Carly Pearce has had a monster year.
She released her awesome 29 EP in February, and later, an incredible studio album 29: Written in Stone, recently took home the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year award, and finally became a member of the Grand Ole Opry after being invited by Dolly Parton.
On her 3rd studio album, she included one of my favorite songs of the year called “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” which is a duet with fellow kickass artist Ashley McBryde.
And last night, during her 90th performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Carly sang it solo and talked a little bit about how the song came to be:
“Earlier this year I was working on my record, and I wanted to get a little bit of girl power on it. And so I asked one of my sisters in country music, Miss Ashley McBryde, to come and write this song with me.
And although Ashley and I are very different, I think that we were both cut from the same country cloth and we definitely know how to write a good cheatin’ song. So this is my current single at country radio, and obviously Ashley is not here tonight, so I’m gonna walk over here and I’m gonna pretend to be Ashley.
And when you think of me, I just want you to think of me with dark, curly hair and a big eagle tattoo across my chest. This is ‘Never Wanted To Be That Girl’. She really does have the tattoo.”
It’s a great performance of a fantastic song, and it’s fun to see her play both characters on the Opry stage.
She also talked about what an amazing year 2021 has been for her career:
“Somehow, I’m standing here baffled. This is my last real show of 2021 and, um, at the beginning of the year, I certainly wasn’t a Grand Ole Opry member and wasn’t CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, it makes me kinda cry.
So 2021 has just been the most incredible year and it’s because of all you country music fans, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me live out my dreams like this.”
Like I’ve said before, she didn’t win the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year award for nothin’:
