The Recording Academy has asked our members to reflect on their path of becoming an advocate for music and discuss the importance of using your voice to create change. This "Profile in Advocacy" is from Bobby Rush, who recently took home the 2021 GRAMMY for Best Traditional Blues Album. 

I'm so grateful and honored by the opportunity to write this article about my experiences as an advocate. I'm thankful to be able to speak my opinion about where we have gone and are going, and what is happening now regarding the progress it will bring to the future of music. Let me start out by saying that I'm very appreciative to the Recording Academy for bestowing upon me the six GRAMMY nominations and two GRAMMY Awards for my records throughout my career. It’s an incredibly high honor. I'm mainly involved in this advocacy because I saw Black men not represented or included in the music industry throughout my career, and that I have a presence that can make a difference by being myself so that other Black people can see me and feel encouraged to get involved themselves. I believe that my involvement in various organizations and aspects of the music industry have encouraged Black artists to do the same over the years. I hope that I am able to continue to have that impact on not only Black artists, but all artists. 

I recognize that I am able to have a voice in the process of advocacy because of the success that I've had with the GRAMMYs and through my long career. Now that I have achieved this success, I have been able to be a part of real change on a national level by meeting with members of Congress and highlighting laws that need to be updated to better compensate, and protect, songwriters, artists, and musicians. I have also been able to work with leaders in local and state government, such as mayors and governors, to effect change in my communities.

In 2017, I was asked to participate in GRAMMYs On The Hill in Washington D.C. Of the many policy priorities addressed during the Advocacy Day, our main focus was to stress the importance of passing reforms, like what would become the Music Modernization Act, with members of Congress. Signed in 2018, the legislation immediately impacted my colleagues and I by closing the “pre-1972” loophole that allowed digital services to forgo compensating legacy artists, and securing a system for accounting and issuing payments of mechanical royalties from streaming services which is now set up through the MLC, the Mechanical Licensing Collective. I was blown away by the experience of going to Capitol Hill to meet with our few scheduled meetings, but also by personally being brought outside the House floor and seeing dozens of my friends and fans that are members of Congress. This ranged from Congressman Bobby Rush out of Chicago, to Congressman Stephen Cohen from Memphis, to Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, to the great late Congressman John Lewis. Throughout my career, I have become friends with many politicians and performed for those such as Rep. Bennie Thompson, President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, as well as the African American Mayors Association, and the Congressional Black Caucus. However, the experience at GRAMMYs On The Hill gave me a bird's eye view of exactly how legislation is supported and potentially turned into law.

For those of you who don't know me, I was born in the 1930s, in a little town called Carquit just outside of Homer, Louisiana. Throughout my life, I have lived in Louisiana, Arkansas, Chicago, and Mississippi. Even though I didn't live in Memphis or St. Louis, I have been very involved in those communities too. I started performing for the first time in the 1940s, and I eventually made my way to Chicago in the early 1950s. My first record was recorded in 1964, and, arguably, my biggest hit “Chicken Heads” was recorded in 1971. I’ve had the opportunity to release over 400 recordings in my career for a variety of labels, most of which I was the main songwriter for. The reason I mention this is because I’ve had many experiences, both good and bad, that have taken money out of my pocket at that time and for the rest of my career. 

I have learned a lot of lessons, and I have gotten to a point of obtaining a good lawyer and manager to help protect me. I'm grateful to have my manager, Jeff DeLia, by my side who has also been very involved with the Academy's advocacy work, including District Advocate Day. Jeff has been able to speak to members of Congress in his area both in-person and on Zoom, including Congressman Adam Schiff, and recently wrote a letter directly to Senator Dianne Feinstein in support of the HITS Act, which was recently reintroduced.

It's true that we have come a long way since the 1960s and1970s, but we still have a ways to go. As much as the world is changing and has changed throughout my career, it's vital that the laws continue to be updated to better protect and serve the artists, songwriters, producers, and musicians, not just line the pockets of the big corporations. As a man, and as a Black man, I not only didn't have the protection that I was deserved but also I was slighted in many ways. To have an organization and my peers in the industry join together to fight for these rights and generate new legislation by lobbying for it, is something I not only never dreamt of having for myself as a Black man but never dreamt of being a part of personally.

To people with my level of experience in this career as well as newcomers such as young artists rising in the industry, I encourage you all to get involved with your local Recording Academy chapter. Get involved in your local community, and especially, if called upon, get involved in the local, regional, or national advocacy efforts of the Recording Academy to continue to speak for yourself and your colleagues. And, most importantly, get involved for those who have less of a voice in these laws. You won't regret it. – Bobby Rush, the bluesman

Read More: Profiles In Advocacy: Ledisi On The Importance Of Using Your Voice To Make Change

Sheryl Crow may be a nine-time GRAMMY winner and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, but her legacy extends far beyond her music. She has dedicated her career to advocating for her fellow artists and social causes close to her heart — and that's why she's one of the honorees at this year's GRAMMYs on the Hill.

On April 30, Crow will be honored at Washington's premier annual celebration of music and advocacy alongside Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) for their bipartisan spearheading of the Save Our Stages Act and the Fans First Act. The "All I Wanna Do" singer called receiving her GRAMMYs on the Hill award "a tremendous honor…because protecting the rights of creators is more important now than ever before."

Helping creators thrive has long been part of Crow's career. She has made it her lifelong mission to support other artists and stand up for causes she believes in, from co-founding a pioneering advocacy group for musicians to supporting the music program at her alma mater. 

Below, check out five ways Sheryl Crow has exemplified advocacy within the music industry — and beyond — over the course of her career.

The 2024 GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards is sponsored by City National Bank and benefits the GRAMMY Museum.

She Co-Founded The Recording Artists' Coalition

In 2000, Crow and fellow GRAMMY winner (and previous GRAMMYs on the Hill honoree) Don Henley founded the Recording Artists' Coalition. The organization's mission is to represent artists, defending their rights and interests and challenging unfair industry practices. 

One of the advocacy group's first major legislative wins came in its founding year, when then-President Bill Clinton signed a law repealing The Works Made for Hire and Copyright Corrections Act. The provision had designated musical recordings as "works for hire," thereby taking away many artists' rights to royalties.

In 2009, the Recording Artists' Coalition aligned with the Recording Academy to continue the organization's work as part of the Academy's Advocacy and Public Policy office. (Crow is also a member of the Music Artists Coalition, which was founded in 2019 and has a similar mission to protect artists' rights.)

She's Sounded The Alarm About The Dangers Of AI

Crow released her eleventh studio set, Evolution, in March and tackled the topic of artificial intelligence head-on via the LP's ominous title track. "Turned on the radio and there it was/ A song that sounded like something I wrote/ The voice and melody were hauntingly/ So familiar that I thought it was a joke," she sings on the opening stanza before questioning, "Is it beyond intelligence/ As if the soul need not exist?"

The prolific singer/songwriter explained her decision to put her concerns about AI's threat to creativity, songwriting and even artists' ownership over their own voices in an interview on the podcast Q with Tom Power earlier this month.

"It terrifies me that artists can be brought back from the dead; it terrifies me that I can sing to you a song that I had absolutely nothing to do with and you'll believe it," she said. "And so I'm waiting to see if the best of us will rise up and say, 'This cannot be' 'cause our kids need to understand that truth is truth. There is a truth, and the rest of it is non-truth." 

Later in the wide-ranging conversation, Crow added her insight into how technology, social media and the modern streaming economy are all negatively impacting listeners' relationship to music as well. "We need music that tells our story now more than we've ever needed it," she urged. "And yet, we're going to bring in technology — already, algorithms are killing our ability to even not only listen to a whole song, but to experience it at a spiritual level."

She's Championed Racial Equality In The Music Business

Amid the summer of marches, demonstrations and other civil actions in the wake of George Floyd's tragic 2020 murder, Crow used her platform and privilege as a white musician to help shine a light on the plight of Black musicians fighting for equality within the music industry.

"I stand in solidarity with the Black Music Action Coalition in their efforts to end systematic racism and racial inequality in the music business," she wrote in a 2020 social media post. "It is impossible to overestimate the contribution of Black people in our industry; Black culture has inexorably shaped the trajectory of nearly every musical genre. Most artists, myself included, simply would not be here without it. The time to acknowledge this fact is long overdue."

Crow went on to call for the music business to become a "shining example of reform to other industries." She added, "Acknowledging and making amends for both historic and ongoing inequalities, and creating a path forward to ensure they never occur again, is our highest calling."

She's A Charitable Powerhouse

Crow has long made philanthropy a central priority in her life. Along with supporting the Recording Academy's own MusiCares initiative, the "Steve McQueen" singer has backed and partnered with a veritable laundry list of non-profit organizations including, but not limited to, The Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the World Food Program, ADOPT A CLASSROOM, Pelotonia, the Delta Children's Home, Stevie Van Zandt's TeachRock Artist Council and more. 

Additionally, she's spoken out countless times about gun violence, Medicaid expansion, women's health, mental health, the death penalty, LGBTQ+ rights, and a host of other issues, particularly affecting Tennessee, where she now calls home. 

The "Soak Up The Sun" songstress has also used her musical talents to give back over the course of her career. In fact, just weeks before releasing Evolution, she contributed to the star-studded 2024 re-release of Mark Knopfler's 1983 debut solo single "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

She Supports Music's Next Generation

A proud alumnus of the University of Missouri, Crow holds a degree in music education and has continually given back to her alma mater's music program in an effort to support the future generations of music makers. 

In 2015, Crow headlined her own benefit concert for the Mizzou School of Music's fundraising campaign, which led to the choral performance and rehearsal hall inside the campus' Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield Music Center being rechristened Sheryl Crow Hall in early 2022. 

As she's achieved veteran status in the music industry, Crow has also made a particular point to uplift and champion young female artists. In 2019, she partnered with TODAY for its "Women Who Rock: Music and Mentorship" series, and in 2020, took part in Citi's #SeeHerHearHer campaign to boost representation of women in music. More recently, she has touted Taylor Swift as a "powerhouse" and offered career advice to her now-frequent "If It Makes You Happy" duet partner, Olivia Rodrigo.

Whether she's inspiring young women or advocating for music creators of all kinds, Sheryl Crow has already left an indelible mark on the music industry. And if her previous efforts are any indication, she's not stopping anytime soon.

GRAMMYs On The Hill Awards 2024: Everything You Need To Know Including Mission, Goals, Honorees & Achievements

"I'm sticking with DJing, because that's about love!" Kavain Wayne Space, aka RP Boo, says from his Chicago home on the zoom call. He wears a sleeveless white t-shirt and his smile lights up the bare room.  As you'd maybe expect from a DJ, he talks with his hands, gesturing so emphatically it sometimes looks like he's going to reach back and knock the White Sox cap off the perch behind him.

RP Boo may not talk like an elder statesman, but he's got some grey in his pointed beard, and he's been around for a while. He's one of the pioneers of Chicago footwork or juke, a superfast dance music invented in the mid- and late-90s that is built around rapid fire beats and incessantly repeated tape loops. When RP Boo says, "that's about…that's about love!" he sounds a lot like his own music.

Footwork has had moments where it almost seemed about to break into the mainstream; Kanye West's remix of Kid Sister's 2007 "Pro Nails" was a brief sensation, and DJ Rashad's 2014 album Double Cup received wide praise. But RP Boo has never quite become a household name, though he's gotten more recognition since the release of his first album Legacy in 2013.

His fourth and most recent release, Established! (Planet MU) shows that sort-of success hasn't dimmed his weirdness or slowed down that 160 bpm. He recently spoke to GRAMMY.com about the roots of Chicago footwork, leaving his day job, and being a legend.

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The first track on Established! ("All My Life") is based around this loop that repeats "All my life I've loved to dance." When did you start dancing and did that lead you to making music?

For me, I watched my uncle dance, and he just enjoyed it. And whatever dance he was doing, we didn't know, we just made fun of it.  And I got a cousin that I'd say about in '81—he would make these dances up, him and his friends. And it was catchy to me.

I used to try to break dance but couldn't figure it out. And about '85 or '86, that's when the house music in Chicago [started]. It was like, I like these dances. So I picked up this dancing, and got kind of good at it.

And once I learned how to DJ, I still loved dancing. Whatever your body wants to do when you're at a party, whether you know how to dance or not—it's not about you doing it correctly. To be jumping up the dance moves is to be a part of dancing with God.

Read: Record Store Recs: Chicago House Hero Marshall Jefferson On Representation In Dance Music

So when did you start DJing? Was it in the mid-90s or was it earlier than that?

I graduated from high school in 1991. And that's when I started buying my equipment. So as soon as I got out of high school, I just started to—I forget what type of turntables they were, but they had belt drives and they had a pitch on them. And I learned how to work those real fast. How to work the pitch, how to blend the tracks and how to fade the tracks out. How to know the note of records, where you want to come in at and where you want to cut out at. And it was less than a year and a half to mastery.

When you started, Chicago ghetto house was popular. And juke is basically Chicago ghetto house sped up. How did you all start playing this music faster?

It was a group I think, on the West Side. I guess they brain was somewhere else. So they had the DJ, whoever made this tape, instead of playing the vinyl on 33 they put it on 45. And they bashed the dance floor with it. So I guess they won the competition.

But word started getting around and people started imitating the trend, and DJs started  producing those 160 bpm [records].

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The title of your album is Established! with an exclamation point. And I know that it's taken you a long time to get recognition. Do you still have a day job?

No! No.

I was working at a Lowe's Home Improvement store until 2013. That's when I ended up getting let go. And at that point, I think of December of 2012, I had just finished Legacy.

I never thought that I would ever be without a job. The store manager at Lowe's was a real good guy. And he says, "Well, corporate states that you could come back here but you can't be hired for six months."

As I was walking out, I said, "What am I going to do with the next six months?" And I said this out loud, "I think I'm going to start touring."

I was depressed. I stayed depressed—that was in late February. And in late April, I get a phone call from New York. And he says, "I heard you have an album coming out. If we'd known you had an album, we would have booked you to do a release party here in New York."

On the day of the release, I texted back and said I don't have the job [keeping me from touring anymore]. He says, "Can you be here in two weeks?" I was like, "Yeah!" I end up getting at least seven opportunities to play overseas within the first week.

"You just have to be prepared to let the world blossom and blossom with it. But you can't predict it." RP Boo

So you never had to go back to Lowe's.

No.

You just have to be prepared to let the world blossom and blossom with it. But you can't predict it.

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Do you hear your music as an influence in a lot of what's out there now?

Oh yes. DJ Rashad [who died in 2014]—I was a great influence on him. And him on me.  And so Rashad was saying, "Hey, wait till you hear RP, this is the only guy that would change his style, multiple times. And as he changes it, that influences how other people listen. It's something about how his music just keeps changing."

I was listening to the track "All Over," which has the Phil Collins sample. How did that song come about? Did you have the sample first?

Yeah. Those are the songs I grew up to. In the '80s, we watched the videos, nobody paid attention. But that was the new wave of the future. And these are all the songs; I listened to Genesis, to the Phil Collins solo projects. And I found myself over time collecting them, I have them in my phone. So then I could drive and hear these songs.

I've had it in my archives for years. And I tried to play with it at least about nine years ago, and nothing worked. So I said, in due time I'll come back to it.

And one day I was going through my files just listening to music and I listened to [Phil Collins'] "I Don't Care Anymore."  And I looked at the BPM and said, [claps!] "Oh, this is right where I need to begin. And I played with it and let it run. And that's where I stopped it. [Makes a record scratch noise.] [Sings] "All over..ah..ah…all over."  And it worked. It worked out.

You have a song called, "Haters Increase the Heat" about overcoming detractors. But when I was listening to it, I thought, who can hate you?! [RP Boo gives a look.] They're out there?

Def. It's more about people that have no clue about what you do or what you're going through. Rashad dealt with that.

And I was like, oh, you know what? Let me make some music. That's why I say, [rhythmically quoting his track] "Haters increase the heat. It's getting hot, it's getting hotter. Haters gonna keep making my tracks get hot."

In other words, I will take the negative and do something productive, and show you what you can do with the negative and make a spark.

Have you been able to continue working during COVID?

I was able to do a lot of direct streams and recorded streaming projects, direct from our festivals overseas, and two remix projects. So I was able to stay busy. [Sighs.] But I've missed the touring.

Meet Mother Nature, The Chicago Rap Duo That Teach & Live Self-Expression Through Their Miseducation Of HipHop Youth Workshops

Sometimes a little self-love can go a long way to connecting with the world around us. That's one of the key messages of My Morning Jacket's latest single "Love Love Love," from the band's new self-titled album due out Oct. 22.

"'Love Love Love' is just about trying to spread as much love as you can, but that it starts with you standing up for and loving yourself," singer/songwriter Jim James tells GRAMMY.com. "I want to try and spread as much positivity as I or we can, which obviously isn't always easy."

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The new album is the band's first collection of new music since they recorded The Waterfall and The Waterfall II, released in 2015 and 2020, respectively, but recorded during the same sessions.

It finds the band rediscovering and embracing their passion for playing together after time apart doing their own projects. The band decided to self-produce, which allowed them total freedom to let the songs breathe and develop over two multi-week sessions at Los Angeles-based studio 64 Sound.

"It was a beautiful experience, and we were so fortunate to get to spend some time together just the five of us reconnecting with each other as friends and making music together," he says. "We had been apart for a while as a band and were not sure what the future held and so it was such magic to find ourselves together again and laughing and sharing and creating."

GRAMMY.com caught up with James to talk about the importance of breaking free from technology and embracing the natural world, how the band found complete freedom in self-producing the album, and more.

How have you grown the most as a songwriter and individual during the past year and a half?

At least for me, it has just reinforced my love of nature, my desire to really focus my time with the people that mean the most to me. I really tried to stop doing things that I felt like I was obligated to do. I feel like just so much in life we run around almost in an unconscious way.

The pandemic has, at least for me, introduced this new level of consciousness, of trying to be super aware of how I'm spending my time. It kind of brought this new awareness that we don't have forever, and the future is not guaranteed. And that we really need to make every day count, and really spend it with people that we love, and doing things that we love.

Speaking of love, the new single on the new album is "Love Love Love," which is about positivity and love for one another. Why is it important to keep a level of hope and positivity?

"Love Love Love" is just about trying to spread as much love as you can, but that it starts with you standing up for and loving yourself. I want to try and spread as much positivity as I or we can, which obviously isn't always easy. I tend to write a lot about feeling lost or sad or like I don't fit in. But I also want to weave messages of hope or positivity in there which I hope could maybe get through to someone else who may be feeling lost or sad and let them know there is a way out of the sadness…that things can and do change.

Life can be so hard, and it can be easier to dwell on the tough times, but I feel like it's also our sacred duty to celebrate when things are good, to name those feelings and those moments and speak them out loud. Like, "Wow this is such a beautiful moment!" or being sure to tell our loved ones how much we love them and how special they are.

I think also along with this, we need to all start meeting each other in the middle more. [We need to] turn off the cable news channels and listen to each other more and recognize our shared humanity and resonance with all the other beings and this beautiful planet before it's too late.

The sentiment lyrically is just to stand up for yourself, learn to love yourself and then use that to spread as much love to others as possible.

How would you describe the song's development?

It started in two different directions. One was a sort of moody psychedelic thing and the other was this propulsive electronic beat I was working on. Somewhere along the way I decided to merge the two in the demo I sent to the band. We ended up making it a more live organic electric hybrid thing by performing around the drum programming I had created originally.

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There was a point where you and the band weren't sure if you'd ever release another album. However, reuniting for a few shows in 2019 including a couple at Red Rocks helped reignite the spark. How did all that help convince everyone to get back into the studio?

I think it just really showed us that balance is so important to life. I feel like life just got so out of balance for so long that I had to find a way to create that balance. I was really bad at saying yes to too many things, and then getting just too beaten down by life.

I didn't have the energy I needed for the things I loved, because I was saying yes to too many different things. So, I think once we had taken some time away, and weren't so beaten down by the schedule of the band, we were able to feel the energy again and feel the essence of playing together.

The band made a concerted effort to capture the raw energy from the band's live performance in the recordings. Why was that important?

We just kind of went in with no pressure on ourselves. And no goal, really, other than to have fun and just try things. Also, it was just the five of us together, which was really special, too. It just enabled us to kind of focus on our friendship and the energy between us in this really special way that kind of just removed all the pressure.

And we got to spend some nice time [together], just letting things fly and trying out ideas. And just enjoying the gift of friendship, and the gift to being able to play, create music together. I think that resulted in a lot of moments that were really beautiful, that just felt really spontaneous.

And there were live moments where we're having fun performing for each other as if we were performing live in front of a crowd. Because sometimes I feel like in the studio, some of that can get lost. You can get nervous, or you can get too hyper-focused on things. We tried to have a really laid-back atmosphere, which I think really helped.

I imagine that helped the songs develop naturally, without any pressure.

Yeah, I think it really did. I had a ton of different ideas that we tried. So many different things. And seeing things work, or just some things don't work. That's kind of the fun thing, also, about it just being the five of us, is that it was fine if something didn't work. Because it was only us analyzing it, and not feeling the pressure or really feeling disappointed if something didn't work. We were able to just move on and to the next thing.

Why did the band pick the 64 Sound studio to record the album?

It felt like a classic, real homemade kind of feel to it. They've got some great gear in there. They really let us be in there and helped us set up and get going and stuff, and then left us alone, which was what we really wanted and needed.

We kind of need a room that's big enough where we can all sit in it and see each other. And the room was kind of the perfect size because it's not giant. It's a really nice-sized room we can fit a band in, and all band gear, and just have enough options to be able to get great sounds, and all play together in this really cool way.

At what point did you realize it would be such an existential album lyrically and thematically? Do you think you're better able to articulate your thoughts on these types of topics compared to past albums?

I'm not sure. it all just flows, or it doesn't, and I try not to question it. It just flows and then I have to spend time with it and nurture it and bring it into the real world and then let it flow some more. I'm not the kind of songwriter who can sit down and deliberately make something happen or change. It just has to be nurtured and then it will flow, or it will stop flowing. [Laughs.]

I have piles of really cool song ideas that I love where, for whatever reason, it just stopped flowing. But that's also the cool thing is that sometimes I'll pick up an old idea from ten years ago and it will start to flow again. Magic. Or not. [Laughs.]

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The album starts with "Regularly Scheduled Programming," which is about becoming numb to reality through technology. Why was that topic important to explore?

I just feel like we've all gotten swept away in this tidal wave of technology, and that we're all drowning. Drowning in social media, in streaming content and all this stuff that's supposed to make our lives better. I feel like social media is tearing us apart. And people forget their own dreams, and their own creativity, because they wash it all away each night, binge watching streaming and stuff like that. And I write that from being washed away myself. I found this moment where I saw how washed away I was getting.

I was missing out on so many great things and life. Missing out on nature, missing out on connecting with people that I love, and missing out on sitting and playing the guitar. Or meditating or reading a book. All these things that I feel like really connect us to our own souls, and to the soul of the planet and the universe, and the souls of each other, kind of reminding us that we're all one. And I feel like all of this technology is really separating us, and really making us all greedier. To lust for more followers, for more devices.

There is this illusion that social media makes us all more connected, when in fact it is ripping us and the planet apart, which is a shame, because social media could be a very helpful tool—if we could all learn to use it like a tool—literally check it out for five minutes a day or whatever. [We could use it] just to see what events, music, etcetera are happening or spread good messages for equality and progress and peace and love.

Instead, it becomes this terrible addiction designed to make as much money as it can off of you by making you feel as bad as possible and like you need the products they are pushing to make you feel better.

I think that is the problem at the heart of most of this new tech, which could be really great for us. Like music streaming—brilliant idea and a wonderful service but they still cannot pay artists fairly for their work. At the heart of all of this is greed.

I think in general a lot of what I am trying to say in my lyrics is really about trying to get folks to get off their devices and spend more time in nature and spend more time connecting with real people.

At least for me, spending more time in nature, meditating, and being with the people I love makes me feel like a healthier more creative person. And in "Regularly Scheduled Programming" I am just trying to say wake up to love before it is too late.

I really like the ["Regularly Scheduled Programming"] lyrics "Diamonds are growing in the garden / Raindrops are filling up the sea" and "One shot at redemption: a mighty and sacred love." Why did you pick those nature images?

I was trying to illustrate what folks were missing in the real world and out in nature while they were busy staring at their phones or devices. Like look at these beautiful dew drops in the garden! Or look at those same drops filling up the sea and keeping us all alive—the miracle of water!

I am trying to say in that song: "Look up! Look out! Look to nature and look within yourself! learn to love yourself! Look to love before it's too late!" There is also the message and a wish that we could be more responsible as we evolve. It is so sad to me that all of this tech could even be powered by nature—the sun, the wind and the water—but instead we are still chained to the greed of the fossil fuel industries and other destructive energetic methods.

With "Complex" you talk about the anxiety of feeling you're missing a piece of the puzzle. What about puzzles as a metaphor do you find appealing and fitting of recent times?

I think everyone can agree we live in complex times. The divide and conquer methods of this sort of extreme capitalism are working too well on people and we are being torn apart. People are taught to care more about the dollar than their fellow human being. We have all these bots and misinformation swirling on these social media platforms that folks spend hours a day on. How do we get out of this complex web we have found ourselves caught up in?

I am not saying I have it all figured out by any means. I struggle with it all too on a daily basis. But I do think one of the answers to the riddle for us all, no matter what side you may think you are on, is for us all to turn off the device and get out into nature. Or if for some reason you cannot get out into nature, turn off the device and just sit there. Just be and listen to what your soul and the universe really have to say.

"I do think one of the answers to the riddle for us all, no matter what side you may think you are on, is for us all to turn off the device and get out into nature… Just be and listen to what your soul and the universe really have to say." Jim James

"In Color" talks about the importance of everyone coming together no matter where they come from. Why is that important? What are some ways people can get to that goal?

"In Color" is just about celebrating our differences. The fact that there are so many wonderful beings of every shape, size, color, and belief should be seen as a great thing! And I think it really is. We should all be so happy that there are so many wondrous and amazing people of all walks of life that we can learn from and love. But instead, because of this classic divide and conquer B.S. that works so well, we end up with hate and division.

Again, I think it's time we start listening to real people more and get off the social media opinion streams and misinformation fountains of filth and hatred that spew forth from this monster called the internet that we have created.

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"So much has happened to me in the last year," Carly Pearce wrote in an Instagram post announcing her forthcoming third album, 29: Written in Stone. It's a bit of an understatement: Nine months after losing her longtime producer busbee to brain cancer in 2019, the country star filed for divorce from fellow country singer Michael Ray.

But, as Pearce wrote, in the wake of the heartbreak, "Some unbelievable things started happening." Just days before her divorce went public, Pearce landed her second No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart with the apologetic Lee Brice collaboration "I Hope You're Happy Now," which went on to win Pearce her first Country Music Award and Academy of Country Music Award (she took home two ACMs, including Single of the Year).

Last fall, the Kentucky native released the lead single from her next project, the uptempo cautionary tale "Next Girl." The song's twangy production is arguably the most reminiscent of the '90s country that inspired Pearce to pursue her own music career when she began performing at just 11 years old. The singer herself could feel it, too.

"When we wrote 'Next Girl,'" she recalls to GRAMMY.com, "I was like, 'Wait a minute, this is what I always wanted to do.'"

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Pearce harnessed that same energy as she continued to process her hardships and write songs. Five months later, she unveiled an EP titled 29, a raw and emotional account of what she'd been through. But as Pearce says, songs "just kept happening," and she quickly realized there was more to her story.

29: Written in Stone—arriving Sept. 17 via Big Machine—is an exceptional combination of Pearce's crafty songwriting (see: "Liability") and '90s country influence, resulting in the singer's most confident display yet. And that was clearly apparent from the first portion: The morning of Pearce's chat with GRAMMY.com saw the singer earn CMA nominations for Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year, her first in each category. While she admits the nods are "hard to process," she also acknowledges the kind of impact her vulnerability has had on fans and industry players alike. "People have really responded to this so amazingly."

Ahead of the album's release, Pearce will have an in-depth conversation at the GRAMMY Museum on Sept. 13, also performing as part of Big Machine's Spotlight Saturdays on Sept. 18. Her interview will be viewable on the Museum's official streaming platform, COLLECTION:live.

GRAMMY.com caught up with Pearce before release week (and her GRAMMY events) to hear how 29 evolved into a full-length album, the women of country who inspired her and why she's finally the artist that pre-teen Carly envisioned.

Take me through the progression of 29 the EP into 29: Written in Stone. How did your feelings change in the time between the two?

In the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what 29 was. I just knew I needed to get some things off my chest. "Messy" felt like a really good stopping point. I'm very much a situational writer, so when I wrote that song, I was like, "Okay, this feels like I'm done for a while."

I remember turning it in, and continuing to feel inspired to write. The songs just kept happening. These ideas would come to me, and it was forming almost faster than I could keep up.

Losing my producer, busbee, was a really interesting experience for me of looking at music completely different. I was very overwhelmed with the idea of even continuing on in music without him. I felt like I had unleashed this part of me that I was always supposed to find musically and sonically with this really country sound.

I think what I didn't realize is, I was kind of going through all of this in real time. Now when I go back and I listen to this project, it really is grief and realization of something that was so difficult—but then getting on the other side, which is a really powerful part of it. That's why I wanted the second half to be in color instead of black and white like the first.

Was there anything outside of your divorce and losing busbee that inspired songs on this album?

I think it was those two things. It was a blow to my professional life, losing my counterpart. [Busbee] is who helped form my sound, so to think he wasn't there was so difficult. Then, to have such an equal blow to my personal life—it still makes me quite emotional to think about how lost I felt in the beginning. Just, "How is this all happening to me at once?"

Was there anything you learned from busbee that had an impact on the making of this project?

The biggest thing—and I have just started to even be able to talk about this without being so emotional—but I went to see him two weeks before he died. The very last thing that he said to me was that he just wanted me to fly. I remember not really understanding what that meant in the beginning.

He knew that I had taken so much time in Nashville trying to make this whole career happen, and he knew the struggles. He knew the insecurities—how I was just a little unsure of myself in a writer's room or in front of a mic. Now, looking at it, I knew I needed to show him I could fly in all of those ways. Even when I woke up today and saw the album of the year [nomination], I was like, "God, I did it. I I tapped into what he told me to do and just gave it everything I had."

That's a heavy thing, but it's also so incredible.

I don't even know how to explain it. Also, the fact that "I Hope You're Happy Now" was the last song he ever worked on in his career, and look at what that song did for me as well. It almost feels like he's been here at every single step, like he really never did leave me.

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You've said that this album is the biggest representation of the kind of music you've always wanted to make as a country artist. Was there a certain song that felt like a turning point for you in getting to that feeling?

"Next Girl" was one of the very first songs we wrote for this project. As soon as that one came out the way that it did, just with that '90s country feel to it, I was like, "Wait a minute, this is what I always wanted to do."

One of the musicians on the album, Josh Matheny, he's been with me for all of my albums. While I was singing the scratch vocal for "Next Girl" in the studio, he texted me and said, "I've never heard you sing more like yourself than right now." 

Did you feel that too?

Yes. I knew it. That's the music that I grew up on.

What made it feel different?

In interviews, people would ask me, "What do you want to be?" and I was always like, "I want [to be a member of] the Grand Ole Opry and I want to be a country music purist." I never quite felt like my music translated that completely, because it was still heavily pop-produced on a lot of things.

What I found was [29: Written in Stone co-producers] Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne loved '90s country like I did. It opened this understanding of the same way that we listened to music growing up that I had never experienced with busbee, [since] he was a pop producer.

Do you think that you would have worked with Shane and Josh if you hadn't lost busbee?

That's such an interesting thing that I've thought about quite a bit. It's almost like you don't know what you're missing until you find it. I knew that there was a little bit of a disconnect that I was still trying to find, but I don't necessarily think that I thought, "I need to change my producer."

It's interesting, because I feel like this is how it was supposed to be. I believe wholeheartedly that busbee was supposed to help me find my way, and I was supposed to make those two albums with him and start this beautiful journey in country music. But I do think I was meant to move on.

I wrote with both of [Josh and Shane] previously—I wrote one of my favorite songs ever with Shane and busbee, "If My Name Was Whiskey" from my first record. But [Josh and Shane] were blown away at my ability as a writer [now]. I've written so many songs in this town, but I hadn't really written like that.

 

Was there a '90s country song that helped you get through the pain you were experiencing as you wrote this album?

"You Don't Even Know Who I Am" by Patty Loveless is one of my absolute favorite songs. That shows you exactly the kind of artist that I wanted to be, in the lyric and the honesty.

Patty Loveless is the big influence for me. Loving her music, loving how she wrote songs, loving the kind of songs she cut. A strong woman with true substance to her lyrics, but songs that just felt so good.

Even before she became a part of the full-length album [on "Dear Miss Loretta," a doting tribute to Loretta Lynn], I had this thought of "What would Patty Loveless do?" and it stemmed from when we wrote "Next Girl." [Her song] "Blame It On Your Heart" is where "Next Girl" came from.

I was pushed to own what happened to me and own my truth in a way that I never had quite thought about—because nobody thinks, "Oh, my marriage is gonna fail in front of the world." Thinking about her and the way she would write songs is why I just owned it.

You co-wrote with a lot of female singer-songwriters on this album, including your peers Kelsea Ballerini on "Diamondback" and Ashley McBryde, who features on "Never Wanted to Be That Girl." What do you feel like your female collaborators brought to the storytelling for an album of this context?

I think just having a female perspective—a lot of these women were my friends, and it was important for me to feel safe by women, and almost affirming my feelings through women. These women were the first to message me as soon as my divorce came out, and really care about me as a person. I was able to be brutally honest in those rooms because I felt safe with them.

29: Written in Stone is coming out a week after Kacey Musgraves released her own post-divorce album with star-crossed. In a way, did having someone going through a similar situation at the same time—and in the public eye—make you feel less alone? Or at least give you some reassurance that being this honest in your music is what you should be doing?

It's very interesting, because so much of Golden Hour was about her husband, and so much of my sophomore album was about mine. I remember her divorce announcement came out very soon—I mean weeks—after mine. I've known her for a long time, and just hurting for her, and knowing what that felt like, and very much feeling like, "Oh my God, somebody else my age knows what it feels like."

I have to say that as a fan of music, I'm very much looking forward to her album. I feel like in a lot of ways, I will be able to listen to something and maybe not feel alone myself in the way that some people are probably listening to our music.

I do think it's a very powerful thing that two women didn't get it right the first time. We're young, we're only two years apart, and we're owning our truth in our own artistic ways. It reminds me of the kind of music that I grew up on with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette singing these unapologetic songs, like "The Pill" or "D-I-V-O-R-C-E.," and just owning it. I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of Kacey for doing that.

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Do you feel like being this honest has resulted in a bigger impact on your fans? I love what you've said about seeing your pain become purpose.

In the very beginning of putting this album out, I remember the hundreds of messages that I got from fans in a way that I've never gotten. Sure, I've had fans say, "I relate to your music" and "You helped me through a hard time," but this felt different. 

Now that we're back out on the road, I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and shared their stories. I helped them let go of a relationship, I helped them file for divorce, I helped them regain their worth, I got them out of an abusive relationship. All of these things that, to me, matter so much more than just being an artist singing on a stage.

Everybody experiences pain, and to hear that people have clung on to my music as hope, that's more empowering than anything I could ever imagine. I'm proud to have gone through what I went through for that.

Which is probably something that you weren't thinking you'd be able to say when you were initially going through all of it. 

Absolutely not. And that's the beautiful part of it. I had a fan recently come up to me and she was like, "I just went through a divorce and I just don't know what to do." I said, "You're gonna be okay." She's looking at me, on the other side, and she's like, "Are you sure?" and I said, "Yes, I know it." That's such a cool relationship that I now have with fans.

Is there a song on 29: Written in Stone that feels like the pinnacle Carly Pearce song to you, at least thus far?

Gosh, that's so hard. "29" is the song that I never wished I'd write, but am now so blown away that I wrote. I never wanted to write a song that talked about something like going through a divorce. But the fact that I went that deep, just went for it, and was brutally honest, that just really, really makes me proud.

[Written in Stone comes from] a lyric in the very last song on the album, "Mean It This Time"—"When I say forever/ I'm gonna write it in stone." So I kind of got to thinking about what "write it in stone" means to me. 

I came up with, "Life is indelible, and your words, your actions, and your truth should be written in stone." That's exactly what I've done on this project. I can put it out there, let it out, and shut the door. This is the kind of album I never wanted to make, but in hindsight, it's the best thing that ever happened to me.

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