Carly Pearce and her rise to the top of Country Music

Carly Pearce’s parents said they knew their young daughter’s talent and her passion for music.

“At the age of 8, she confidently told us that she would perform on the Grand Ole Opry one day,” said Jackie Slusser, Pearce’s mother.

But Carly’s parents were thrown a curveball the day she told them she wanted to drop out of high school to pursue her dreams.

When Pearce was 16 years old and in her sophomore year of high school, at Scott High School in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, she left school, with her parents’ blessing, to move to Dollywood with her mother. She performed in daily live shows there and continued working on her skills and traveling back and forth to Nashville, looking for her break. And at that point, there was no looking back.

After two years at Dollywood, Pearce and her mother made the move to Nashville, to work on Pearce’s dream full time – her determination would be put to the ultimate test.

“Many times, I called her, leaving meetings where they told me, ‘We love your music, but the time is not right for us,’ or, ‘You’re dated,’ or ‘These songs aren’t special enough,’ or ‘You’re not special enough,’ and I would text her and say, ‘Let me make it out to my car before I lose it,'” said Pearce.

Her album, “Every Little Thing,” was released last year and the milestones and awards just keep coming.. The title track went to No. 1 and Pearce won a Breakthrough Video of the Year award for the same song.

“I still freak out when people sing my songs, when people recognize me. I freak out when I play the Opry. It’s all out-of-body and it’s something that I hope I never lose that because it keeps me real and down to earth. It’s a dream — the biggest dream come true,” said Pearce.

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