Carly Pearce Brings Bluegrass Roots To CMA Fest With Ricky Skaggs, Molly Tuttle & Rising Mandolin Star

Carly Pearce paid tribute to her bluegrass roots during CMA Fest 2026 with a special performance that brought together celebrated bluegrass artists Ricky Skaggs and Molly Tuttle, as well as rising 15-year-old mandolin player Shay Morgan.

Taking the stage at Nissan Stadium on night three of this year’s Nashville festival, Pearce explained to the crowd that long before she became a country star, she was a young girl from Kentucky who developed a love for music through the bluegrass genre.

To celebrate those early days, Pearce teamed up with Skaggs and Tuttle for a special performance of Sierra Hull’s “From Now On.” The collaboration also spotlighted the next generation of bluegrass talent through a partnership with the CMA Foundation, which brought 15-year-old mandolin prodigy Shay Morgan to the stage.

Morgan, whom Tuttle described as a “mandolin shredder,” more than held her own alongside the acclaimed musicians. She hails from Florida and has been marking her cross across several cities as well as on social media. Her love for bluegrass shined on the stadium stage as she plucked her instrument while delivering the powerful story of a love that feels like it’s almost slipped away. But instead of walking away, the couple at hand chooses to rebuild and commit to a better future “from now on.”

Pearce took lead on the vocals then came together with Skaggs and Tuttle on the chorus, blending rich harmonies with traditional bluegrass instrumentation, as mandolin, guitar, and fiddle intertwined for a stripped-back sound.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Country Now (@countrynow)

Ahead of her time on stage, Pearce spoke with Country Now, noting that the performance was part of a partnership with the CMA Foundation and gave her an opportunity to shine a light on the next generation of musicians alongside the musical legends.  

“I get to play some new music off of my new record and I get to have a very full circle moment with Bluegrass Legends, Molly Tuttle and Ricky Skaggs,” she shared.

Skaggs also touched on how meaningful this performance was poised to be and admitted he was looking forward to spotlighting the genre of bluegrass within the festival.

“I’m glad she wanted to do this. I just think it’s going to be just a real tip of the hat to acoustic music. People like Molly and people like Billy Strings and people that are carrying such a torch for bluegrass and taking it to the people and playing it great,” he explained. “So I think it deserves to be here at the festival…just bluegrass in general. It’s just really great. And Carly’s great. She loves the music. She’s a Kentucky girl and so she loves the music and really wanted to do something.”

Tuttle predicted that the delivery would be “a lot of fun,” especially because this marked her first-ever stadium performance.

“I told Carly today I’ve never played a stadium before so I’m very excited…but yeah first time performing so it’ll be surreal,” she told Country Now.

That wasn’t Pearce’s only surprise of the night. She also brought a few of her fan-favorites to the stage including “Truck on Fire” and “What He Didn’t Do,” before closing out her set by welcoming out Riley Green for a duet, “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay.”

Fans can relive these performances and more tomorrow, June 25 during the broadcast of CMA Fest presented by SoFi. The three-hour special co-hosted by Riley Green and Good Morning America’s Lara Spencer will air Thursday, June 25 at 8/7c on ABC and be available for streaming the next day on Hulu.

The special will feature performances from Bailey Zimmerman, Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Brothers Osborne, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson, Deana Carter, Ella Langley, Fetty Wap, Florida Georgia Line, Gretchen Wilson, HARDY, Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Jordan Davis, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, Michael McDonald, Molly Tuttle, The Red Clay Strays, Ricky Skaggs, Riley Green, Russell Dickerson, Shaboozey, Shay Morgan, Stephen Wilson Jr., Tim McGraw, Tucker Wetmore, and Zach Top.