Carly Pearce is opening up about her mother, Jackie Slusser’s, health struggles, which led to her telling new song, “Dream Come True.” Written by Pearce, along with Lauren Hungate, Tofer Brown, and Emily Weisband, the song says in part, “My mama’s sick / Don’t see her that much when I’m on the road / And it’s gettin’ too hard to come to my shows / Like she used to / She says I can’t quit / But then all of her prayers would be in vain / She worked my whole damn life to make / This dream come true.”

“She has Stage 4 COPD, which is a lung issue. that has been really advanced in the last few years and caused me to not be able to see her as much,” Pearce tells Audacy. “She’s doing really well right now. This is obviously a piece of my story that I’ve kept pretty quiet, but I think it’s important.”

Pearce’s mother left their home in Kentucky when Pearce was a teenager, moving to an apartment in East Tennessee so Pearce could work at Dollywood. If anyone deserves credit for Pearce’s success besides Pearce, it’s Slusser.

“It’s an important piece that I wanted to share just of parents getting older, parents being sick,” Pearce explains. “My mom completely devoted her life to chasing this dream for me. And it’s been hard over the last five years for her to not be able to be there with me, and me feeling that guilt of not being able to be with her.”

“That last line where it says, ‘She says I can quit, but all of her prayers would be in vain, she worked her whole life to make this dream come true.’ That’s really honest, and I’m sure a lot of people feel that way,” she adds.

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Carly Pearce’s New “Dream Come True” Single

“Dream Come True” was the most-added single at country radio when it was released. Already a Top 40 hit, the entire song was born from Pearce’s own internal struggles.

“I went in to write this particular day, and if I’m honest, I was just feeling really low, ” Pearce remembers. “This career has had really, really high highs and it’s had really, really low lows, and I was feeling a little lost and just kind of having that feeling that anybody who has a dream, there are sacrifices to make the dream come true.

“I was kind of just in my feelings about that and wrestling with all of those different kind of feelings of, ‘I have this, but I didn’t get this,'” the 35-year-old continues. “And I thought I’d have this,’ and ‘I don’t have this’ and ‘Do people care? Do I matter? Do I have a viral moment? Can I compete? Am I too old? Do they care?’ All these different feelings, and I just wanted people to know they’re not alone in all of those feelings.”

Carly Pearce Talks About Her New Album

Carly Pearce has yet to announce a title or release date for her next album. But she does say his record, her fifth, will be honest and vulnerable and give fans a new side of who she is as a singer, songwriter, artist, and person.

“I think I’ve stretched what I write about, and I’ve stretched kind of just giving more point of view on some different topics that people have never heard me sing about, which I’m excited about,” she says. Pearce adds that her next project is also a way for her to return to the dreams that led her to Nashville and country music in the first place.

“This is what I wanted to do, and I think that’s why I have so much peace about it,” Pearce says. “But it started because of this song and just having to figure out, I need to return to the dream.”

Photo Credit: Luke Rogers