WHEN we mourned the loss of Dolly Parton in August, it was an especially emotional time for Carly Pearce.
The much-missed Queen of Country — and theme park owner — once referred to Carly as “The Little Dollywood Girl”.
As I discover, their lives became inextricably linked for more than two decades.
“I never thought there would be a day without Dolly Parton,” Carly tells me. “I always loved her, right from when I was a kid.”
Aged just 15, she successfully auditioned for the Country Crossroads show at Dollywood, the sprawling park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, not far from the Great Smoky Mountains where Dolly was raised in a humble log cabin with her 11 siblings.
“At 16, my parents let me quit high school,” says Carly, picking up her story, “and my mom and I moved to Pigeon Forge, about a four-hour drive from our hometown in Kentucky.
“I jumped into six shows a day, five days a week, at Dollywood.”
“It was then that I first met Dolly, as one of her performers,” she adds, recalling the moment she couldn’t help staring at the singer who gave us Jolene and I Will Always Love You, hardly believing she was real.
Today, Carly, 36, is forging a stellar career of her own and has just released a career-defining album, Honest Woman.
She’s on her tour bus in Chicago, where it’s 9am, and I’m in London when we’re connected via video call.
“For a day on the road, it’s too early for me to be ready yet,” she exclaims with her cloud of blonde curls framing a big smile.
“Well, you look amazing to me,” I reply, before turning to talk about her life, her album and her beloved dogs, Johnny and June.
But first let’s hear more about her connection to the incomparable Dolly Parton.
By a twist of fate, it was up to Carly to lead the Grand Ole Opry’s tribute show for Dolly at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the spiritual home of country music.
It took place on August 29, just four days after Carly’s guiding light passed away.
She opened her set with a moving rendition of Those Memories Of You, a song recorded by Dolly, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris for their 1987 album Trio. Carly says: “It was kind of odd because I was already scheduled to play the Opry to celebrate my album.
“Then it just so happened that the show to honour Dolly fell on the same day — so I got to run the show. I was everywhere.
“I think it was meant to be because she had been such a big part of my life and such a part of my origin story.
“It was a heavy thing for me to be there and realise she’d gone but it was a big honour.”
Years after her Dollywood stint, Carly and Dolly met again when both were appearing on TV promoting albums at the same time.
“So I got to remind her of who I was,” says Carly. “After that, I’d see her during my time in Nashville.
“But then I had the crazy, crazy surprise of my life. I thought I was doing a commercial for Dollywood, which I thought was a cool thing to do.”
On June 17, 2021, Dolly suddenly appeared backstage at the shoot and told Carly, “You are now an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.”
It was an invitation to the most exclusive and historic club in country music. Carly says: “There are three moments in my life which I think of as favourite career moments. And that is number one.
“The other two are winning Female Vocalist Of The Year at the CMAs (2021) and a Grammy (2023, with Ashley McBryde for their duet, Never Wanted To Be That Girl).”
Before we move on to more about her life story and her new album, I ask Carly what she admired about Dolly.
“She had a way of telling a story that was unapologetic and honest,” she replies.
“She was uniquely her own person in a way that freaked people out in the beginning. The way she looked and how she spoke. She was such a pioneer for women.”
It’s clear that Dolly, along with the likes of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, paved the way for female country singers in what could be — and still is to some extent — a male-dominated world.
Carly says: “Oh my God, I’m not trying to be mean, but there are so many songs on the radio that could be ten different dudes all sounding the same.
“I have to say, as a female, you can distinctively tell who is who.
“You have to have backbone and grit to break through — and I think you’re seeing that a lot right now with females in country music.”
Listen to Carly’s new album, Honest Woman, a vibrant song cycle drawing on country pop, old school country and bluegrass, and you’ll detect some of that fierce determination.
“I’ve always written from an honest and vulnerable place,” she says. “I don’t really know how to not be myself, which can be great and also a curse.”
The rousing opener Dream Come True suggests that success doesn’t always bring happiness.
Reflecting on being a single woman, unlucky in love, she sings: “Bought me a house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Four bedrooms but I only use one.”
Later, she’s “sittin’ on the couch, cryin’ in the dark. Every plaque on the wall is a broken heart.”
Carly says: “Dream Come True was the first song I wrote for the album. I was feeling a lot of pressure to write a hit.”
She considered where her life had taken her, which, she confesses, made her cry — but she came up with a song straight from the heart.
“I’ve chased this dream from the time I was a kid,” she says. “I think of the sacrifices I’ve made, that it comes with a price.
“I saw young women my age with husbands and children and a more simple life that wasn’t as isolating as mine — and I wondered if I was missing out.”
Carly’s dream of being a singer began, she says, “with my McDonald’s microphone when I was five-years-old”.
“My parents loved music though not country music. But the only thing that would keep me from crying as a baby was (country star) Vince Gill.
“My mom was so upset because she loved Fleetwood Mac, Heart and Black Sabbath. My dad loved the Grateful Dead and The Doobie Brothers.”
However, Carly’s maternal grandparents, the Pearces, were into traditional country and bluegrass — artists such as Buck Owens and Ralph Stanley.
She continues: “When I was six, my mom convinced a vocal coach to take me on. I don’t know why but she believed I had talent.
“For the rest of my childhood, she supported that side of my dreams, whether it was making costumes for talent shows, driving me to recording studios, buying me karaoke CDs or getting me a guitar.”
Carly’s move to Dollywood and into Dolly Parton’s orbit at 15 was her first big step into country music but another female pathfinder also inspired her.
She was Loretta Lynn, the rags-to-riches singer whose turbulent story was told in Coal Miner’s Daughter with Oscar winner Sissy Spacek in the lead role.
Carly says her new song You Can Have Him, with its trad country vibe, “is Loretta in spirit”.
“I loved Loretta so much growing up,” she says. “I didn’t get to meet her, but there’s a song on my album 29: Written In Stone called Dear Miss Loretta. She sent me a voice text about it which I still have.”
As for You Can Have Him, she adds: “Doing that was cool. I felt that traditional country was always such a big part of my story but I’d never honoured it on an album before.
“So I went old school and wrote this tongue-in-cheek song about a guy with a wandering eye.
“It takes me back in time. It’s as if I was Loretta Lynn singing at the Opry in the Sixties when she was 30-something.”
Next, we talk about Carly’s “absolute favourite” song on Honest Woman, He Don’t Like My Dogs.
It’s about an ex who got the boot because he didn’t take to the two loves of her life — shih tzus Johnny and June, named after the first couple of country music, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
“Here they are on the back of my phone case,” says Carly, holding up her phone to show me pictures of two fluffy white balls of hair.
“I love my dogs so much and always wanted to write a song about them, but it felt a bit cheesy.
“Then I had a situation when someone was not nice to Johnny. So Johnny and I talked and he said, ‘Mom, you know what to do’.
“So I wrote this song that I think a lot of people can relate to. If you’re a dog person and somebody doesn’t like your dog, get out!”
Expressing just what Johnny and June mean to her, Carly continues: “I don’t have children, but they fulfil that need for me so much. I mean, I just FaceTimed them before I got on this call. They’re with my dad while I’m on tour.”
Moving on to other aspects of Carly’s album, I guess you can judge her by the company she keeps.
There’s a guest appearance by breakthrough star Riley Green on stirring duet If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay.
“I always target my duet partners,” says Carly. “Riley’s having a serious moment, especially in the States.
“I’ve known him for a long time and knew I wanted to do this song with him.”
Elsewhere, How Long is one of several songs to feature bluegrass powerhouse, guitarist and singer Dan Tyminski, known for his work with Alison Krauss & Union Station.
Carly says: “I know he’s not in Union Station any more but they were my favourite band growing up.
“I wore out their live CD from Louisville, Kentucky. My band jokes with me because I play every song on air guitar or air fiddle.
“For years, I said Dan was my celebrity crush but nobody even knew who he was. I would just say, ‘You know, the guy who was George Clooney’s singing voice on O Brother Where Art Thou?’”
How Long also features sublime harmony vocals by Morgane Stapleton, wife of big, bearded country superstar Chris and a formidable talent in her own right.
Carly explains: “When I did my song with Chris, We Don’t Fight Anymore, first I had to figure out how to get the song to him.
“I thought, ‘OK, I probably have a better chance if I DM his wife on Instagram.
“That’s what I did. Morgane wrote back and asked me to call her. She was the reason that song got to Chris and we became friends.”
When it came to the sessions for Honest Woman, Carly called her new pal.
“No offence to Chris — I love Chris,” she says. “But I wanted his wife on this album so I sent her a message. She came to the studio and crushed it.”
The record ends with Why God Why Me, a heartfelt acoustic ballad reflecting Carly’s abiding faith.
“The song is my North Star for this entire project,” she affirms. “Faith has been the one constant in my life in this wild ride through the ever-changing music industry.”
Why God Why Me is also an example of how this unflinchingly “honest woman” goes about her work.
Carly says her songs “help me state the way I feel, just like Dolly did”.