Carly Pearce is at the cusp of an exciting new musical chapter. She has a hit single at radio with “Dream Come True,” her first release from her next record. She also just dropped “Church Girl,” a powerful song about acceptance.

“I really dug deep,” Pearce tells Everything Nash. “I switched producers. Ben West, I’m working with him. We’ve been longtime friends. We wrote ‘Show Me Around’ for Busbee. He is incredible. He made the two albums last year that really moved me, [by] Laci Kaye Booth and Stephen Wilson Jr. We made my favorite music I’ve ever made. I think I pushed myself sonically. I co-produced this record, and really just went back to my roots.

“I returned to the original dream, which was the girl growing up in Kentucky wanting to sing country and bluegrass,” she adds. “And the subject matter, I think I pushed myself writing and choosing songs that really were equally as vulnerable as what people know me to do, but that touch on some things that maybe people don’t know about me.”

Carly Pearce Looks Back On a Decade in Country Music

Pearce’s Every Little Thing, her debut album, came out in 2017.  While much has changed for her, much has also remained the same, a dichotomy she taps into on her next set of tunes.

“It’s been a decade,” Pearce reflects. “I think in a lot of ways I have the same ambition. I have the same love of country music. Many of the dreams that I had during that season of my life have happened, truthfully, like pretty much all of them. And that’s a really beautiful thing to be able to say that, in a decade, my wildest dreams came true. I think I’m way more grounded, way more self-aware, and happier.”

Carly Pearce’s Timeline For Her Next Album

Pearce’s last record, Hummingbird, came out in 2024. Understandably eager to share the new music with the world, Pearce is also waiting until everything is perfect.

“I’m really enjoying just catching up to how music is being released right now,” the Grand Ole Opry member states. “Obviously, it’s a much quicker digesting situation than years past, of traditional albums coming out. So you’ll get a lot of music, and I promise that the album is coming. I’m just really excited for people to continue to hear this stuff.”

Pearce has plenty to keep her busy this year, as she puts the finishing touches on her next record, including an international tour.

“It’s been a really long time since I put music out,” she admits. “So I feel like in a lot of ways I’m giving myself some space to release music while going overseas. So I’m spending a lot of time at the beginning of the year in Australia, and doing a UK tour. And then I’ll be back once a lot of music and album announce and things are out, to do some things in the fall.”

Pearce’s 2026 tour dates begin on March 6.