been my band since I moved to town eight years ago. It's really fun. It's like summer camp."

In between her busy concert schedule, the 28-year-old is working on her sophomore album, th follow-up to her 2017 Every Little Thing project.

"We just started to write for it. I think 2019 you'll see it. ...I think it's just going to be an evolution. I think with every year you grow as a human being, so I'm going to try and just continue to grow. I've grown a lot in the last year, so it will just be an evolution, but still the same girl."

Find a list of all of Pearce's upcoming shows on her website.

Photo Credit: Instagram/carlypearce