Three years is a long time in country music, but Carly Pearce wasn’t about to crank out another breakup record just to keep the Spotify wheels turning. After the soul-baring therapy session that was 29: Written in Stone, Pearce’s new album Hummingbird is what happens when you stop crying into your whiskey and start throwing it back with a wink.
“It’s been three years since I put out a full studio album,” she says, half-apologizing, half-bragging. “But I just wanted to make sure I got it right.” And by “right,” she means making an album that’s still full of emotional wreckage, but with more bangers and less self-pity.
Pearce has always lived in the classic country sweet spot, where heartbreak meets hook, but Hummingbird leans in harder. “There’s a lot of heartbreak, sure,” she admits, “but I had fun this time.” Fun, apparently, means co-producing the record herself, dropping lines like “I’m in Oklahoma but I’m not OK,” and writing songs about your exes that still slap live.
She kicks it all off with “Country Music Made Me Do It,” a tongue-in-cheek anthem about how growing up on heartbreak anthems makes you do dumb things like write your own. “That’s me saying, ‘Hey, I’m fine. We can laugh about this now,’” she says. And she means it—because if Loretta Lynn could say it like it is, why can’t Carly?
“Loretta didn’t care if it was politically correct,” Pearce says. “I’m kind of this generation’s ‘take it or leave it’ girl.”
That attitude flows through every steel-stringed minute of Hummingbird. It’s a record for people who know better but still fall for the wrong one, the ones who’ve been down that road and are finally laughing in the rearview. “There’s more confidence here,” she says. “I’m not where I was on 29. I’m in a better place.”
That doesn’t mean she’s writing love songs now. “I’ve never been that girl,” she shrugs. Instead, she’s leaning into the broken pieces and making them shimmer. From the ska-tinged pulse of “Woman to Woman” (“Miranda Lambert and No Doubt had a baby,” she offers, which somehow makes perfect sense) to the straight-up torching of “Truck on Fire,” she’s burning the old rulebook and dancing in the ashes.
And yeah, she knows her way around a turn of phrase. Whether it’s flipping “trust issues” into a love song or dropping “heels overhead,” Pearce lives for the lyrical twist. “That’s the fun of songwriting,” she says, sounding like she means it. “It’s difficult, but it’s not. When you find those little gems, it’s magic.”
She’s not doing it alone, either. Longtime collaborators Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne know exactly how to spark that magic. “Shane, in a past life, was a female 90s country singer,” Pearce jokes. “And Josh has that mountain sound. He’s the only other voice on the record, because he just gets it.”
But Hummingbird isn’t just about the writing room—it’s about the stage. After building a career on ballads, Pearce is ready to let the uptempo side take the wheel. “Charles Kelley told me, ‘You need both for a live show,’” she says. “And he’s right.” Now with four albums under her belt, she’s ready to mix the tears with a little bit of stomp.
That’s why, when she opens for Tim McGraw, she throws in a cover of Faith Hill’s “Let’s Go to Vegas.” Her dad’s idea, surprisingly. “At first I thought, ‘I can’t do that,’” she laughs. “But it was genius.” Faith even comes out to watch her perform it, singing along from the sidelines. “It’s a crazy full-circle moment.”
So what’s next? Headlining shows, of course. More heartbreak, naturally. But with Hummingbird, Carly Pearce is making it clear—she’s still country, still writing the truth, and finally having some fun while she’s at it.
“I’ve got some bangers now,” she grins. About time.
For more on Carly's latest album, her inspirations, and the evolving landscape of country music, check out the full interview above and then the video below.
