If My Name Was Whiskey (Commentary)

This is the Carly Pearce album release special
We're talking to Carly about all the songs on the album
And one, that if you listen to Sirius XM, you've probably heard
Is "If My Name Was Whiskey"
I know that they have been playing the fool out of this song
And it sounds so good, and you co-wrote this song
And I know at it's core, this is about a pretty powerful subject matter
That I think I heard you say fortunately, you have not personally experienced
So talk to me about what inspired this song with you and busbee and Shane McAnally

This was the last song to be written for the album
We cut the first part of the album in February
And we wrote it three days before we already had songs picked
And we moved the song to the last session (wow)
Because we knew this song was so special
And it was actually Shane's idea, he had the title
And busbee started playing something on the keyboard
And I started singing that chorus melody
And it just fell out and I think that, you know

I haven't experienced what it feels like to have love for somebody who
You know to be second best, to indiction or some type of vice
But I think I've had family members that have, and friends who have
And I think all of us, busbee, Shane and I all have had that
And it was just really easy to, to tap into that emotion
'Cause I feel like so many people deal with that
Especially people who listen to country music
And just the visuals in this song are really powerful, I think

Well it sounds fantastic on the radio and you know
I did want to say, here at Big Machine Radio, we love our friends at Sirius XM
So I just wanted you to talk a minute because I mean
They have been absolutely pivotal and instrumental
In getting you to where you are today
So just talk about your relationship with them

They've been playing my music for three years now
They've put out three different singles on me
I've been a part of their "On The Horizon" show
I obviously was the highway find with "Every Little Thing"
But you'll see in the liners of my album, I think J.R. Schumann
And he really single-handedly is the reason that "Every Little Thing" even happened

Because I let him hear a bunch of songs
And had a couple of other songs in mind that were uptempo
And what I thought a female needed to have as her first single (right)
He made me really mad at first and picked "Every Little Thing"
And gave me no time to put any kind of publicity behind it
And I put it out independently
And overnight, Scott Borchetta was on a flight back to Nashville
To see me play at the Ryman (wow)

I mean, it really did happen that fast and I remember J.R. just looking at me
And saying, "Are you ready for this song to change your life?"
And I rolled my eyes at him but they are forever just so special to me
Because they were a part of the story long before I even really had figured out
What I was and who I was, so they're like family

Isn't it crazy because you've got all these young aspiring artistes
Who think that maybe there's a set path in a way
That people get launched or get discovered
And, and yet, here you've now taken advantage of something that didn't even exist
Maybe, you know, 15, 20 years ago and

Yeah, it's crazy, it's crazy to gamble for sure because you're letting your songs out
And it's really about sales, and he'll tell you that before he puts it out
He says, you know, "I'm gonna watch the sales really, really tightly on iTunes"
"And if it's not connecting, I can't play it"
So it's definitely a gamble, and I've had songs that haven't done very well
Or haven't, you know, they haven't worked or connected
But it was amazing for me to watch, immediately, when "Every Little Thing" came out
The response to that song and just go, "Oh my gosh, this is completely about the fans
And they want it" (people were feeling it)

Well I, again, we love the fact that Sirius XM has allowed people to discover your music
And that they've been so instrumental
And obviously thanks to everybody who has downloaded the single
Because, it's because of that, that you've been able to now go on
And you've got this album out now, which is incredible
And this is the song that you've been hearing on Sirius XM
It's "If My Name Was Whiskey", Carly Pearce on Big Machine Radio