Carly Pearce recently released her highly-anticipated fourth studio album after a years-long process of creating the record.

Now, the Grammy-winning artist is gearing up for a series of “firsts” on stages across the globe.

Pearce, 34, debuted hummingbird in early June. The 14-track record marks the first time Pearce served as a producer, alongside longtime collaborators Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. The album offers a range of emotional ballads — “my place,” for example, which is one of Pearce’s favorites and sees the singer in the aftermath of a breakup — and fiery, energetic anthems. Lady A’s Charles Kelley teamed up with her to write “truck on fire,” a unifying “girl anthem” that pledges to get revenge against a cheating ex.

“I have been working so hard on this album for the last few years, and it just feels awesome to finally have it out to the world and to see the way that people are loving it,” Pearce said in a recent interview with iHeartCountry as she prepared to host the ACM Honors for her fourth consecutive year. The show will air on Merit Street on Tuesday, September 24. “I think I had a bigger voice and a bigger presence in not only the songwriting this round, but just in the production, and I really got to have a big hands-on part in how every single song sounded. …I feel like they [McAnally and Osborne] really understand me as an artist, and so, getting to go back into the studio this time around with them was just really awesome. We knew what we wanted to do.”

Pearce said “the biggest payoff” to writing music is experiencing firsthand how it resonates with listeners, and helps one another to not feel alone. She’s getting ready to do that on her first-ever world tour, which kicks off next month, and at Stagecoach in 2025, where she’s set to make her main stage debut. Organizers recently posted the Stagecoach lineup, which includes Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll and Luke Combs as headliners, among dozens of other artists performing throughout the weekend.

“The last time I played Stagecoach was 2018,” Pearce said, looking forward to watching Brothers Osborne, Zach Bryan and other artists perform during the festival. “And so, to get to come back and play the main stage, and just to think everything that’s happened in my life in these last years, it’s fun to get to see that. And then as far as country festivals, this is kind of as big as they get, and it’s always fun to get to see your friends and play with different artists, and I think it’s a cool experience for the fans to get to hear all different artists in one day.”

Stagecoach is set for Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27 at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The massive country festival falls toward the tail end of Pearce’s world tour in support of hummingbird. She said it’ll be “the biggest tour I’ve ever done, and getting to have so much material that I get to choose from is really awesome. And I’ve been working on the set and this album in particular just feels extra special, probably because I had such a big hand in it all the way around. We’re really excited to get to bring it to fans.”

Rachel Ramsey