Carly Pearce Reveals Her Opry Ambitions
The “Closer To You” singer has her sights set on country music’s most famous stage.
Carly Pearce. Photo by John Shearer.
Carly Pearce has had the opportunity to tour the country with several of country music’s biggest stars, including Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts and Luke Bryan. She’s taken the stage at some of the genre’s biggest festivals and brought her live show to fans overseas with shows in the United Kingdom and Australia. No matter where her music takes her though, one stage remains her favorite: the hallowed stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
After visiting the Opry as a young girl, Pearce immediately set her sights on becoming a member of the sacred institution and set a goal to follow in the footsteps of many of its stars.
“I look at my heroes as Dolly [Parton], Reba [McEntire], Faith [Hill], Trisha [Yearwood], all of them being members of the Opry and all of them being key parts of our community,” the “Closer To You” singer says.
Pearce jumps at any chance to perform at the Opry and has appeared there nearly 60 times since moving to Nashville to pursue her career. Though she has dreams of becoming a member one day, she admits the idea of it is a bit daunting.
“To me, the highest honor you can have within our community and within our genre is to be asked to be a member. That is really hard for me to comprehend and really hard for me to even think is a possibility,” she shares. “And to even think that I’ve played the Opry and that they’ve allowed me to play over 50 times and that I do feel like I’m one of the little girls of the Opry in a way is really amazing.”
Pearce hopes that her name will one day be associated with the Opry in the way that it’s associated with other women of country music.
“I hope that 50 years down the road I’m one of the faces of the Opry. I want to be on one of those buses the way Carrie [Underwood] is or Dolly [Parton] is where it says Grand Ole Opry and you associate them with it,” she explains. “That’s how I want to be and that’s how I want the Opry to be attached to me.”
Fans can keep up with Pearce’s tour dates and Opry appearances at her website. Her much-anticipated sophomore album is expected to be released later this year.
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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