Carley Pearce MGM Northfield Park Center Stage News

Carly Pearce hasn’t said all she has to say. At least not yet.

The 35-year-old singer-songwriter, who brings her limited Inside the Dream Tour to MGM Northfield Park – Center Stage at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 17, is on the verge of releasing her fifth studio album, and she’s just getting started.

“That’s a great question, sometimes I don’t know myself,” says the Northern Kentucky native in a recent Zoom interview, when asked what inspires her to keep making art and playing shows, a decade into her professional career as an artist.

“I love to sing. I think that’s probably the best thing that I can say to you,” continues Pearce. “I grew up wanting to sing. I think that desire is just either in you or it’s not. And I think, when you chase something to this degree, like so many of us have, you don’t get to choose it; it chooses you. I wouldn’t know my life without music. I genuinely love to write songs. I love to play shows. I just love music.”

Pearce shares that her yet-to-be officially announced forthcoming album is the boldest and most true-to-herself record she’s made.

“I’ve always been bold in my heartbreak,” says Pearce, “But I’m being bold in the things that I really believe in. And I think more people need to do that, especially in country music, where we’re told to kind of walk the line of being, um, safe.”

One bold statement is the album’s second single, the somber “Church Girl.” Cameron Bedell, Seth Ennis and Carter Faith wrote the track.

“It takes a lot for me to want to record an outside song, just because, so much of my music is me,” says Pearce, who writes the majority of her material. “When I heard the song, it really did stop me in my tracks. What I love about some of the new artists out there, especially [singer-songwriter] Carter [Faith], is she has this innocence about her, where she’s not afraid to say things that maybe, if you’ve lived longer or you’ve been in this business longer, you might say, ‘Oooh. I don’t know that that’s gonna fit into the mold of what we’re all doing.’ And that’s exactly why I loved it.”

The song challenges the judgment that can be cast from some Christians onto others.

“My faith has been so big in my story, that I felt like this song in particular would really ruffle some feathers for people that know me as someone who is a faith-based person, which is exactly why I wanted to record it,” says Pearce. “I want people to feel welcome, when they come to my shows. And I want them to feel seen. I wanna sing this song for, you know, the girl that maybe had sex too early and she’s feeling shame around it. Or somebody who, maybe is a young boy in high school that’s questioning his sexuality, and he feels shame around that. Or, you know, any of these questions that society is so quick to judge us about.”

Pearce also wants the next generation of Nashville’s stars to know that she is available as a resource and confidant.

“I’ve started to really mentor some young artists, because I want them to learn from, just the ins and outs of what I’ve kind of come to, being [in Nashville] for a decade. The town tells you, a lot of the time, what it thinks you should be,” says Pearce. “I think for a long time, I had moments, like ‘29,’ ‘Every Little Thing,’ – these are all moments that were me. But I think I also allowed other people to tell me who I was. ‘Oh, you need to record a song for radio. You need to record an upbeat song. You need to get away from heartbreak songs. You need to shy away from your divorce. You need to do this; you need to do that. You need to be more progressive.’”

Heartbreak, growth and lessons learned the hard way remain a big part of Pearce’s identity as a storyteller.

“I think I’m just at a place, where—this music in particular—I’m not running away from any part of my story,” says Pearce. “I’m not gonna sit here and say, ‘Oh, I’ve moved on. Like, I’m healed. I’m leaving that in the past.’ No, that’s absolutely a part of me; that’s a part of my story.”

The lead single “Dream Come True,” is possibly the most introspective, personal song in Pearce’s entire self-penned catalogue. But it doesn’t lack outward-facing anxiety either.

The dream Pearce has been chasing most of her life has taken her from teenage Dollywood performer to Grammy award-winning songwriter and Grand Ole Opry member—invited by Dolly herself— but what did she miss, as a byproduct of her one-track mind? Pearce ponders this in the poignant ballad.

“I never go into a write thinking that I’m going to bare my soul in that way, but that particular day, I just was feeling really low. And I was feeling really alone,” says Pearce. “The highs and lows of this crazy dream that I had pursued was just really putting up a fight in my heart.”

The vulnerable track ends with a mention of Pearce’s mother aging and not being able to come to as many shows but urging her daughter to keep going for the both of them.

“I had moved into a home, in a cul-de-sac— I still live there—and was surrounded by young families,” shares Pearce. “It just had this effect on me of, oh my gosh, did I miss out on certain things? I’m going on 36. You know, will anybody ever love me? Do I want kids? I don’t know. But in this moment, maybe I do. Just all of those feelings, that I think, if you’ve chased a dream, you know, you see over time and with age, what sacrifice that can bring.”

Pearce has made a name for herself as a detail-oriented ballad writer in country music, but she wants to push the boundaries of her artistry in this new era.

“Something I’m excited about for this new music – I have a lot of really fun, up-tempo songs, which I know that people aren’t probably used to me saying,” says Pearce. “But I feel like I found this really large, sweet spot where, I have up-tempo songs that really feel like me. My band and I, we’re just really excited to get to play those. They’re gonna be so fun!”

I compliment her thoughtful, specific brand of ballad writing and say that I understand why she has done so much in that lane.

“Yeah, I got a lot of ballads,” replies Pearce. “No shortage of ballads. And there’s no shortage of ballads on this record either, but I’m excited to be able to have some others that are really fun.”

The third pre-album single is a duet, more familiar territory for Pearce.

I mention that she won her first Grammy for a duet that she wrote and recorded with Ashley McBryde.

“I’m staring at a wall of awards for duets. So, you know, there’s a lot of high pressure,” says Pearce, “But it’s fun.”

“This song – as soon as I heard it, I knew I wanted a collaboration,” Pearce says of “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” with fellow country singer Riley Green. “I have several collaborations on this record, but I wanted one that was very commercial country. I still was just trying to figure out what that was, and I heard this song, and I immediately thought of Riley.”

The track has already out streamed the two prior solo singles Pearce released to immerse fans in her new era.

“I feel like we got people’s attention,” Pearce says in reference to the steamy music video teasers featuring herself and Green that garnered a lot of attention on Instagram.

“If he was willing to go there with me, I wanted to shoot the music video together. And you don’t see a lot of people act as the love interests in the music video that are the artists,” says Pearce. “Usually, we just get people to act in that. I think it’s kind of a lost art. I loved the music videos in the ’90s, and I don’t think that you’ve seen anything like this since, like Tim and Faith.”

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.