Hummingbird (Carly Pearce album)

Hummingbird is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Carly Pearce. Hummingbird was released on June 7, 2024, via Big Machine Records and follows on from her 2021 album 29: Written in Stone. The project contains fourteen tracks, and was produced by Pearce for the first time, alongside regular collaborators Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. It was preceded by the lead single "We Don't Fight Anymore", as well as promotional singles "Country Music Made Me Do It", "Heels Over Head", and the title track.

Background
On February 19, 2021, Pearce released 29, a seven track extended play produced by Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, and Jimmy Robbins about the struggles in her personal life during her 29th year. The project was critically acclaimed and so Pearce re-teamed with the trio alongside Tony Brown to release a full-length version, which would become her third studio album 29: Written in Stone, on September 17, 2021. Pearce promoted the project throughout 2022 and 2023 before beginning work on a follow-up.

The album was announced on March 1, 2024. In a press release about the album, she explained "the last few years have been a season of loss and growth, of healing and happiness. A belief that if I did the inner work, I would rebuild myself stronger than I was before, and a knowing that I have done some living and will always be unapologetic about it. These 14 songs incapsulate my confidence that there is light on the other side of darkness and my true love of country music. When you hear this album — Wherever you are on your journey, I hope it shows you that pain can be a lesson that shows you just how strong you are and what you truly deserve, that we can all find the 'hummingbird' in the midst of whatever we're going through."

Speaking to Billboard about developing the album, Pearce expressed that she felt intimidated about the thought of creating a successor to 29: Written in Stone, noting that the album had been more successful than she had expected, but that she had drawn on the strength and vulnerability she had tapped into during the creation of that project to inform her creative decisions on Hummingbird. The title track was the last one written for the album, which was originally set to be titled Country Music Made Me Do It. Pearce advised that the primary theme of the album is healing, and that the first half of the record's fourteen tracks are lighthearted and playful by design, noting that "with the healing comes a great freedom and joy". Sonically, Pearce and her producers chose to "double down" on the traditional country instrumentation present on 29: Written in Stone, with Pearce citing classic artists Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and George Jones, as well as contemporary artists like Kacey Musgraves as influences on the sound and visuals for the project.

Singles
Pearce released the album's lead single, "We Don't Fight Anymore", which features harmony vocals from Chris Stapleton, on June 16, 2023. "Truck on Fire" will be released as the album's second single in July 2024.

The first promotional single for the album, "Country Music Made Me Do It", was released on August 11, 2023. A press release described the track as "an upbeat, cheeky love letter to the genre that chronicles Pearce's long standing relationship to country music and the impact it has had on her life." The second promotional singe, "Heels Over Head", was released on October 6, 2023, and is described as "a sassy, fun, cheeky (and incredibly sarcastic) little tune about Carly coming to the realization that the guy she likes doesn't want to work quite so hard for a good time." The title track was released as the third promotional single alongside the announcement of the album on March 1, 2024. Speaking about the song, Pearce stated "when I wrote this song, I knew I wanted this to be the title of the album. This song plays on my bluegrass roots but also lyrically tells the story of the journey I am on of finding love. This is the most unapologetically 'Carly' song I've ever written." Two more promotional singles were released ahead of the album: "My Place" and "Fault Line".

Personnel
Musicians
 * Carly Pearce – lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (track 3)
 * Ilya Toshinskiy – acoustic guitar (all tracks), mandolin (tracks 1, 3), banjo (4, 13)
 * Craig Young – bass guitar
 * Josh Matheny – Dobro (all tracks), lap steel guitar (tracks 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 13), steel guitar (3)
 * Sol Philcox-Littlefield – electric guitar
 * Jenee Fleenor – fiddle
 * Ryan Gore – percussion (all tracks), programming (track 5)
 * Alex Wright – Wurlitzer electric piano (tracks 1, 7, 10, 11), Mellotron (1), Hammond B3 (2, 3, 6), piano (2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 13, 14), Wurlitzer organ (3), synthesizer (7–9, 13, 14), Rhodes (12)
 * Josh Osborne – background vocals (tracks 1–4, 6–14)
 * Fred Eltringham – percussion (tracks 1, 3–5, 13), drums (1, 3, 4, 13)
 * Aaron Sterling – drums (tracks 2, 5–12, 14), percussion (2, 5–9, 14)
 * Chris Stapleton – lead vocals, background vocals (track 5)
 * Pete Good – programming (track 5)

Technical
 * Carly Pearce – production
 * Shane McAnally – production
 * Josh Osborne – production
 * Ted Jensen – mastering
 * Ryan Gore – mixing, engineering (all tracks); editing (tracks 2, 5, 7–12, 14); vocal production, vocal engineering, vocal editing (3, 6, 13)
 * Josh Osborne – vocal production (tracks 2, 3, 6–14)
 * Dave Clauss – vocal production, vocal engineering, editing, vocal editing (tracks 2, 7–12, 14)
 * Phillip Smith – vocal engineering (track 5)
 * Will Duperier – vocal engineering (track 5)
 * Chris Small – editing (tracks 1, 3–8)
 * Mike Stankiewicz – editing, vocal editing (tracks 2, 7–12, 14)
 * Kam Luchterhand – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 3–6, 13)
 * Sean Badum – engineering assistance (tracks 2, 7–12, 14)