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.
