Carly Pearce | Eight Years of Almost
Carly Pearce was 25, cleaning Airbnbs in Nashville, when she heard a song on the radio that had once been on hold for her. Another woman was singing it. She'd been in town eight years by then, done countless showcases, lost a development deal via Facebook message, and she was looking at apartments back in Kentucky. Then a publisher named Daniel Lee asked her to coffee and said he knew her story, knew what the industry thought, and believed otherwise. She didn't believe him.
A manager later heard five of her songs — one of them "Every Little Thing" — and told her to her face, in front of a room, that none of them would get her across the finish line. When SiriusXM's The Highway picked that exact song as their find of the week, she cried to Daniel that she couldn't afford another misstep. It was a heartbreak ballad, and heartbreak ballads by unsigned women were not what country radio was doing in 2016. Twelve hours after it aired she was number one on iTunes with a DM from a label head that read: call me in the morning, you found your three minutes.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, Pearce talks about dropping out of high school at 14 to do six shows a day at Dollywood, and about hearing Dolly Parton's heels come down a hallway years later. About a marriage that lasted eight months and the album it produced. About recurrent pericarditis, dismissed as anxiety until she fainted. And about the thing Daniel keeps telling her, which she still needs to hear: stop chasing other people.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter:https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Carly Pearce
Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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Carly Pearce was 25, cleaning Airbnbs in Nashville, when she heard a song on the radio that had once been on hold for her. Another woman was singing it. She'd been in town eight years by then, done countless showcases, lost a development deal via Facebook message, and she was looking at apartments back in Kentucky. Then a publisher named Daniel Lee asked her to coffee and said he knew her story, knew what the industry thought, and believed otherwise. She didn't believe him.
A manager later heard five of her songs — one of them "Every Little Thing" — and told her to her face, in front of a room, that none of them would get her across the finish line. When SiriusXM's The Highway picked that exact song as their find of the week, she cried to Daniel that she couldn't afford another misstep. It was a heartbreak ballad, and heartbreak ballads by unsigned women were not what country radio was doing in 2016. Twelve hours after it aired she was number one on iTunes with a DM from a label head that read: call me in the morning, you found your three minutes.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, Pearce talks about dropping out of high school at 14 to do six shows a day at Dollywood, and about hearing Dolly Parton's heels come down a hallway years later. About a marriage that lasted eight months and the album it produced. About recurrent pericarditis, dismissed as anxiety until she fainted. And about the thing Daniel keeps telling her, which she still needs to hear: stop chasing other people.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter:https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Carly Pearce
Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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