Exclusive: Carly Pearce Credits Family, Close Friends With Her Success

Carly Pearce might have millions of fans, but her family and close friends remain the people that mean the most to her, and whose support she relies on more than anyone else. The “Hide the Wine” singer credits those in her inner circle, especially her parents, with making her the artist she is today.

“My parents and I are so close,” Pearce tells PopCulture.com. “We’re best friends. I’m an only child. And they let me quit high school and they cry every time they talk about it. They randomly send me messages, texts and say, ‘We did it. We did it. You did it.’ It’s a really beautiful thing. I get to share in that with my parents. I get to share in that with my friends from back home that always knew me as the girl that wanted to do this since I was in elementary school.

“My grandparents were very, very close with me,” she continues. “I was the only grandchild. They’ve passed on, but my album is dedicated to them. I took on the Pearce name to keep it alive for them and honor them … It’s really beautiful the way that all of the people that really supported me are still coming on this journey with me.”

If it wasn’t for the people closest to Pearce, she may be back in her native Kentucky, doing anything but music.

“My best friend, in 2012 when I lost my first record deal, and I was looking at apartments in my home area, cried to me and told me, ‘You can’t move home. I won’t let you. You’re supposed to do this.’ And she’s still my best friend.”

As one of the most famous faces in country music right now, the ACM Awards nominee for New Female Vocalist of the Year says her notoriety might have changed her, but only for the better.

“I hope it’s made me more focused and responsible to see the platform that I have for country music,” Pearce says. “I’ve always wanted to be a voice of country music. That’s my heart, I feel like I began and will die in country music. So, I just feel more responsible to keep that going and to help country music just stay alive and be a voice of that. But, I hope that my friends from home, my family and my band, anybody who’s around me, will say that I’m the same girl the way that I feel Dolly [Parton] is the same. I feel Reba [McEntire] is the same. I feel Trisha Yearwood is the same and I want to be like that.”

Pearce won’t have much time to spend with anyone, except for her band, this year. She is currently opening for Blake Shelton on his Country Music Freaks Tour, and will then hit the road with Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts later this year. The busy tour schedule means Pearce will spend most of the year on a tour bus – not that she’s complaining.

“Trust me, even last year and this year, I’m looking at my house, going, ‘Well, I’m glad it just sits there like a model home,’” jokes Pearce. “It’s very nice to come home to and see for a couple hours. But you know what? That bunk on that bus is my house now.”

Still, when she does have a free moment, the 27-year-old says she is likely to spend it by herself.

“I really like alone time,” says Pearce. “I’m actually, at my core, an introvert. I feel like I’m an extroverted introvert. So I love just spending some time in silence. My life is so loud, figuratively and actually loud. And I think my best recharge is when I get to unplug, whether it’s on the road, sometimes I do it. My band knows I’m going to go to the back on my own to hang out by myself or being at home. Just spending those times in silence.”

A list of all of Pearce’s upcoming shows can be found on her website.

Photo Credit: Instagram/CarlyPearce