Carly Pearce on Parents’ Support: ‘They Devoted Everything to Me’

Carly Pearce has racked up plenty of successes since her debut single, “Every Little Thing,” was released in early 2017. The Kentucky native watched that single land at the top of the charts, released her debut album, landed on four big tours this year, including Luke Bryan’s stadium tour, and earned her first-ever ACM nomination for New Female Vocalist of the Year.

If there is anyone who is celebrating Pearce’s success more than her, it’s her parents, who supported their daughter every step of the way, even allowing her to drop out of school when she was 16 to move to Dollywood and sing full-time.

“I didn’t know they cried so much until now,” Pearce told PopCulture.com with a laugh at a recent media event. “All they do is cry when they talk to me. This is all I’ve ever wanted, but times it by two for them. I’m their only child. They devoted every thing to me being able to chase this dream and they were sitting, watching it live as I was and there’s a little text chain between us and couple members of my family, just freaking out, genuine. They’ve never wanted anything else for me.”

Pearce missed plenty of the milestones most young people experience, like prom, high school graduation, and choosing a college, but the 27-year-old insists she has no regrets.

“I never looked back,” said Pearce. “I feel like since the time I was nine or ten I was begging my parents to let me chase the dream fully and yes, there were things about being a teenager that maybe I missed out on, but look at what I get to do now and even the experiences I had at Dollywood versus being in school or being in my hometown. I’ve always wanted to do this and I always knew that it was my destiny.”

Not that everything went well for Pearce from the beginning. After relocating to Nashville, Pearce was signed, and then dropped, from a record label. Although her beginnings in country music were challenging, and she even considered quitting music entirely, now Pearce feels nothing but gratitude for the struggles.

“I don’t think that I would change anything about my personal journey through the music industry,” the “Hide the Wine” singer said. “I think that it’s so easy in the moment to wonder why things aren’t happening for you and in hindsight I understand exactly why, because I needed to figure out who I was as an artist and do a lot of things on my own to understand what a career means as far as being one of the artists in the country music industry. I don’t think I would change it.”

Photo Credit: Instagram/CarlyPearce