From The Bowling Alley To The Grand Ole Opry: Trisha Yearwood Opens Up About Her Nashville Journey

Before she was a Grammy-winning artist and one of the most iconic voices in country music, Trisha Yearwood was just an aspiring artist trying to find her way in the Nashville music scene. At 21 years old instead of spending her time partying, she was working toward her one and only goal of being a successful country singer.

Sitting down with Bobby Bones on an episode of the BobbyCast, Yearwood was asked if she had fun during her first years in town. She replied, “No. I mean, I was in school. I wasn’t a partier. Broadway was just really not a place you went. It was really a dangerous part of town. There wasn’t anything like it is obviously now, and there wasn’t really anywhere to go.”

While attending Belmont University, the Georgia native cut her teeth working as an intern at Mary Tyler Moore Records (MTM Records) and singing in a bowling alley on the weekends. She kept her job at the bowling alley for a few years, performing covers of Linda Ronstadt to Whitney Houston and everything in between.

However, between the long hours, little pay and less than ideal working conditions, Yearwood was ready for a change.

“I started doing demos and I realized that I could get more work,” she explained. “I could get more work in demos if I quit the night job. And also, I sounded like I had smoked two cartons of cigarettes the night before in the morning at a 10 o’clock session. So I finally made the transition and realized I could make a lot more money doing demos even though that was 40 bucks a tune. I did a lot of demos, and I made my own hours, made my own work, and I did really well. So I gave up the bowling alley.”

Never Giving Up On Her Ultimate Goal

While she may have given up the bowling alley gig, Yearwood says she never let go of the big dream that first brought her to Nashville.  

“I never did…I always believed that this was what I was supposed to do because I didn’t want to do anything else. I didn’t have a backup plan. I didn’t have a, well, if I can’t be an artist, I want to be in the music industry. That would’ve been torture to be in the music industry and not doing this,” she admitted. “This was all I ever wanted to do.”

She even had the opportunity to get her foot in the door as an artist when she was asked to audition for the band Highway 101 with Paulette Carlson as the lead singer, but ended up pulling out in fear that it would hinder her chances of being a solo act.

“When I got home, I thought, I don’t know if they’re going to offer this to me or not, but I feel like if I take it, I’m stepping into a successful group that no one’s going to be able to be Paulette Carlson or make people forget that it’s such a successful group. And then I’m also kind of saying, well, you believed in yourself your whole life that you could be a solo artist, but now you’re going to give up and do this. And so I sent a letter and said, I’m going to take myself out of the running.”

Entering A New Chapter With ‘The Mirror’

Luckily, this risky decision paid off and Trisha Yearwood eventually landed on her feet as an award-winning solo artist who is now an esteemed member of the Grand Ole Opry. She is also entering a new chapter of her career this year with the release of her highly anticipated new album, The Mirror, arriving July 18 via Virgin Music Group.

Even though Yearwood has been a wildly celebrated singer for years now, songwriting wasn’t always a prominent part of her career. In fact for a long time she stayed away from penning her own music in fear that she wasn’t good enough to keep up with the hitmaking writers in town. But in recent years that has all changed and this new project marks the first time she has fully co-written and co-produced a record.

“’The Mirror’ seemed like the perfect title because for the first time in my career, it truly is a record, a full album of reflection. It really is an album of like, this is who I am, this is who I’ve been.”

Reflecting on how she landed on this title for the project and the personal meaning behind the song itself, she shared, “The hook line is, I’ve always been the girl in the mirror. It’s like she sees herself and she’s like, oh, she looks good. I like what she’s doing. And you don’t realize that’s me. I’m so used to picking myself apart…If we could see ourselves outside ourselves, we would like ourselves a lot more. We work so hard on pulling ourselves apart. So ‘The Mirror,’ that song is really about you’re okay and you need to, I’ve always seen what you’re now finally seeing.” 

However these songs fall among her listeners, whether they find their own connection in it or not, Yearwood admits she isn’t worried about the opinions of others because she is truly proud of this project.

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Upcoming Performances And Appearances

On the release date of the new album, she is set to perform live from Rockefeller Center as part of TODAY’s 2025 Citi Concert Series. The free concert will take place on the TODAY Plaza at 48th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues in New York City, and is open to the public.

Yearwood will also take the Opry stage in Nashville on July 19 followed by a headline performance at  the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Trisha Yearwood and Friends Celebrate Linda Ronstadt and Los Angeles Country-Rock on July 22.

 Along with her upcoming performances, Trisha Yearwood will meet fans during a series of special album signings in honor of The Mirror’s release

Special Album Signing Dates:

July 18 – New York City – Barnes & Noble, Fifth Avenue

July 19 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center, Home of Trisha’s ParTY Nachos

July 19 – Nashville, TN – The Opry House

July 23 – Chattanooga, TN – Barnes & Noble

July 24 – Monticello, GA – Monticello-Jasper County Chamber of Commerce & Visitors’ Center (Yearwood’s Hometown)