Carly Pearce Expands ’29’ Into ‘A Journey’ Of ‘Realizing, Grieving, Healing & Overcoming’: ‘I Got It All Out’
Allister Ann
Launch Gallery
Carly Pearce’s expansion of her 7-track album ’29’ has been released today as a 15 track concept album that details her tumultuous 29th year.
There was more where that came from! Carly Pearce has expanded upon her February 2021 album 29 and released 29: Written In Stone, which added 8 new, candid songs that detail her year of loss, heartbreak and growth. “When I started writing 29 in general, I didn’t know what it was. I just knew I needed to write this music. And so we released the EP in February, and I felt like I tapped into exactly who I was as an artist and always wanted to be,” Carly explained in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife. “I think losing busbee, right at the end of ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ and it forced me to look deep within myself and go, ‘Where do you go next? What do you want to do?'”
The Kentucky native revealed that her late producer told her he wanted her “to fly” before his sudden and tragic passing in September 2019. “For this project, I just went for it. I kept writing. I just felt like I was on a roll creatively. And then all of a sudden, I realized all of this music belongs together,” the “Hide The Wine” singer detailed. She saw the opportunity to combine the 7 track of her 29 EP with 8 more songs that explored her difficult 29th year, and found herself with a “full body of work.”
“I never sought out to make a concept album at all. But I think, unfortunately, with the circumstances that went on in my life, I am not a songwriter who can walk in and write about something else for the day,” Carly said of her candid tracks, like “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” featuring Ashley McBryde, and “What He Didn’t Do.” “I’m taking you on a journey. This is why I knew it was all supposed to be together. I’m taking you on a journey of realizing, grieving, healing, and overcoming.”
Carly continued, “That’s why I knew my heart hadn’t fully come to terms with all of this until the last song that I wrote called, ‘Mean It This Time.’ I felt like that when I wrote that song and I went, ‘That’s the end.’ That’s the end because I’m praying over my future.”
The “29” singer has publicly endured loss and further heartbreak after her sudden divorce from fellow country singer Michael Ray, after eight months of marriage, also during her 29th year. Still, that has not and will not sway her from sharing her truth with the world. “This is me getting it all out there, standing behind it, solidifying who I am as a woman, solidifying who I am, where I’ve come from, what I’ve been through, what I’ve overcome and solidifying my place in country music,” Carly told HL. “‘Written in stone’ is actually a lyric from the last song on the album. When it says, ‘When I say forever, I’m gonna write it in stone,’ I’m saying to my future, ‘When I do this, I’m going to mean it.'”
Carly’s full album, 29: Written In Stone, is available to stream now. Also, her first ever headline tour, The 29 Tour, will take place this fall. Carly invites fans to celebrate with her tonight during a special 29 Questions in 29 Minutes livestream on YouTube at 6:00P CT.