Pearce spoke with Food & Wine about her favorite bottle of red and why she loves going grocery shopping.
Elisabeth Sherman December 04, 2017
Rising country music star Carly Pearce has never been shy about her love of wine. The newest single from her debut album, Every Little Thing, “Hide the Wine” comes out today—and it’s a perfect testament to how red wine can be both a classy party drink and the fuel we need to call our exes. Pearce calls the single “a fun play on something that so many girls can relate to, drinking just a touch too much and calling up that flame, so you better hide the thing that makes you do it. I’m huge of red wine fan, and just think is a really fun kind of confession.”
Pearce doesn’t just espouse her love of wine in her songs. She’s a true devotee. Her tour rider always includes a bottle of red wine—usually Freakshow, her “favorite go-to cheap wine” (though in her new single’s lyrics she does give a shout out to “Two Buck Chuck”). After she finished her album, her producer gifted her with a bottle of Caymus, which has become another favorite. Pearce, who is from Kentucky, but now lives in Nashville, always tries to stop at Barcelona Wine Bar and Rumours East when she’s in town in between shows.
The singer still remembers her favorite meals as a child—soup beans and cornbread—which her grandfather cooked up for her at home in Kentucky.
“He made the best cornbread I’ve ever had. I want it right now,” she recalls.
The “staples of southern cooking,” are her favorites: chicken and dumplings, and collard greens, for instance.
In a life packed with tour dates, it’s hard for her to find the time to indulge those types of meals anymore, or to even stop by favorite spots in Nashville. But there’s always one thing she looks forward to doing when she gets a break from touring: grocery shopping.
“Grocery shopping is my favorite activity when I get off the road,” she says. “It’s the first thing I do when I get home. I go to Publix in Nashville. It’s always the best.”
Pearce loves grocery shopping so much because she thinks it keeps her normal. She’ll buy magazines throughout the week and look up recipes that she wants to make. She usually picks up Brussels sprouts, salmon, and kale. During the holidays, she and her mom bake together.
“We try something different ever year,” she explains. “That’s our thing. We pick [a recipe] out of my grandma’s book that she left us.”
Pearce calls herself a clean eater, a lifestyle she tries to stick to even when she’s baking, reducing the sugar in the recipe and replacing traditional flour with almond or coconut varieties. On tour, though, she finds that sticking to a healthy diet is tricky.
“Its difficult on tour. I’ve learned to do the best that I can, pre-packing some things, bringing snacks with me, [or] trying to go to the nearest Whole Foods,” she explains.
Now that her new single has been released, Pearce will likely soon be back on the road, with little time to cook up the meals she’s used to enjoying at home. At least she has Freakshow to look forward to backstage, and grocery shopping when she gets home.
Carly Pearce’s debut album Every Little Thing, featuring the single “Hide the Wine,” is available on Amazon and other music stores now.