Carly Pearce: Health Scares, Heartbreak & Honesty

Throwback Thursday (Originally aired 8/25/25) Country star Carly Pearce gets real about her journey—from her fast rise with Every Little Thing to the heartbreak behind 29. She opens up about anxiety, OCD, divorce, losing producer Busbee, and the challenges of being a woman in country music, all while celebrating her induction into the Grand Ole Opry. Carly also shares her health battle with recurrent pericarditis, how she learned to advocate for herself, and how her new album Hummingbird marks both healing and a return to traditional country roots. Plus, she talks love, resilience, and why authenticity has been the key to it all. Carly Pearce: Website https://www.carlypearce.com/#/ Watch Full Episodes & More: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@Dumbblondepod

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:11Bunnie XO?

  Is this thing on? What's up, babies? Welcome to another episode of Dumb Blonde. Today, I got my girl Carly Pearce finally here, baby.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  Finally, I'm so excited to be here.

• 0:23Bunnie XO?

  I am stoked you're here. I feel like you're this polarizing figure online and people are pretty obsessed with you.

• 0:32Speaker 01

  That's good, good or bad, I guess.

• 0:34Bunnie XO?

  I mean, it's, it always goes both ways because some people, you know, the thing is, is like when they're obsessed with you, it's either they love to hate you or they hate to love you. There's no, there's no in-between. It's just one, black or white, one of the, one or the other. But I got to discover a lot of things about you that I didn't know. And I actually was like, this is just a down home girl from Kentucky who doesn't take any shit.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:58Bunnie XO?

  And stands up for what's right.

• 1:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00Bunnie XO?

  And I think if people really got to know, like, I can't talk today, words. Golly, and I think if people really got to know your story, they would just fall in love with you the same way that I did, so.

• 1:12Speaker 01

  That's so nice.

• 1:12Bunnie XO?

  I can't wait to dive into that, but how's your finger?

• 1:15Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Have you seen, like, media? I know that you know better than anybody. They will blow up something for a clickbait all day. So the short answer is, I was on stage the other night and I had to get two stitches in my thumb because I broke like a piece of glass from a ranch dressing bottle on my hand. But it was like really dramatic because they made me ride over to the hospital in an ambulance to go to the ER. And so all these like outlets are like, Carly Pearce rushed to the hospital in an ambulance for a hurt thumb. I'm like, no, I literally just have two stitches, so it's fine.

• 1:49Bunnie XO?

  I mean, but two stitches is kind of a big deal. I've never had stitches in my life.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  It's pretty, it's like inconvenient and it was just a gross experience because I could like feel them like sewing my skin together.

• 2:00Bunnie XO?

  What happened? So it just like cut the skin open?

• 2:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, I went to open a ranch dressing that was a glass bottle and it just cut and immediately I looked at my fiddle player and I was like, oh, my God, it's not good. It's not good.

• 2:09Bunnie XO?

  Girl, how fucking buff are you? You're breaking fucking glass bottles of ranch.

• 2:13Speaker 01

  I know, everybody's like, it was wine, right? You're like, no, ranch. It was literally a ranch bottle. But it's fine, I get them out tomorrow, so.

• 2:20Bunnie XO?

  Are you a wine drinker?

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:22Bunnie XO?

  Red or white? I like both, but red for sure.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  Have you ever had a moment where you're drinking red wine and you just smile and your teeth are all black?

• 2:30Bunnie XO?

  My bass player always says he knows it's bad when my lips turn purple.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 2:35Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  I've been known to have purple teeth.

• 2:38Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, no, I tried to have a sexy night in Hawaii with my husband one time and we're not wine drinkers. And we drank red wine and let me tell you, I caught a glimpse of myself being hot in the mirror and I looked like I was missing teeth. I will never do it again. I was like, holy shit, how do people do this?

• 2:54Speaker 01

  Mine like gets like in my lip.

• 2:56Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  Like it's disgusting.

• 2:58Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, no, I think if you're a red wine drinker, that is a choice.

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, you gotta do it right. You gotta at least pay attention.

• 3:04Bunnie XO?

  True dedication. Totally. So I want to ask you a couple of rapid fire questions to just kind of open this up and then we're going to get into some of your history here.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Love it.

• 3:12Bunnie XO?

  All right, so the first segment is going to be on love and dating. What is a first date red flag?

• 3:20Speaker 01

  Ooh, a first date red flag. If they don't ask you any questions about you.

• 3:24Bunnie XO?

  Right? And they only talk about themselves?

• 3:26Speaker 01

  They only talk about themselves and they're not interested at all in like anything about you, red flag.

• 3:31Bunnie XO?

  I couldn't agree more. That actually happened to Monica, one of my best friends the other day. She went out with some guy on Bumble and literally this man did not ask her one question about herself.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  Nope. Out, done. And I gotta be honest, I'm old school. Like a guy should pay on the first date, just the first.

• 3:44Bunnie XO?

  I agree.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  I feel really strongly about that.

• 3:47Bunnie XO?

  I agree, especially if they ask you out.

• 3:48Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:49Bunnie XO?

  Yes, definitely. And then, you know, if you guys want to go, what is it, Dutch?

• 3:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:52Bunnie XO?

  Or split it or 50 50, then figure that out. But definitely think the first date, yes, for sure. All right, what's the worst pickup line you've ever heard?

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Oh, God.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  She said, oh, God.

• 4:05Bunnie XO?

  I feel like anybody, I had a guy say to me, are you seeing anybody? This actually happened not that long ago. So he says, are you seeing anybody? And then the next line was not that I would care either way.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  And I was just like, you're disgusting. Like, that was for real. Not that I would care either way. That's disgusting to me.

• 4:28Bunnie XO?

  The ego, though. Yeah, it's like, like he even just thought he had a chance, no matter what.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, he never got a text back.

• 4:33Bunnie XO?

  Do people DM you stuff like that all the time?

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Honestly, no. I feel, no, I don't get like a lot of really weird stuff. Like, I feel like, I don't know, I feel lucky that I don't get a lot of weird stuff.

• 4:44Bunnie XO?

  You don't get like your eye poked out or anything like that?

• 4:46Speaker 01

  None of that, none of that. I've had some weird like fan messages, but I feel like, but yeah. Like, and this is somebody that's like, successful. I'm like, you're just like, no.

• 4:56Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. What is, who's one of the craziest people that has, have DM'd you? Can you like, give us a hint? That you could never have believed would DM you? Romantically or not? We'll, we'll make it.

• 5:08Speaker 01

  I would say, I'm not gonna say who. I'll tell you after. But I'll say, back when I first started, like, when every little thing was hitting.

• 5:17Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 5:18Speaker 01

  A very, very famous football player DM'd me and I thought it was like a joke. And we like FaceTimed some, but it never.

• 5:25Bunnie XO?

  Did he want to take you on a date?

• 5:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:27Bunnie XO?

  I love that. Look at you, girl. Look at you, getting your Mac on in the DMs.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  But now, not anymore.

• 5:33Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 5:33Speaker 01

  No.

• 5:34Bunnie XO?

  She's like, absolutely not.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no.

• 5:35Bunnie XO?

  All right, what's more dangerous, falling in love or falling on stage?

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Falling in love, for sure.

• 5:41Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 5:41Speaker 01

  I've fallen on stage several times.

• 5:44Bunnie XO?

  I've seen.

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:45Bunnie XO?

  You poor baby.

• 5:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:46Bunnie XO?

  Are you just accident prone?

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. Can you tell, like, my stitches?

• 5:50Bunnie XO?

  I know.

• 5:51Speaker 01

  I think I just like, don't know my size. Because like, I'm just lanky and, yeah. But falling on stage is, it's pretty awful, too, but.

• 5:59Bunnie XO?

  Speaking of your size, you said, I think in an interview, that you have been 5'7" since like, 5th grade? That's insane.

• 6:07Speaker 01

  I know. She has on a Shrek shirt and it literally like, gave me PTSD because Shrek came out when I was like, in middle school and that was my nickname.

• 6:14Bunnie XO?

  Oh.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  Not even get, like, when I saw it, I was like, triggered, fuck!

• 6:19Bunnie XO?

  Oh, no! Oh, my god. Ogre Shrek, not Fiona, not like Shrek's wife, Shrek.

• 6:26Speaker 01

  It's because you're so tall, though.

• 6:28Bunnie XO?

  I was so tall.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Thank you. I was, I was this tall when I was in fifth grade.

• 6:32Bunnie XO?

  So did you just like have a growth spurt?

• 6:34Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:35Bunnie XO?

  Yep. And then you just haven't grown since?

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, I wear like a size 10 and a half shoe. Most men have the same size. I have like bigger hands than most guys. Like it's just been, it's been a journey.

• 6:44Bunnie XO?

  I'm 5'7".

• 6:44Speaker 01

  Are you?

• 6:45Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  I know. I guess like just when, I don't feel that tall anymore, but like I guess in fifth grade it was like, but Shrek, that's triggering.

• 6:52Bunnie XO?

  That is so funny. I remember I saw you at an award show and this is before we knew you. Do you guys remember when we saw her backstage and you were dressed in like all black, right? And you're just walking and you literally look like you're floating and we were all just like, we were like, there goes Carly. Like, and it was just like, you had this aura to you that it was just like so Stevie Nicks. Like it was crazy. Yeah. And I just, I was like, I wanted to say hi, but at the same time I was kind of like intimidated.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  Oh my God.

• 7:18Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. And then now that I've gotten to know you and like see how you are, I was like, I should have just said hi.

• 7:22Speaker 01

  Yes, definitely.

• 7:23Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. No, you were, you were very polarizing. All right. Last question. What was your celebrity crush growing up?

• 7:28Speaker 01

  Oh, Lance Bass.

• 7:30Bunnie XO?

  Really?

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 7:32Bunnie XO?

  Before he was gay?

• 7:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, before we knew he was gay.

• 7:35Bunnie XO?

  Well, yeah.

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. Lance Bass for sure. He was always like my favorite. I loved NSYNC.

• 7:40Bunnie XO?

  I feel like everybody loved Lance. And then I remember I used to hang out at the Palms all the time because I was dating a certain someone that owned it. And Lance and all them were there one night. And I just remember he never looked at any females. And I looked at my friend and I was like, he's not into females.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 7:58Bunnie XO?

  And then it came out, you know, a couple of months later that he's not into females.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  He looks so good though. Like,

• 8:04Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  I've, I've seen him several times and met him at Stagecoach and I was like, you are so hot. Like he's living his best life.

• 8:10Bunnie XO?

  Looks great.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, he looks so good.

• 8:11Bunnie XO?

  And he's so sweet.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  He's the sweetest. He loves country music. I'm like,

• 8:14Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. I love that. I wonder why he doesn't do country music.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  I know. I know.

• 8:18Bunnie XO?

  So tell me if this is wrong or not, because this was a crazy little tidbit that I found on you. You play bagpipes?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Bagpipes?

• 8:27Bunnie XO?

  It's what it says. It says she plays some unexpected instruments like bagpipes. In addition to singing guitar.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  No, it does not. Where does it say?

• 8:35Bunnie XO?

  And mandolin. I'll have to pull it up because I had a feeling. I was like, I don't know if this is true or not, but so it's not.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  No, but I'm wondering, I used to yodel like I was like known for yodeling.

• 8:46Bunnie XO?

  Stop it right now.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Like won some contests.

• 8:49Bunnie XO?

  Stop it right now. Yodel for us, Carly, please.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  It's like a whole thing. I haven't tried to do it, but if you notice in my voice, like I do like a flip into my falsetto. And I think that came from yodeling.

• 9:01Bunnie XO?

  Dude, we love yodeling.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  I'm a little bit like bagpipes, yodeling. I think it's the same thing.

• 9:05Bunnie XO?

  Same thing.

• 9:06Speaker 01

  It's the same thing. It's fine.

• 9:07Bunnie XO?

  Oh, my God. So you can't yodel for us. Please give us a little yodel.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  I would be so.

• 9:11Bunnie XO?

  We'll cut it. If it sucks, we'll cut it.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  It's been like 20 years since I did it.

• 9:17Bunnie XO?

  Okay. So when did you discover that you could yodel?

• 9:20Speaker 01

  I loved LeAnn Rimes as a kid.

• 9:21Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, blue.

• 9:23Speaker 01

  Yes. And then she had a version of an old song called Cowboy Sweetheart that I was obsessed with. And I'd never heard anybody do that with their voice. And so my mom always says like the worst part of her journey was me trying to sing Broken Wing by Martina McBride in my bedroom because I could not belt that loud and that high. And when I was learning how to yodel, she said it was like horrendous, but that's like, I wanted to be like LeAnn so bad.

• 9:46Bunnie XO?

  I love that. That's like a hidden talent. Are there any more hidden talents you have? Double jointed. Are you double jointed?

• 9:52Speaker 01

  I was about to say, I'm really like, it's not good.

• 9:56Bunnie XO?

  That is so crazy. Do you see that? Look at me, me, me.

• 10:01Bunnie XO?

  It's really bad.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Oh, my God. Is that?

• 10:05Bunnie XO?

  Kelly, is that the only joint that does that? Or can you do that with like your knees too?

• 10:08Speaker 01

  It's only, it's only my arms. And I never even realized it until in school when I was like raising my hand. People were like, what the fuck?

• 10:15Bunnie XO?

  Oh, you poor thing. They're calling you Shrek. You're double jointed. It's fucked up.

• 10:19Speaker 01

  It's honestly been a, it's been a journey for me. Like so much therapy.

• 10:23Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, stop it. Do you feel like you were bullied at all as a child because of that?

• 10:27Speaker 01

  Yes. I was, well, growing up, country music was not what it is today.

• 10:31Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  So I loved country music from the time I was like in elementary school and I, I felt. Really out of place, like being a creative person and being somebody that just wanted to sing. And like, I always felt just different because I loved country music and I loved bluegrass music and I loved performing and I wanted to be in theater and I wanted to sing with all these different bands growing up in Kentucky. And so I always felt like I had a lot of friends, but I was very bullied for like, loving country music. And now I'm like.

• 11:00Bunnie XO?

  Even growing up in Kentucky?

• 11:01Speaker 01

  Yes, it just wasn't.

• 11:03Bunnie XO?

  What the hell were they listening to?

• 11:04Speaker 01

  I have, it was not the cool thing when I was growing up. It was like, almost, I would feel like embarrassed because I loved it so much.

• 11:12Bunnie XO?

  How old are you?

• 11:13Speaker 01

  Thirty-five.

• 11:14Bunnie XO?

  You're thirty-five. Okay, so you're ten years younger than me. So that, they would probably, that would have been like, what? The pop era?

• 11:19Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 11:20Bunnie XO?

  Growing up, so it was like pop, yeah.

• 11:21Speaker 01

  It was like Britney and NSYNC and all that stuff. And so I just, and I loved that too, but people just didn't understand. And that's why I think I have such like a passion for young kids in school that maybe don't academically feel like that's their path and they want to be creative. It's like, you have to have a space for that. Because there's so many kids that feel like me that just were like, wait, I'm not like fitting in socially.

• 11:45Bunnie XO?

  Yes. I couldn't agree with that more. Our daughter is a creative and it's been, but she's also so freaking smart.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:53Bunnie XO?

  So it's like, you know, Jay battles with letting her be the creative, but also be studious at the same time. Well, how, how did you convince your parents to let you homeschool? Like, how old were you?

• 12:05Speaker 01

  When I tell this story now, it's like, what, I have no idea what they were thinking. I was really good in school as well. So I was like a very disciplined kid. So I think that they knew I wasn't running from school. And I saw an audition to sing in the country show at Dollywood when I was fifteen.

• 12:22Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 12:23Speaker 01

  In our like, local Cincinnati, I live right outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. And so I see, and I inquire, it's like, ooh, auditions. And I'm like, Dolly Parton, I would love to sing at Dollywood. Hey, can I, can I do this? And they're like, no. And so I, I took the summer to find a homeschooling program that wouldn't require any attention from my mom, because my mom was like, I don't know how to teach you. And so it was like an online, kind of like college, but for high school. And I just kind of presented this to them and I'm an only child and they were like, okay, let's do it. Like, and so I auditioned and you just think about the sacrifices that your family. Make for you. And for me, my parents were married and they still are married, but they sacrificed. Like my mom lived with me in Pigeon Forge.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  My dad stayed back in Kentucky and took care of my grandfather that was sick at the time. And I mean, I don't know. I just feel like I got such a head start being able to go and perform and kind of have that regimented, like grueling schedule of shows.

• 13:18Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, no, that's crazy to take on. And how old were you, 14, 15?

• 13:22Speaker 01

  I was 16.

• 13:23Bunnie XO?

  16?

• 13:23Speaker 01

  It's crazy.

• 13:24Bunnie XO?

  So to be that headstrong, to go and seek out the homeschooling that you were gonna do, and then to go and work these shows, because you were doing what, four shows a day or five shows a day?

• 13:35Speaker 01

  I was doing six shows a day, five days a week. And you know, just as a kid, I think it just really solidified for me.

• 13:41Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 13:42Speaker 01

  What I wanted to do. Because it just taught me like how to sing sick, how to do a show when you don't feel like it, how to work hard.

• 13:49Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  You know?

• 13:50Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Do you think that that's maybe a trauma response? Like maybe because of something that could have happened in your childhood? Or even the bullying at school, you were like, you know what? I'm gonna do this because I'm not going back to class.

• 14:02Speaker 01

  I think I was so determined to prove everyone wrong. And really to prove to myself that I could do it. And so I feel like my, from the time I was tiny, tiny, I knew that that's what I wanted to do. And it was just kind of like, no matter how difficult, because it was, even after that, like I spent almost 10 years in Nashville before I ever quote unquote made it. But I just was like, no, like I am absolutely gonna do this.

• 14:32Bunnie XO?

  I think it's amazing that you look up to Dolly as much as I do, because obviously I named my podcast, I'm Blonde, after her song, her first song on the radio. And then to see the tie that you guys have together, do you feel like she's really just shaped and molded your career for you?

• 14:49Speaker 01

  In more ways than just, obviously, like as a songwriter, you think about, you know, she wrote Jolene and I Will Always Love You in the same day. It's like two of the most iconic songs in history. So like as a songwriter and as a singer, for sure. But more than that, I think what I admire about her, she's what, in her late seventies? And she's still reinventing her brand and gaining fans and just trying to push the envelope. And I've gotten to work with her a few times and I'm sure that you know this. It's like, she is just so focused and so on her shit in everything she does to where it's just like, she doesn't have to, but she's so determined to not be stagnant.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  And that is just something that I really, there's very few people that continue to do that decade after decade like she does.

• 15:39Bunnie XO?

  I love the way you said that, that she refuses to be stagnant.

• 15:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:42Bunnie XO?

  Like that's really, I think that's you do that too, though. I do that too, though.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 15:46Bunnie XO?

  I think a lot of people can relate to that phrase right there.

• 15:49Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 15:49Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, and she's crazy. Like, we went to go see Dolly at her, her little, um,

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Compound?

• 15:54Bunnie XO?

  Compound, yeah, I love her compound. It's not little, guys.

• 15:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:58Bunnie XO?

  And she literally is just like on it, like everything is timed. And like she just, she cracks the whip over there.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  She does.

• 16:05Bunnie XO?

  And it's so admirable.

• 16:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:06Bunnie XO?

  And she's just this tiny little thing, so sweet, and she's sassy.

• 16:10Speaker 01

  She's so sassy.

• 16:12Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. I tell everybody, I'm like, you guys think Dolly's a sweet little lady? I was like, she is sassy and a spitfire.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  She's, when she, we went to her compound, I thought I was doing a commercial for Dollywood.

• 16:23Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 16:23Speaker 01

  And she surprised me and invited me to be a member of the Opry a few years ago. And literally, it was like, like you're saying, like this, this, this. I mean, she had a schedule, like, we had a few moments, she handed me some of her new perfume, and she was like, you're my little Dollywood girl? And she was out onto the next thing, like just, like, no BS.

• 16:40Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, it's like she leaves enough to where it's like you love her and that, you want more.

• 16:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 16:46Bunnie XO?

  Because you get, you only get those, that little bit of time with her. But she's, and, but those moments count so much because it's just, she's so full of soul.

• 16:53Speaker 01

  It's, it's crazy.

• 16:54Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Take me on the journey of picking out your name, Carly Pearce, because I want to know some of the names that you were thinking about doing before you settled on Carly Pearce.

• 17:04Speaker 01

  So my legal last name is Carly Slusser.

• 17:07Bunnie XO?

  Hmm.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  Horrible name for a country singer. And when I was like 14, my mom, you know, she would take my pictures and we'd go to Staples and get the CDs printed so that we could pass them out. And so my name, my middle name is Christine. So for a long time I was Carly Christine, you know, because that felt right. And then my grandparents, my mom's maiden name is Pierce. And they were super influential in my life. They were the ones that kind of shaped my love of country music. My grandpa, way back in the day, used to ride the school bus with Skeeter Davis of the Davis Sisters. And that was like his girlfriend for a little bit of time. And she was, you know, like a country music artist and somebody that's been influential.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  And my grandma loved Loretta Lynn. She loved Tammy Wynette. So that was always in the home. And when they figured out that I loved country music, they kind of taught me what the Opry was. And my grandpa would buy me these CD decades of all the different eras of country music. And he just really wanted me to understand who came before me. And so they both, my grandma passed away when I was 14, my grandpa passed away when I was 18. And they knew that my life dream was to sing on the Opry. And when I was 18, I went to see my grandpa for the last time when he's in the hospital. And he knew I was taking a meeting in Nashville. And he was like, you're gonna be late. You gotta go, you gotta go.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  And they just, I wanted to honor them in some way. So although it's not my legal last name, it feels so important. And now when I go back to the area where we all lived and where I feel like my whole love of country music started, the signs that say, "Home of Carly Pierce," and it's like their name is carrying on into country music history, which I'm the only grandchild. And it's just like a really special thing for me that continues to just keep them alive for me. And I get to talk about them. And again, like all these years later, it's like they still live on.

• 19:09Bunnie XO?

  I love that. I think that is so sweet. I love how your family just kind of gathered around you and was like, this is your dream. We're gonna help you make it.

• 19:17Speaker 01

  They totally did.

• 19:18Bunnie XO?

  I love that. Because not a lot of families are like that. And to be able to see where you are now, I mean, does your mom ever just look at you and be like, I knew this was gonna happen? Or can she not believe it?

• 19:28Speaker 01

  She has like moments of both, but she'll tell you, I mean, she convinced a vocal coach when I was six. She's like, I'm telling you, like she has great pitch and she's got rhythm. She told me like, as a baby, I would like keep the beat in my car seat. She just said she knew. And so she's always like, I mean, I'm not really surprised, which is funny just to hear her, but she had unwavering belief that this was gonna happen for me.

• 19:50Bunnie XO?

  I love that so much for you. Do you ever feel, do you ever look back on your childhood and feel like you didn't get to do like normal childhood things because you were working so much?

• 19:59Speaker 01

  No. I say that only because when I left, so I left when I was 16. I still went back for prom. I went back for my graduation, you know, yes, did I, I didn't graduate with my class, but I always say like, I had a wonderful childhood. I had a lot of friends. They would come visit me in Pigeon Forge when I was working at Dollywood.

• 20:19Bunnie XO?

  How fun though, right?

• 20:20Speaker 01

  It was, I mean, and they loved it. Like it was super fun.

• 20:24Speaker 01

  I think I've always felt like if, if like my middle school and high school, college years were the best years of my life, that's not probably a good sign for me personally. Like, I didn't want that to be like the greatest

• 20:38Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 20:38Speaker 01

  season of my life.

• 20:39Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  So I view it as like, it was fun, but I don't feel like I missed it.

• 20:44Bunnie XO?

  You don't wanna be like Al Bundy reminiscing about your friggin high school.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  Not at all. I'm not like that at all. I'm like, I loved it, but what I get to do now, it was like a trade off. But I still had a lot of normalcy, but I also got to experience things that like a lot of kids didn't get to experience.

• 20:58Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Working so much, were you able to even have like a rebellious teenage phase? Because I know I went through one, but I didn't work like you did. I couldn't even imagine being under that amount of pressure and like even having time to be rebellious.

• 21:11Speaker 01

  I wasn't rebellious, really. I had parents that kind of like, if I wanted to say shit, I could say shit. If I wanted to drink, it was like drink in the house.

• 21:21Bunnie XO?

  I love your parents.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  They're really, I mean, honestly, it made like space for me to not have to rebel. Like a lot of my friends wanted to come over because my parents were like, understanding. It's not like they were like, here, go out and never, you know, text us or whatever, but when I got to Pigeon Forge, I was 17 and everybody else was like in their late twenties. So, you know, I learned like what power hour of drinking was and I learned the hard way of like, cause I just never, I never really cared until I like got of age because my parents just allowed me to.

• 21:56Bunnie XO?

  Experiment.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, they were just like, if you, if you want to try it, just try it here.

• 22:00Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, they were your safe space.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  They were.

• 22:03Bunnie XO?

  Did you, so you talk about how you, you talk very openly about having anxiety, which I relate to also because I have severe anxiety all the time. When did your anxiety start? Was it in childhood or did that come later in life?

• 22:17Speaker 01

  This is probably something I haven't really shared. I've had to understand, because I would have told you like, three years ago, my anxiety started during my divorce in COVID. But I had, I've had crippling OCD since I was a child. So like, checking my backpack over and over and over, checking my alarm over and over and over, making sure that my mom, are you sure that everything's in my bag? Are you sure? And my mom would just try to calm me down, or I would freak out over storms. And I remember her taking me to the local library to meet a meteorologist to like, try to calm that. So I, I've had to, I've had anxiety my whole life. I still struggle with OCD. I, I,

• 23:00Speaker 01

  I think it just really came to a head of me wanting to do something about it during COVID.

• 23:05Bunnie XO?

  Yes. Sometimes it becomes so debilitating, you don't have a choice but to face it head on. We can run from it as long as we want to. And I tell, I preach this on my podcast because we talk about mental health here very openly. I literally ran from my anxiety, my OCD, all that. I never had depression. I always had anxiety. I never had depression, always had anxiety, but in 2019, after I had my implants removed, I got hit with the worst suicidal ideation and depression I've ever had in my life. And that was just the time that my body finally said, you can't run anymore. You know, like you can try to fix it by having surgeries and do this and do that. But if you don't fix what's on the inside and what's really going on in your heart and your soul, it's going to come out in other ways.

• 23:46Speaker 01

  A thousand percent. And I feel like that was like, just the being taken off the road, going through a public divorce. It was like, I think my body just had like a visceral reaction of like, oh my God. And then I, I mean, I, I can't tell you how many interviews I sat through trying so hard to just like, keep myself together after like, I mean, it's been like a journey for me of just like, oh my God, can anybody tell? Can anybody tell? And everybody's like, no, we can't tell at all. And I'm like dying inside because it was so, I felt like I was trapped in my own body.

• 24:19Bunnie XO?

  I have never felt so seen. There are so many podcasts that I've done where I've had to sit here, like, sometimes you'll see me if you watch any of my podcasts and I'll hold my breath and then I'll breathe out. And I'm literally doing box breathing while I'm doing an interview because I'm having a panic attack, you know?

• 24:34Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 24:34Bunnie XO?

  And I don't think people understand that because we don't react on the outside. We hold it all inside. Like there's, my husband will be like, you handled that so great. And I'm like, I did?

• 24:42Speaker 01

  That's me.

• 24:43Bunnie XO?

  Because literally in my head, I'm freaking the fuck out, you know? And it's just, that just goes to show that you can't judge people from the outside because you never know what's going on inside.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  You really don't. Mine was always in interviews, now everybody's gonna know, but it's like, like I would clear my throat because I just feel like I can't breathe.

• 25:02Bunnie XO?

  Yes.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  And it's, it's interesting to be, and I know you understand, like in the public eye, when the camera's on, it's like, you better shut it down. And I think that, I got really conditioned over the last 10 years to just zip it up and deal with it. And it just kind of got to a place where a couple of years ago, I just had to really start back into therapy, start really like trying to figure out all of these different things, like recognizing OCD was something. No, that didn't come in 2020. That's been there since I was six or seven.

• 25:37Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Where do you think that stems from for you? Like the OCD? I know mine was a traumatic childhood. I had a terrible family life.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:46Bunnie XO?

  You seem to have the opposite. Where do you think yours stems from?

• 25:51Speaker 01

  I had a mom, and she's still like this to this day. She's the best, but she's a perfectionist. So like as a child, I would watch her, I had like Barbie shoes. This is like a core memory. And she wanted to put every individual pair of Barbie shoes in the perfect little spot and keep everything, you know, so I learned.

• 26:10Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 26:11Speaker 01

  She never left the house without her makeup on. She was always just so put together that I think that perfectionism. Just became not, not intent. She didn't mean to do that to me. It wasn't like she was like, you have to be this way, but I watched and led by example. So then I wanted to have everything perfect.

• 26:28Bunnie XO?

  Yep. You internalized that pressure and, and you know, she was just being herself and you just, you wanted to be like your mom. So you wanted to be perfect. And oh my gosh, but I love that you recognize that. I love that you've gotten help for that because it's, I preach therapy on this podcast left and right, because it is so important. I mean, even just if you can't even afford therapy, just talking to people, or there's so many resources that are online now also that you can, you know, teach yourself and learn even just meditation and box breathing, like we just talked about, anything like that can help soothe that. Um, so moving on to you move into Nashville. You moved to Nashville at age 19 and signed a development deal with Sony in 2012.

• 27:10Bunnie XO?

  And you lost that when your producer was fired. So you started cleaning Airbnbs.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 27:16Bunnie XO?

  What is one of the grossest situations you've ever had to deal with, with Airbnb's?

• 27:20Speaker 01

  I have two things. Hair, like even my own hair, like on my bathroom floor really grosses me out. Or like when it's on the shower wall, but other people's hair that I don't know who they are.

• 27:32Bunnie XO?

  And you don't know where it came from?

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 27:34Bunnie XO?

  But the worst.

• 27:35Speaker 01

  I'll throw up. Stains.

• 27:37Bunnie XO?

  Stains? Oh God.

• 27:39Speaker 01

  It's like anywhere on the sheets, you know, and I'm like 22, just like wanting to die.

• 27:45Bunnie XO?

  Oh God. Especially have an OCD.

• 27:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was, it probably got worse after that. So I was just like, oh my God. Yes.

• 27:53Bunnie XO?

  I wouldn't be able to. I'd have to literally have gloves on and a hazmat suit. There's no fucking way. Cause I have contamination OCD too. So if like I touch anything, I have to count down for an hour and like wait to make sure that I'm not going to overdose on fentanyl because you know, who knows, somebody might've snorted a rail of fentanyl off the bathroom stall or something, you know?

• 28:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:13Bunnie XO?

  No, that would.

• 28:13Speaker 01

  It was disgusting.

• 28:14Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, that would freak me out so much. So take me on this journey of you being 19, moving to Nashville. Were you, did you come by yourself or was your mom with you?

• 28:22Speaker 01

  My parents ended up moving north of town. And again, like just the sacrifices. So they move so that I didn't have to work, um, super hard. But again, like that perfectionist in me, I was like, no, I'm not just going to live rent free. Like I'm going to do the thing. So I worked retail. I cleaned Airbnb's. I did all this stuff. Um, so they came with me and, um,

• 28:44Speaker 01

  It's so crazy, the things that you think at the time. I was so heartbroken at 19, thinking, how could this not be the time for me? I got a developmental deal pretty quickly. And got to record with like my dream producer. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so exciting. But at that time, female artists were like nonexistent. It was like in the bro country time, you were almost like penalized if you were a female.

• 29:13Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 29:14Speaker 01

  So I almost feel like I was protected to not be released. Like, there are so many girls that I remember, like, nobody knows who they are now. Because they came out in a time where it just like, so much of this life is like, yes, it's the right song. Yes, it's the right timing. But there is like a luck of the draw to this. Like, in my opinion, like, you have to catch fire in a certain moment. And it's like, there's no rhyme or reason why some of us are chosen to be able to do this and not. Because there's so many talented people here. Like, it's crazy. And so when I lost it, I think my journey, like, the biggest thing that has happened is I was just relentless. Like, I went to fight or flight. I was like, absolutely not.

• 29:53Bunnie XO?

  You relentless? I highly doubt that.

• 29:56Speaker 01

  I was like, I'm going to, like, this is not an option. I have to do this.

• 30:02Bunnie XO?

  You seem so tenacious and like you just know what you want.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  And I knew that it was what I was supposed to do. And even in the moments where like, it was dark, I would get a text or an email or somebody would want to meet with me or all these different things. Even if it was just like, one little thing like, hey, my, I have a right tomorrow. Do you want to jump in as a third? Like, just these little light moments that made me like, no, I should keep going.

• 30:27Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, like, never give up. It was God. It was literally God, like, saying like, please don't give up.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  Absolutely God. And so I, I go and I do all these different things and I'm playing shows and. I took a job as a backup singer for Lucy Hale. She was singing country music for a little bit. And even that like introduced me to a whole slew of fans back when like Instagram was starting and all these different little connecting moments.

• 30:53Bunnie XO?

  How did it feel being a backup singer when you know that you're like main energy? Main character energy?

• 31:00Speaker 01

  I, the biggest like moment that I remember from that time, she had a music video on the Grand Ole Opry stage. And I always told myself I would never step on the Opry stage, never in the circle until it was my moment. And we had to perform on the Opry stage and I would not step in the circle. And I'm just standing there and it was almost like the, um, that movie was it like, I don't know, something 50 Feet From Stardom or whatever that was, where it's like, you're, you're on the stage, but you're so far from the circle. Like, that's how I felt. But I did it and I was just like, whatever keeps me making music. And for a moment, I remember thinking like, maybe I'm supposed to be a backup singer. Like, some of my favorite voices are backup singers. And I'm like, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do.

• 31:44Speaker 01

  And I, I met a producer named Busby and he changed my life, uh, along with a, or a publisher in town that I still work with, Daniel Lee.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  We wrote every little thing and made like a five-song EP, took it around to labels, no one cared. Took it to managers, no one cared. I mean, when I tell you like, not one person cared. And it's truly like, part of my mission for young artists and just young people with a dream is to like, understand that, like, no one thought that that song was a hit.

• 32:19Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  Except for, at the time, Sirius XM The Highway was like, the thing. It was like the TikTok, you know? It's like, everybody wanted to get played on the highway. And J R Schuman, who worked there, he heard every little thing. And this is after, I'm talking like, managers in town telling me I wasn't special. People on my team telling me to move home. I had a record label person who still works in the industry literally look me in the face and say, "You will never be a star." And you know, those are things you, I still deal with, like that imposter syndrome, like.

• 32:52Bunnie XO?

  Have you gotten to look that dude in the face again? I'm assuming it was a dude. Have you, okay, dude or female? Have you got to look that person in the face and be like?

• 33:02Speaker 01

  You know, what's fun is I've got to look all of them in the face and I don't have to say anything. And I won't because they don't deserve it.

• 33:10Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 33:11Speaker 01

  I hope that they learned, don't, you can't do that to people. And I carry that, I mean, truthfully, like when I'm sitting at an award show or I'm sitting, when I was female vocalist of the year, I'm like, oh my gosh, do I belong? Do I belong here? And it's all those years where it was just like, no, no, no. You're not enough, you're not enough, you're not enough.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  And JR heard every little thing. After everybody else heard it and they didn't think it was special. And overnight, I'm talking within 12 hours, I put that song out. Allison Jones over at Big Machine, she sent me a DM and I still work with her to this day. And she said, "You have to call me in the morning, you found your three minutes." And literally the next day, it was like, I got goosebumps. My whole life changed. And I think it's just so important to remember, you never, you just never know when that moment is going to shift. And like, my life has never been the same since then. And it was on the song that was like, not the hit.

• 34:10Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Can you tell me about you and Busby's relationship? Because you guys were very close. And I remember when he passed, I remember seeing your posts about him and stuff and my heart just broke for you. Can we just get a glimpse into you guys' relationship?

• 34:26Speaker 01

  He, so this is when I'm feeling at 25, like I'm old news in town. And he was just kind of getting into the country scene. He was working with Marin.

• 34:39Speaker 01

  And he was like, no, I like, I want to work with you. And he just started writing with me. And we started working together. And so we started having this success together. And he became family. When you, when you work so closely with these people and you make music with them and you let them into like your brain and, and you know, your secrets and the things that you really want to sing about and what you stand for. I feel like in a lot of ways, he helped me find my voice, obviously as Carly Pearce, but also just like as a human. Like he reinforced to me that like I was enough. And he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, brain cancer. When we were finishing, the last song he ever worked

• 35:19Speaker 01

  on was I Hope You're Happy Now. And that's super special for me. But he, he was diagnosed and died very, very quickly after. But I got to see him like days before he passed. And we had this beautiful conversation. And he said to me, he was sitting in his bed, and I'll never forget it. And I think it's so important for people that have success to, to understand this. He said, he looked at his clock and he was like, you see that right there? And I was like, yeah. And he said, I can buy anything in the world, except the one thing that I need, and that's time. And in so many ways, I feel like he's, he

• 36:01Speaker 01

  told me that day, he was like, I just want you to fly and I want you to know you can. And I mean, I've been working on a lot of new music and I feel like that voice has been in my head because it's not been, you know, an easy, even like getting to this place in your career. It's like there's ups and downs and like, it's tough. But I think remembering why I started this in the first place and the dream that I had as a kid has continued to make me understand, I can fly and I can do this and make music because of that girl that was growing up in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, like, and he's, he's that voice in my head. And I get like signs from him a lot. Like I know he's around.

• 36:42Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 36:44Speaker 01

  But it's been a really special thing. And honestly, like I wrote a song for him called Show Me Around. And like, that has continued to make his presence live on. And I've gotten to talk about him and just see so many people relate to that song. And like, his legacy lives on.

• 36:59Bunnie XO?

  I really respect your loyalty to people who made you feel good in times where you didn't feel good.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:05Bunnie XO?

  Like, you know, like your grandma and your grandpa believing in you and then Busby coming along. Do you think that Busby also inspired you to start producing yourself? Because I noticed that you did start producing after he passed.

• 37:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think he, he helped me trust myself and like trust my instinct. And again, like,

• 37:25Speaker 01

  he knew I struggled with feeling confident. And it's funny, like,

• 37:31Speaker 01

  you talk about like, people either like really love you or they really hate you. I feel like a lot of times, people have said, oh, Carly's not very nice. And it's like, it's not that I'm not very nice. I'm like painfully shy at my core. And like, kind of want to be in the room and like, don't really want you to look at me. Not because I'm a bitch, because I'm just like really shy and like, struggle with that confidence. And really, the only time that I feel alive is when I'm on stage.

• 37:56Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 37:57Speaker 01

  And I feel like he helped me like, really wrestle with that and like, be honest with myself that I struggled with that. And then get more confident and trust myself and trust myself in the studio and, trust the kind of music I want to make and not try to chase a trend or not try to do this because it's what's working right now. Or, you know, all those different things. So I, and he was like a very, did you ever meet him?

• 38:22Bunnie XO?

  I don't know. I don't know if I did or not.

• 38:25Speaker 01

  Love you. But he was a very strong personality. And like, he didn't take any shit. And he was like, I, I love that about him. Like, he was very much like, what you see is what you get. And I feel like he taught me to like, be tough in that.

• 38:39Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, I love that. I also want to clarify, when I said that people either love you or they hate you, I have the same type of fan base. And it's because I tell everybody, because I heard you say in an interview, you said, I'm not nice. And I was like, respect, because I tell everybody I'm cool, but I'm not that cool.

• 38:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:56Bunnie XO?

  You know, and I think a lot, I think. I'm gonna choose my words here so I don't get canceled. I think powerful women are forced to shrink themselves down because we have boundaries. But if we don't have boundaries, then we're spineless and we're weak. So it's like, which one do you guys want? Do you want somebody who you can look up to that actually does have boundaries and like speaks up for herself and stands up to what's for what's right? Or do you want somebody who cowers down in a corner every time, you know, something happens?

• 39:24Speaker 01

  Well, and that's why I've, I mean, I slide up on your stories all the time because I find it so refreshing, especially in our business where the women in the South, because we sing country music and we love Jesus, we have to shut up and take it. And I've been guilty of it. And I just think you have brought so much like realness to that. And that's why I'm always like, yes. And I laugh at you because I'm like, do you know how many times I want to say that? No, I'm just like, it's so, it's like, why should you have to allow that, you know? Like that kind of energy and like whoever's sitting behind a freaking computer, it's like, it says so much more about you than, and I just love it. I love, I love watching you like stand up for yourself.

• 40:09Bunnie XO?

  But I love that you stand up too. And you stand up to bullies and you stand up to men who are treating you wrong. And like, I love that about you. Like, never stop doing that, no matter what anybody says. I don't fucking care. Like, we need, I call all my crew that I hang out with, I call us a coven because it's not because it's witchcraft or anything like that, but a coven is a bunch of powerful women who stand together. And I feel like, I do feel like country music does make women shrink down. And I married a rapper, guys, you know? And to me, he's always going to be rapper role. And to you guys, he's jelly. But, and I get that. And we love that dad, daddy's grown and you know, he's who he is now. But I don't, I don't feel like I have to shrink down just because my husband's a country artist, you know?

• 40:53Bunnie XO?

  And I mean, I do watch what I say because there are a lot of shit, there is a lot of things that I say that get made into news articles. And sometimes I'm like, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that, you know? But I mean, life's short, you have to say it. And I love the fact that you do stand up for yourself. So don't ever feel like you have to always explain, you know, like, I'm shy or I have this or like own it, baby. You know, you have boundaries and you know what you want in life, you know? So moving on, let's talk about this every little thing song that your song, every little thing that came out in 2017. What was that like when it started taking off for you? Like, what were you feeling? Tell me what Carly was and who you were in that moment.

• 41:33Speaker 01

  I mean, when I tell you, I was like crying on the couch of my publisher the week before it went out on the highway, being like, oh, my God, it's a heartbreak ballad. Like, nobody's ever gonna care. This is my last chance. And he's like, it's fine. Like, just let him play it and then we'll get on to the next song. It was selling at the time, like outselling every song on iTunes as an independent artist.

• 41:56Bunnie XO?

  Sold 500K and helped launch her debut album top five on country charts.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was like, I think there's only, at the time, it was like, in the last decade, three female artists that their solo debut went to number one.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  It's now multi-platinum. I think what it did is it solidified my artistry. That's the song that broke me. So it's been a really fun thing for me to remember, like artistically, that song was the exception to the rule. It was a heartbreak ballad in the middle of summer, very little production, in a world where it was very male-driven and like very bro country, if you will. And I just, you know, I remember it happened so fast. It was just like a rocket. I was just trying to hold on.

• 42:47Bunnie XO?

  That's amazing. Brooks and Dunn just did an interview, I believe with Theo Von. And in the clip, they talk about how competitive country music is. And at first, I was kind of like, I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm also not an artist. Do you feel like country music is competitive? Or do you also feel like they cater to the men more than they do the women?

• 43:12Speaker 01

  So many thoughts.

• 43:17Speaker 01

  What I struggle with is I always say, I feel like, now, this is the best I've ever seen, like, the female artists right now are, like, I listen to them.

• 43:30Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 43:30Speaker 01

  You know, like, in my free time, I'm listening to these girls.

• 43:33Bunnie XO?

  Who's some of your favorite artists really quick?

• 43:34Speaker 01

  I think Ella, like, is a superstar.

• 43:37Bunnie XO?

  Babe.

• 43:38Speaker 01

  I think Laney has been the best thing to happen to female country music in the last 20 years. I love, like, new female artists, like Carter Faith, I think she's gonna be a big star. I obviously am super close to Kelsey. I love what Casey stands for.

• 43:57Speaker 01

  Megan Maroney, like, I don't, I don't know that we've had a girl be able to have ticket sales like she's having right now. You know, she's got a cult following that reminds me of Taylor Swift.

• 44:09Speaker 01

  What is hard is if you are not part of the five, you can feel left out. It's almost like there's only room for the few. And I hope, because right now, I do feel like we have an abundance of amazing female artists, that we're starting to see that shift. Because for me, growing up, like, the 90s, the females ruled. And I think what's difficult is you see so many male artists, I always call them faceless number ones. Because it's like, I couldn't tell you who so many of them are on the radio, because they all just are kind of interchangeable.

• 44:47Bunnie XO?

  A lot of them sound the same, too.

• 44:48Speaker 01

  They sound the same. But then, you know, you've got Cody and Chris Stapleton and Jelly, and it's like, those are the ones that really have a brand, but it's almost like the females have to, they just have to be so much more branded. But I do think, like, you can differentiate every single one of us on the radio.

• 45:03Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 45:04Speaker 01

  Which I think is really a special thing, but, I mean, it's just hard.

• 45:07Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 45:08Speaker 01

  I think it's harder for women, but I think the women hit much bigger.

• 45:13Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 45:13Speaker 01

  Like, they can really, like... Their art, artistry is just really like defined.

• 45:19Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, they can hold their own. You guys can hold your own up against the men. I feel like women are dominating country music right now.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  I mean, it's the most excited I've ever been.

• 45:27Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, let's keep it here for a while. So moving on from that, in 2020, or wait, 2019, you met, you meet Michael Ray. Can we talk about this for a little bit? Where did you guys meet? How did you guys, you know, even start this world razor blade romance?

• 45:44Speaker 01

  You want to talk about the most whirlwind?

• 45:47Speaker 01

  We, we knew each other. We had played shows together, but like Instagram.

• 45:52Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 45:52Speaker 01

  And I-

• 45:53Bunnie XO?

  Did he slide in the DMs?

• 45:54Speaker 01

  I think I did. I'm gonna be honest, like I did. I thought he was so cute. I, I had heard like, he's the nicest guy in the world. And I invited him to my number one party for every little thing. And I mean, it was just, it was a very, looking back on it, it was just a very,

• 46:12Speaker 01

  very hot and heavy, like lust. It wasn't love.

• 46:16Bunnie XO?

  Passion.

• 46:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was just passionate.

• 46:19Bunnie XO?

  So you guys meet and I'm sorry, I misquoted. You guys met in 2018, right?

• 46:25Speaker 01

  2018.

• 46:25Bunnie XO?

  Okay, so you guys met in 2018 and then you guys were married in 2019. So take me on that journey of like dating and then deciding to get married so early. Because I, you know, I understand it. My husband and I got married a month after we were together. Yes, and now we're going on almost, we're going on nine years this month, 10 years knowing each other.

• 46:46Speaker 01

  Well, see, it can happen. So I think in my brain, that's what I thought.

• 46:50Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 46:51Speaker 01

  I thought, and you know, at the time, his career was, was rising. And honestly, like, he was, he was more successful than me. And, and when our relationship started, it was like, oh, this is so exciting. I think we both got caught up in that, like, oh, everybody's so excited about this. But I, I mean, genuinely, I got married.

• 47:14Speaker 01

  To go the distance. I absolutely did. When I married him, it was for the right reasons. I think that when you travel like this, and I thought I was doing the right thing by like waiting to get married till I was 29, but we didn't have like real conversations and we didn't really know about each other and we were kind of living this life that wasn't really reality, now looking back on it.

• 47:38Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 47:38Speaker 01

  So I just think we didn't really know each other.

• 47:40Bunnie XO?

  You guys were just in it, in the moment.

• 47:43Speaker 01

  We're in it. And you know, I knew, I knew the night I got married, I shouldn't have, if I'm being completely honest with you. I think the best thing that ever happened to me was COVID, because it allowed me to deal with that in private. I think that I probably would have stayed in it longer if I could have avoided it and not had to, I was embarrassed when it happened, you know, of course, and I had shame around that and was heartbroken. But I think if I had to do that in front of people, I would have, I would have prolonged that relationship longer.

• 48:18Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. Was there one thing that separated you guys? Or was it, was there just like, what was the final breaking point for you to be like, you know what, I'm filing for divorce? Because you're the one that filed for divorce.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  I did. It wasn't what I signed up for.

• 48:35Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 48:35Speaker 01

  It just wasn't the marriage that I know I deserved. I knew that very quickly and I think in the first, we were only married for eight months.

• 48:49Speaker 01

  Plenty happened to where it was very clear to me, this was not, this just wasn't a marriage.

• 48:56Bunnie XO?

  Right. Was there ever any infidelity or anything that would make you question his love for you? Because you know, there's so many rumors and I have to ask.

• 49:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course.

• 49:06Bunnie XO?

  I have to ask. There's so many rumors that have.

• 49:08Speaker 01

  You know, what he didn't do wasn't written just out of thin air. The album 29 wasn't, you know, written out of like, yeah, I mean, it wasn't good. It wasn't good. And I, I've always, you know, what's been so hard is everybody has a different opinion.

• 49:26Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 49:26Speaker 01

  And I think what I've been able to do, I am in the happiest season of my life. I'm actually, if I ever saw him, if he ever watches this, thank you, because you taught me. More about myself. You taught me how strong I am. You put me through things that have made me better now. And I don't wish him evil. I don't wish anything on him. I'm so glad that I'm not in that anymore.

• 49:57Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 49:58Speaker 01

  But I, I think I was really shown just

• 50:06Speaker 01

  how much I care about me, you know, like I actually really have a lot of self-worth. And that showed me that.

• 50:15Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  It's just, I wasn't it. And what's been hard, what I was gonna say is, people have all their opinions. And at first, that was so hard for me. Because I was like, that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. What he's saying isn't true. But at the end of the day, like, my friends who walked that with me, they know. My parents know, and God knows, and that is enough. It's enough.

• 50:36Bunnie XO?

  I love that. I think one of the things that might have speculated the infidelity rumors was this whole situation kind of got a lot of traction. Is that true? Is she Jolene?

• 50:50Speaker 01

  Yeah. Let's just say I'm not a fan of her.

• 50:54Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 50:54Speaker 01

  I'm not a fan of her. I'm not a fan of him.

• 51:00Speaker 01

  I could have, I could have done so much more than I did.

• 51:04Bunnie XO?

  I can see the rage in you when this gets brought up.

• 51:07Speaker 01

  It's tough. You know, it's tough to think that, it's just like, just leave me. Instead.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  And that, that, yeah, I think to your point, I shut my mouth for so long.

• 51:24Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 51:25Speaker 01

  Are you dying?

• 51:27Bunnie XO?

  He's over there, butt cheeks clenched.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  But you know, I mean, but truthfully, like,

• 51:33Speaker 01

  I shut my mouth for so long because I felt like I had to. And I'm not here to

• 51:40Speaker 01

  blow anybody up or like, I don't care anymore. But yeah, I mean, when you're faced with somebody that was a really dark season for you and then they go and blow it up on the internet like, it's just like.

• 51:55Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, her response was kind of icky.

• 51:57Speaker 01

  But you know, also you go, I don't know if he told her we were divorced. I don't know. I don't know. Um, all I know is, yeah, that wasn't, that was not a fun situation for me. And I think what's harder is you want somebody at the end of it to just look you in the eye and be like, yeah, I, I, I did this and da, da, da, but I never got any of that. And so it's like, I had to piece together a lot of things after the fact, but they were facts.

• 52:28Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, absolutely. Well, I told my daughter this a couple of days ago, and it's one of the best quotes I've ever heard, but do not set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

• 52:37Speaker 01

  No, that's so good.

• 52:38Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you can't do it, man, because it will just eat you inside. And the rage that I saw in your eyes when you started talking about that, like, that's a woman that's been hurt.

• 52:47Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 52:48Bunnie XO?

  That's not a woman who's being petty. That's not a woman who's trying to start drama. That's a woman who is hurt.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  Well, and that's what's so hard is like, people don't think you're a real human being when you have a microphone or you have a platform or you have like a public name.

• 53:01Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you have to be stone faced. They want you to have no emotions.

• 53:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it's like, yeah, I did have a visceral reaction to what she said. And I did have a reaction when she was sitting in the audience when I'm singing this song. Like, of course I did, because I'm a girl who got hurt. And that at the end of the day, that's, that's what it was. And it's like, if people aren't able to see that, like me as a human being, that's on them. Like, yes, I, I, I can't, I'm, I'm to the place in this, like a decade in where I'm like, I can't do everything perfect. Like, I'm a, I'm a girl, like, I'm Carly and like.

• 53:34Bunnie XO?

  I'm just a girl.

• 53:35Speaker 01

  I'm just a freaking girl, like, and I'm sorry, but I get pissed off and like, I get hurt and I lash out and like, yeah.

• 53:42Bunnie XO?

  And that's okay. And that's okay.

• 53:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's hard.

• 53:44Bunnie XO?

  Sister, we here, we are here for you. And listen, this is a safe space. I, I'm pissed off all the time. I'm ranting and raving about something. Especially on the internet all the time. So I love that you're actually speaking your truth and you're like not. But you're still doing it so eloquently too, like, and I admire that because me, I'm the complete opposite. I will fucking blow shit up and then look back and be like, oopsie, you know, but you're still being so eloquent about it and loving and that that says a lot more about you than it does anybody else that's involved in that situation. So.

• 54:15Speaker 01

  And you know what has been the most healing thing? Nothing to do with that, nothing to do with my divorce or marriage. The women that come up to me every day, whether it's after a show, on the street, at the grocery store and say to me, you helped me through my pain. Cool. I'd do it all over again because it really is worth that. And I stand on stage singing songs like What He Didn't Do that literally like crushed me to write. And I'm just like, just wait to see yourself after that situation because I don't identify with her anymore. Like I now, if you would have ever told me I would have 29 tattooed on my arm, the year, like the worst year of my life. And I have it as a reminder of

• 54:56Speaker 01

  like, oh, no, no, no, no. That was like a defining moment of like your happiness.

• 55:02Bunnie XO?

  I love that. That's so powerful too. And women who are listening to this podcast, I know are going to get so much more insight to who you are and just, I don't know, you're leading by example. And that's the best thing that you could ever do to walk through life is just to show people how you get through your shit.

• 55:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:17Bunnie XO?

  Moving on from that nightmare, you write your album 29 in 2021 and you're, you were reflecting on the divorce, but also your producer, Busbee's death. And then you got invited by Dolly Parton to join the Grand Ole Opry. So it was like you, you went through this bullshit and then finally you get invited to your dream.

• 55:40Speaker 01

  Literally in like a 12 month span, I released 20, I get divorced, I release 29, I get invited by my idol to become a member of the Opry. I win two time female vocalist of the year and I win a Grammy. And I'm like, how? How is that real?

• 55:57Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 55:58Speaker 01

  But again, like, I think what I continue to be reminded, authenticity is the name of the game. Like, look at your husband and what he's like brought to our format. It's like, when you are authentically yourself, it's like, it's so powerful. And I wasn't writing, again, to like slam anyone.

• 56:18Bunnie XO?

  No.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  I was writing what I was going through.

• 56:20Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 56:20Speaker 01

  And it just transcended, like, the pandemic even. Like, I feel like my career took off in the pandemic.

• 56:26Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. It was almost like you needed that darkness because there was so much light that was about to come in.

• 56:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:32Bunnie XO?

  What is it like winning your first Grammy? Like, what?

• 56:36Speaker 01

  Well, it was the first time I'd ever been nominated, too.

• 56:38Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, wow, good for you. The odds for that is insane.

• 56:42Speaker 01

  And, you know, it was, it was the song that Ashley McBride and I wrote together and...

• 56:46Bunnie XO?

  We love Ashley.

• 56:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, and like, we're sitting in the back of like the pre-tell, where they do the, the pre-televised awards. And whoever was, like, doing our category, she had like a really strong accent, like, she was foreign. And so when she said, we're up against like really big Grammy darlings, as you know, it's like, it's very hard. And she just goes, Kelly Pearce. And Ashley, and once she got to Pearce, I was like, did she just say my name? I mean, it was like a total out-of-body experience.

• 57:19Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 57:20Speaker 01

  I never even thought I could get to the Grammys. Like, that wasn't really, like, female focus of the year at the CMAs was like the thing to me. And like the Grand Ole Opry, but like, the Grammys didn't even seem like a possibility to even be a part of it.

• 57:35Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, no, that's amazing and so exciting. I heard, okay, so I heard you say, this is, this is a testament of who you are as a human, which is crazy to me. But you went to an award show after you had gotten in an accident and had two of your front teeth knocked out. And then you go to an award show two days frickin' later? Like, why not sit the award show out?

• 57:58Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, this, I'm telling you, 2020 was, 2020 was a bitch. I got in an accident, I knocked my tooth, like, I knocked half of my two front teeth out. I had seven stitches in my lip because I almost bit through my lip.

• 58:13Bunnie XO?

  Carly.

• 58:13Speaker 01

  Seven days before I was up for my first CMA award. And it was during the pandemic when like only the award, or only the artist got to go. I don't tell anyone. I like do all my interviews like at my house. My face looks insane. I had to get like bonding and stitches and a whole thing. And I end up going to the award show and I took my, I took my best girlfriend. She's still my best friend from childhood. And I'm sitting there and like my lip starts bleeding because it's like so messed up. And she's like, you gotta like, you gotta like pat your lip. But that morning, we were watching Good Morning America and they announce music event of the year.

• 58:56Speaker 01

  And never in a million years did I think I was gonna win that, but I won it for I Hope You're Happy Now, the song that Busby last worked on. And that like was the craziest experience. And of course, I wake up the next day and all these radio stations are like, Carly Pearce had a bad botched job of her lips being done. And I'm like, no, I don't. No, you have no idea. You have no idea what I've gone through. Like my teeth were moving.

• 59:20Bunnie XO?

  And then you still didn't speak publicly about that.

• 59:22Speaker 01

  No, I didn't. I did one-

• 59:24Bunnie XO?

  How do you have that much reserve? I'd have been on fricking TikTok. Hello? No, this is what happened, you know? Like you just are so like, I don't know how you do it.

• 59:33Speaker 01

  Again, I think I, I think for so long I've been afraid to like rock the boat. And I didn't, I just didn't want to feed into it. But like, if you saw these pictures, they were insane.

• 59:46Bunnie XO?

  The seven stitches in your mouth?

• 59:48Speaker 01

  Like almost bit straight through my lip. And again, like I'm singing I Hope You're Happy Now on the stage and my teeth are like moving in my mouth. Because I had to let them set. Oh, and the next day I got three root canals. Win my first CMA, three root canals the next day.

• 1:00:03Bunnie XO?

  Carly, you're a beast. You're straight up savage, girl. Like, I don't, that's just barbaric.

• 1:00:09Speaker 01

  It was crazy.

• 1:00:09Bunnie XO?

  At this point, it's like, are you, do you like the pain?

• 1:00:13Speaker 01

  I'll show you the picture. Maybe when this airs, I'll post a picture of my teeth so that you could see it.

• 1:00:18Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, you can send it to Mimi. I just, oh my gosh. I had to ask you about that because I was just like, this is crazy.

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  I like sent a picture to my now manager. He was my drummer at the time. And I was like, hey, so, I've had like an accident. I sent him this picture and he just calls me and he's like, what happened? Like what happened? I mean, I looked like I got beat up.

• 1:00:35Bunnie XO?

  You poor baby, dude. And then to just go and face the world like that. You're just, you're a fricking soldier, dude. Um, so let's talk about this heart condition that you have. How did you discover it? What were your symptoms? How long were you dealing with it for?

• 1:00:49Speaker 01

  I have something called recurrent pericarditis. And back in 2020, I was headed to a place in Nashville called Onsite, which is-

• 1:00:58Bunnie XO?

  I love Onsite. Hi, hey, Miles.

• 1:01:00Speaker 01

  Hey, Miles.

• 1:01:02Bunnie XO?

  I always tell Miles, when we walk through an award show, I'm like, I know who got counseling from you. Everybody in their mom, everybody in their mom is, hey, Miles.

• 1:01:10Speaker 01

  So I go to a three day intensive with Miles when my, um, or at, at Onsite. Um, and I remember walking up the hill from the parking lot. And I had like this really intense chest pain and like really short of breath. My dad had a widow maker heart attack when I was 19. He's still here. Um, I remember he was at my house because I was going through my divorce. And so when I got back from Onsite, I was like, man, something is like, not right. He was like, you know, him of all people should have been like, are you okay? Like, should we go get it checked? And he's like, I'm telling you, it's anxiety. You're going through a lot, blah, blah, blah. And I think the thing that I wanted people to understand and why I went public.

• 1:01:54Speaker 01

  Doctors dismissed me for years. Oh, it's anxiety. Oh, it's in your head. Oh, it's, you're fine. You just live a really stressful life. And it's like, I'm telling you, like, my body is telling me something. Like, I've never felt like this in my life. So I had shortness of breath, um, but it kind of went away. And at the time, like, I'm an avid runner, so I was like, running on this when I shouldn't have been. I was just like, doing my life.

• 1:02:16Bunnie XO?

  Not shocking.

• 1:02:17Speaker 01

  I know, like an idiot.

• 1:02:18Bunnie XO?

  Heart condition goes and runs eight miles.

• 1:02:20Speaker 01

  I'm like, oh, it's fine, but I knew it wasn't fine. Um, I ended up fainting, uh, and went to the ER. And they told me I had pericarditis, which is like inflammation. Your, your heart is in a, in a sack and it's the inflammation of the sack around it. And, um, a pericardial effusion is when it like fills with fluid. And so I had that, but then I got better. Well, then I started having these, what they call flares, like over the last few years, like these little flares where I would take a bunch of ibuprofen and I'd be fine. And last year I was on the road with Tim McGraw and had a flare on a shoot where I knew it was bad. Ended up going, getting checked, had to go to the ER and was finally

• 1:03:04Speaker 01

  diagnosed with recurrent pericarditis, which a lot of people deal with, especially young people, where that that happens, a lot of times it's from a virus that you've had. A lot of people get it like after they've had a major surgery or whatever. I didn't really have anything like that. So it's still kind of unknown why, but it's something that I have to be kind of like aware of. I had to really change last summer, like how I was operating on stage and couldn't get my heart rate up and all these different things. Luckily, I've not had another major flare, but I wanted to go public with it, obviously because my shows had to be different. I was like standing stationary for a lot of the shows, but also just you have to advocate for yourself because even when I had that

• 1:03:49Speaker 01

  last flare, it was like I had a very like prominent sports coach, like a doctor of like a very big sports team.

• 1:03:58Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:59Speaker 01

  Tell me this is not pericarditis. And it was. And it's like, if you're not advocating for your own self, like who's going to advocate for you?

• 1:04:06Bunnie XO?

  Absolutely. Hold on one second.

• 1:04:08Speaker 01

  I'm obsessed with him. He's like, I like want to hang him up, put an apple in his mouth and like roast him. I'm like, so sorry. I'm like, and you're talking about your, your health and I'm just like, can I look at him? He's like, I got a heart condition too.

• 1:04:25Bunnie XO?

  Yeah. All right. If he could just lay there, that'll be great. So is there no, is there, are you going to live with this for the rest of your life? Is there?

• 1:04:34Speaker 01

  I'm a part of this campaign called Life Disrupted and it's actually allowed me to meet one of the very few like pericardial doctors in America, which has been like a total godsend for me. The short answer is you could, but a lot of people don't. Like it's kind of something that they live with for several years or whatnot. Hopefully I don't, but if I do, I feel like I, I know now how to manage it. It's not detrimental. You think, oh my God. And this was something that I really wanted people to understand. Like you think. Shortness of breath and chest pain, you're automatically having a heart attack, especially being like the daughter of somebody who's had heart disease.

• 1:05:12Bunnie XO?

  Yeah, it's PTSD.

• 1:05:13Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, but it's totally fine. And many people live with this and they are really affected. Like, some people have flares all the time. I'm lucky that I don't.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  But it's been really a beautiful thing to meet so many people through this campaign that are dealing with the same things. And I have a friend that I grew up with that I had no idea she was dealing with it. She lives in South Carolina and she's my age, avid runner. She has it and she's like, oh, my God, I didn't know that you did. And so it's like giving me this community again, just to be like, oh, you're you have this? Okay, cool. Like, I'm not the only person dealing with this because I'd never heard of that.

• 1:05:51Bunnie XO?

  Just one more thing to add to your testimony.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure.

• 1:05:54Bunnie XO?

  Let's talk about Hummingbird. You dropped it in June of 2024 and you co-produced that album.

• 1:06:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:01Bunnie XO?

  Take me on that journey.

• 1:06:03Speaker 01

  That album, I feel like, was so special to me, just being able to really put a flag in like the kind of country music that I want to make. It's so funny. I feel like that album really has set me up for what I've I've just finished my next album. It's the most me that I've ever felt in an album. But I feel like what Hummingbird did is it allowed me to really put a flagship on like traditional country music and that rootsy sound. But it was like a healing journey for me. It was finding my happiness again and kind of like going through some darkness because really with 29, I didn't have time to really process what was going on.

• 1:06:44Bunnie XO?

  Right.

• 1:06:44Speaker 01

  And I went through like a lot of anxiety and depression during that of just like kind of trying to wrestle with, okay, I've had all this success, but I feel pretty empty inside and I feel sad. And I feel like Hummingbird was kind of me grieving Busby, grieving like the loss of a relationship and finding myself on the other side of that.

• 1:07:05Bunnie XO?

  Why'd you name it Hummingbird?

• 1:07:07Speaker 01

  Hummingbirds are a sign that the healing process can begin and that good luck is on the way. And I had written that song, not, I had a song called Hummingbird on the album. I had no idea that that was the meaning. So I now have a little hummingbird.

• 1:07:20Bunnie XO?

  I love that. I love that you have tattoos because I would never, that's why I smiled when you showed me the 29 earlier because I was like, Carly's tatted up.

• 1:07:27Speaker 01

  She's got some tats.

• 1:07:28Bunnie XO?

  I love this. Are we gonna do full sleeves?

• 1:07:31Speaker 01

  I, listen.

• 1:07:32Bunnie XO?

  I think it would be hot on you.

• 1:07:34Speaker 01

  Right? Yeah. I have kind of like a cluster going.

• 1:07:37Bunnie XO?

  That's how she started. Now look at her. Haley, when I first, when Haley first started working for me, she didn't have one fricking tattoo. Or she had one little one. It was a Taurus sign or something like that. And then now she's like fricking tatted up.

• 1:07:48Speaker 01

  I'm very addicted to them. I like recently went in to get one because I kind of just started doing all this and somebody was like, oh, you have like the stamp look. And I was like, wait, I have a look? Like, it's starting to become like, I mean, I'm like, I've got to commit here. So we'll see.

• 1:08:02Bunnie XO?

  Sleeve it up, baby. Sleeve it up.

• 1:08:04Speaker 01

  I love that. So let's talk about this new relationship that you hard launched. Is this, are we serious? Yeah, we're serious.

• 1:08:12Bunnie XO?

  Yay. Tell me all about it.

• 1:08:14Speaker 01

  You know, um, again, like the stigmas that people put on women. I was like, I'm 35. I'm never gonna meet somebody. And it's like, oh, it's so funny. Um, I, I'm happier than ever.

• 1:08:27Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:27Speaker 01

  And I met him on a dating app. Like, don't think that you can't.

• 1:08:30Bunnie XO?

  Which one? Which one?

• 1:08:31Speaker 01

  Raya girl.

• 1:08:32Bunnie XO?

  Girl. I gotta get my girls on Raya because I heard it's great over there.

• 1:08:35Speaker 01

  Well, it's also like awful. Like, I don't know.

• 1:08:38Bunnie XO?

  Oh shit. Well, I mean, they're on Bumble. So it's like.

• 1:08:41Speaker 01

  Worse than Raya. Yeah. I just didn't think you could meet a real person on Raya. Like, I don't know. I just felt like, how am I going to be able to like, meet somebody that's aligned with me? Um, he's not in any kind of entertainment, which is the best thing ever.

• 1:08:54Bunnie XO?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:55Speaker 01

  Um, but yeah, I'm just really happy. And again, I'm in this season of my life where I'm like, I don't care what you think about me because for so long it was like, well, everybody thinks I'm like dating to many people and, and there's something wrong with me because my relationship didn't work. And it's like, absolutely not. Like, I hard launched it because I just don't care anymore.

• 1:09:12Bunnie XO?

  How are you supposed to find, isn't that the point of dating?

• 1:09:15Speaker 01

  Like, oh, yeah.

• 1:09:16Bunnie XO?

  Is to find somebody that you want to. To spend the rest of your life with?

• 1:09:18Speaker 01

  I'm like, I'm sorry, I've had a few relationships since my marriage. Isn't that the point? Like, I didn't, it's not like I've married six people. It's like,

• 1:09:26Bunnie XO?

  Fuck everybody. I've been married three times and I've just decided at 45 that I want to have a child. There's nothing in the world that anybody can tell you what the fuck to do. It's not your, their life, it's yours.

• 1:09:37Speaker 01

  I've literally, at 35, just accepted that. And like, literally one day was just like, I'm so happy.

• 1:09:44Bunnie XO?

  Freeze your eggs now, girl.

• 1:09:46Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:09:46Bunnie XO?

  Do it now. Cause don't be going through what I'm going through.

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  No, no, no, I know, I know. I'm like, there's no timeline and there's no right way to do it. And if somebody wants to judge me for it, do it. I don't care anymore.

• 1:09:57Bunnie XO?

  They're at home judging and they've got fricking three divorces and fucking, you know, like, come on. Like, it's, people that live in glass houses throw stones all the time.

• 1:10:05Speaker 01

  They do.

• 1:10:06Bunnie XO?

  The only thing that matters is how you feel about your life. Nobody else is living your life for you. You know, so I'm happy. I'm really happy for you.

• 1:10:14Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:10:15Bunnie XO?

  And you seem giddy when you talk about him.

• 1:10:16Speaker 01

  I am.

• 1:10:17Bunnie XO?

  How long have you guys been together?

• 1:10:19Speaker 01

  Um, it's like newer.

• 1:10:21Bunnie XO?

  Okay.

• 1:10:21Speaker 01

  You know, in the last six months.

• 1:10:23Bunnie XO?

  I love that.

• 1:10:24Speaker 01

  But he's the best.

• 1:10:25Bunnie XO?

  I love it. As long as he makes you happy and as long as he makes you smile, that's all that matters. What can we expect from you coming up?

• 1:10:32Speaker 01

  Like I said, I have made my favorite music that I've ever made. And I feel like in a season where

• 1:10:43Speaker 01

  it's so easy to want to chase the trend, like I told you, um, and I just doubled down on the kind of music that I came to town wanting to make. I grew up loving Appalachian Kentucky, like bluegrass roots music and

• 1:10:57Bunnie XO?

  Bring it back.

• 1:10:58Speaker 01

  I just dove into it and it's truly my favorite music I've made. So there's a lot.

• 1:11:04Bunnie XO?

  When's it, when's it coming? Do, are you like, tell us soon?

• 1:11:07Speaker 01

  Okay, really soon.

• 1:11:08Bunnie XO?

  All right. Carly, thank you so much.

• 1:11:10Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me.

• 1:11:11Bunnie XO?

  I'm so happy we were finally able to sit down together and get to spend some time together. And anytime you want to come back, my couch is always open.

• 1:11:18Speaker 01

  Thanks, girl.

• 1:11:19Bunnie XO?

  And anytime you want me to tell somebody off, just send them my way.

• 1:11:22Speaker 01

  Don't you worry.

• 1:11:22Bunnie XO?

  I got your back, girl. Now.

• 1:11:23Speaker 01

  I know you do.

• 1:11:24Bunnie XO?

  For life. Don't fuck with my girl Carly. I'll be coming. For you motherfuckers. And if people don't know where to find you, just shout out your socia ls. I'm sure they can find you everywhere.

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  At Carly Pearce on all the things.

• 1:11:34Bunnie XO?

  There we go. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of Don't Blonde. I'll see you guys next week. Bye.