For the last decade, country music star Carly Pearce has candidly written and released music about her less-than-a-year-long marriage, her very public divorce from fellow country star Michael Ray and her own romantic shortcomings.
So, with a title like that of Pearce’s fifth studio album, “Honest Woman” — where she promises to be bolder and more transparent with her audience — one could wonder: What makes this honesty different from that of her former work?
The answer is in the subject matter for this particular record. On the 16-track record, Pearce takes her listeners back to her hometown of Taylor Mill, Ky., for a bluegrass sound that makes the perfect companion to a slew of topics like comparison, insecurity and religious bigotry.
Some of the topics on this record are taboo not just for a country audience, but also for the general population. This album talks about the Christian religion abundantly and, though no criticisms are aimed at God, there are plenty of critiques that reference the establishment.
This feels most prominently done on the contemporary “Church Girl,” which is essentially Pearce’s take on Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow.” Unlike Musgraves’ song, though, Pearce very specifically calls out legalistic Christians and their prioritization of rules over a relationship with Jesus.
For an audience that might be conservative and Christian, some listeners have likely experienced the religious trauma Pearce references throughout the song. Nonetheless, this candidness feels brave for Pearce to focus on in the record.
Pearce references God directly and indirectly at several other points on the record.
“Why God Why Me” closes the album and reflects on why we have to experience lows to reach highs.
“WWJD” is an obvious play on the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” In this case, however, the acronym asks, “What Would Jack (Daniels) Do?” with the answer being to kill a former lover. Pearce actually has two murder songs on this record (the other being the “Goodbye Earl”-inspired “Daisy”), an upgrade from her former album’s “truck on fire,” where she commits fantastical arson and property damage.
“She Don’t,” a song about a young girl breaking the norms of small-town purgatory, sees our protagonist not “taking the bait (by) putting her dreams in the offering plate.” The references don’t end there, though.
Pearce is a devout Christian, she says. I do not see anywhere on this record where that is contradicted, but I do see on this record where she could ruffle some feathers with some of her stances.
She is not playing this album safe by just regurgitating the audience’s beliefs back to them; Pearce is being an honest woman by being her authentic self.
This brand of honesty also manifests itself on the album standout, “Happy For Myself.” At this midway point on the record, Pearce is accompanied by light guitar strumming as she tells the autobiographical story of her friend’s ring shopping and marriage, both events she finds herself smiling at while also wondering when she gets a turn at celebration. This is an emotion that I could see a lot of people being afraid to say out loud, but country music is all about relatability and true storytelling.
The lead single, “Dream Come True,” opens the album and pulls the curtain back on fame. While revealing her personal sacrifices, career conundrums and mother’s illness, there is an underlying question of, “What am I doing all of this for?”
At first, we, as the listeners, are not sure we have the answer to Pearce’s prompt, but ending the album with the reflective “Why God Why Me” helps process the question. We all have our “Dream Come True” moment, and we all have moments when we realize why we experienced the difficulties in our lives, like on “Why God Why Me.”
I have to applaud this album for its commitment to authenticity; it feels like Pearce sacrificed a string of hits just to make a point by sending the not-so-radio-friendly “Dream Come True” to radio for only a Top 40 Billboard finish. There’s irony there.
This album feels like there’s a point to be made. It feels less like Pearce is trying to have commercial success and more like she’s disproving the polished, false lies of what country living really is.
The low points on this album are where her label likely said there has to be commercial successes. Her current radio single, “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay,” taps country superstar Riley Green for a flirtatious duet that feels a little generic compared to the rest of the album.
Pearce is definitely capable of writing duets that are specific and unique. Look at her No. 1 hit on Billboard Country Airplay with Ashley McBryde, “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” or her Mediabase Top 5 hit with Chris Stapleton, “we don’t fight anymore.”
Even on “Honest Woman,” we see collaborations with Alison Krauss & Union Station alum Dan Tyminski and current legend Molly Tuttle, and they make sense sonically for this record.
“If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” joins “I Don’t Have The Heart” and “Leave My Heart Alone” as the album’s snoozers.
“I Don’t Have The Heart” has been labeled a classic Pearce heartbreak ballad, but what’s honest about that? She says the difference is that this song features herself as the villain, but that was done on her self-titled record with “Halfway Home” and her mega hit, “I Hope You’re Happy Now.”
“Leave My Heart Alone” at least takes a Thomas Rhett-written tune about one-night stands and makes it a feminist anthem for having fun, but it’s a little stale in sound and lyricism, unfortunately.
Pearce has called “Honest Woman” her best work. Is it good? Yes; it’s very good. This album feels like her most personal project yet, and the sound is very unique to her person and story. Is it her best? I don’t think so.
But the songs from “Honest Woman” are unlike anything we have seen from Pearce’s songbook. After years and years of people complaining about her singing about relationships that didn’t pan out, she has gifted the general audience with an album that pours out her deepest insecurities, realities and sorrows.
Even if this album doesn’t become her signature record, it is a beautiful addition to the Pearce catalog that everyone should pay attention to at least once for its vulnerability and willingness to say things that no one wants to say out loud.
