Alchemy with Anthony Mason

Carly Pearce reveals what success secretly cost her

Alchemy with Anthony Mason

Show Notes

Over the past decade, Carly Pearce has been one of country music’s most successful female artists with half a dozen platinum singles. She's won four ACM awards and another three CMAs. Her new album, “Honest Woman,” takes a bold look at the price of that success.

00:00 "I lost the ability to see myself"

01:02 Dollywood at 16, Nashville at 19

04:46 "Dream Come True" and the house at the end of the cul-de-sac

07:27 The award, and the text messages the next morning

10:36 The heartbreak ballad that felt like career suicide

11:33 Cleaning Airbnbs in a ten-year town

13:32 The caveman and the diamond

15:32 "It was whiplash"

19:29 Was it all worth it?

20:53 Circus animals: the truth about touring

22:56 Going back to her bluegrass roots

25:30 "There's no timeline"

28:30 The weirdo music kid who started writing at 11

31:11 The songs that scared her

32:31 "Church Girl," faith, and the backlash

36:03 Finding her sound with Dan Tyminski and Molly Tuttle

38:20 Losing busbee and what he told her at the end

41:20 Kelsea Ballerini, her safe place

44:53 Her mom's note: "You are enough"

49:00 Finding the joy again

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About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

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