This Friday (9/17), Carly Pearce will release her highly anticipated album, 29: Written in Stone. The album builds on the first seven songs she released on her 29 project back in February of this year, which were inspired by the heartache and pain of the hardest year of her life in which she lost her friend and producer busbee to cancer, and the year she got married and divorced. Carly chose to call the full 15-song project 29: Written in Stone because she says, “I feel like I’m putting a period on this chapter, and I feel like I’m allowing it to be finished and putting my name behind it fully. And I feel like these15 songs represent 100% of where I was, what I went through and where I’m going.”
Carly never planned to chronicle the pain of loss and her divorce in such a personal and deeply honest album. “Nobody wanted to write this music,” she says. “I don’t know that anybody going through what I went through would want to necessarily make that album.” She adds, “I don’t think I really knew even what I was writing when I started. I think that I knew I had to get some things off my chest, and never thought that people would connect with it as they did… And I think that seeing the reaction of the first seven (songs), I felt so inspired in the midst of that to keep going and to keep writing until I felt like it was finished, and now I feel like I can close that chapter.”
Carly admits the reception her latest music has been receiving from fans, critics and her peers has been humbling and rewarding, and she also reveals, “The conversations that I’m now having with fans out on the road are exponentially more fulfilling to me than before. And I feel like I’ve used pain for purpose through this record and I think now, with 29: Written in Stone, you’re getting to see the redemptive side and see it as a full body of something that all of us deal with, which is hard things, and it’s all about how you come out of it.”
As Carly prepares to share all 15 songs inspired by her 29th year of life and coming out on the other side of that year, she hopes people will find time to listen to the entire album all the way through at least once because she says, “I feel like it really does tell a story from the opening track to the final track, which I wanted the final track to give you a little bit of a glimpse as to what I want my future to be, and it’s almost a prayer to my future. So, I feel like I take you completely on the journey of my heart learning to understand and heal.”
You can pre-order or pre-save Carly Pearce’s 29: Written in Stone now, or get the album this Friday, 9/17, wherever you stream, download or buy music
Carly Pearce – what 29 means to her :28
“This project means so much to me on so many different levels. Number one it’s the first time that I’ve written all of the songs and penned every single story myself. You know, losing busbee was such a career moment for me of trying to figure out what am I gonna do next. And I feel like what this first set of seven songs has done for me is really open the door to the kind of country music that I always wanted to make, the kind of country music that I grew up on in Kentucky and the kind of country music that I’ll make forever.”
Carly Pearce – 29 WIS as full body of work :44
“I never sought out to do any sort of concept album. Nobody wanted to write this music. I don’t know that anybody going through what I went through would want to necessarily make that album. But I think what was going on in my personal life and what was going on in my professional life made me dig so deep, and I actually ended up finding who I think I was always meant to be in this industry and the kind of music I was always meant to make. And the conversations that I’m now having with fans out on the road are exponentially more fulfilling to me than before. And I feel like I’ve used pain for purpose through this record and I think now, with 29: Written in Stone, you’re getting to see the redemptive side and see it as a full body of something that all of us deal with, which is hard things, and it’s all about how you come out of it.”
Carly Pearce – full 29 album not a plan :37
“I don’t think I really knew even what I was writing when I started. I think that I knew I had to get some things off my chest, and never thought that people would connect with it as they did. But as they were connecting and as my career was kind of taking off, I felt so inspired to keep going, and I think they finish out this chapter of my life. I think they finish out what the year 29 was for me. It was a really defining year for not only myself personally, but also for my music. And I think that seeing the reaction of the first seven, I felt so inspired in the midst of that to keep going and to keep writing until I felt like it was finished, and now I feel like I can close that chapter.”
Carly Pearce – journey through 15 songs :23
“It was really fun for me to go back and listen to all 15 and really reimagine it as a full body of work. I feel like it really does tell a story from the opening track to the final track, which I wanted the final track to give you a little bit of a glimpse as to what I want my future to be, and it’s almost a prayer to my future. So, I feel like I take you completely on the journey of my heart learning to understand and heal.”
Carly Pearce – what WIS means :19
“29: Written in Stone felt right to me because I feel like I’m putting a period on this chapter, and I feel like I’m allowing it to be finished and putting my name behind it fully. And I feel like these15 songs represent 100% of where I was, what I went through and where I’m going.”