Pearce will be inducted this summer
After 85 performances, Carly Pearce has been invited to become the next member of the Grand Ole Opry by her idol, Dolly Parton. Although the invite happened off the Opry stage late last week, the public announcement was held until Pearce’s Opry appearance tonight (Tues, June 22nd) so she could experience the moment at her favorite place to be, in front of a live Opry crowd.
When the invitation was extended as seen in the video below, Pearce believed she was taping a promotion for the Dollywood theme park. But Parton surprised her delivering the news with her signature enthusiasm and dazzle. For Parton, the invitation marked the first time she asked someone to become a member of country’s longest running institution. For Pearce, it was the dream of a lifetime not just coming true but arriving in the ultimate package.
“They told me you have been on the Grand Ole Opry 80 times, you’ve performed?” Parton asks. “How do you do that, like 80 times?”
“Oh my goodness, I’m just trying to follow in your footsteps,” a surprised Pearce says.
“You should be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. What’s wrong with them?” Parton suggests.
“I agree,” Pearce replies.
“Well, I came here today to tell you that you are now an official member of The. Grand. Ole. Opry,” she says as Pearce falls to her knees with excitement. “Well, you can’t do it sitting down,” Parton quips.
Pearce will be formally inducted on August 3rd.
“Dreams come true… sometimes even better than you dare to dream. I couldn’t be more happy or honored the be the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry,” Pearce shares.
Fiercely rooted in the classics, the girl who left her Kentucky home and high school at 16 to take a job at Dollywood has grown into a woman who embraces the genre’s forward progression and is confident in what she wants to say. Lighting a fire with her debut album Every Little Thing via Big Machine Records and the platinum-certified history making title track, Pearce has since become “country’s ‘it’ girl” (ABC Radio), touring alongside Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts and Luke Bryan.
With the most CMA Awards nods for any new artist in 2020, she won Musical Event of the Year. In a year of uncertainty, Pearce turned to the comfort of records she’s drawn inspiration from since her childhood dream started to take hold – Dolly, The Chicks, Trisha, Reba, Patty Loveless. Like those before, she leaned on her own intuitions with Top 30-and-rising single “Next Girl,” and a clever new video.
Pearce explores more of a pivotal time with a seven-song collection called 29, finding creative simpatico with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne following the unexpected death of her mentor and former producer Busbee. With her catalogue already boasts over one billion streams, she opens up even more in Carly Pearce’s 29 – The Interview. As Pearce marks a new chapter coming of age, she won Single of the Year and Music Event of the Year at the 56th ACM Awards with her platinum-certified, No. 1 duet with Lee Brice “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”
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