How Carly Pearce went from cleaning Airbnbs to becoming country music's next big thing

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Carly Pearce never gave up on country music dreams

Country newcomer Carly Pearce releases new single 'Hide the Wine.'

NEW YORK – Carly Pearce is living proof that good things come to those who wait.

The Kentucky native convinced her parents to allow her to pursue a job singing at Dollywood when she was only 16 years old. And while Pearce would eventually find a home in country music, it was a long journey to success.

"There was never another career path for me," Pearce told Fox News. "From the time I was a very little girl, I just knew that [it] was my destiny to sing country music."

It took nearly a decade for Pearce to find her place in Music City, and she took any odd job she could get to pay her bills.

"I think the nastiest, worst job I ever had was cleaning Airbnbs," the 27-year-old recalled. "You're cleaning toilets and cleaning bed sheets, and it's not glamorous, but I did it...so that I could still pursue music and write songs and play gigs, but it was nasty!"

As the years passed, Pearce admitted she was not "blind to see the clock ticking."

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"I think we're all human and we're not blind to see the clock ticking and get scared and let that fear overwhelm you," Pearce admitted. "But ... even though I struggled so much in Nashville over the last nine years, there were always moments ... that even if it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it was validation that I was walking in the right direction or that I was meant to be in Nashville."

The "Hide the Wine" singer credits her grandparents as helping her stay true to her big dreams. After they died, she got a butterfly and a feather tattoo to honor their memories.

"All they wanted to do was to see my career take off. I wanted to take the Pearce name and keep it going and honor them," she said. "And they come and visit me, I know they do, they told me to watch for them. And I see butterflies and red birds and red feathers in ways that I feel like are hard to even describe or explain. And if you look at my logo you see the feather in my name and that's for them because I just want to always continue to have them around me."

But Pearce finally made it big with her debut single, "Every Little Thing." She credits her fellow female country artists with helping her succeed.

"I think something that's so amazing about the women right now in country music is that we're all in this sisterhood supporting each other," Pearce shared.

"When we all succeed, we all win and we're all such fans of each other...in the way that Kelsea [Ballerini] kicked down some doors for me, and Maren [Morris] kicked down some doors for me, I hope that I can kick down some doors for some other females...it really is a sisterhood," she said.