Charles Kelley Fills In For Chris Stapleton On Duet With Carly Pearce

Carly Pearce performed a stunning rendition of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” on Friday afternoon (March 1) in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee. In duet partner Chris Stapleton’s absence, however, she teamed up with Lady A’s Charles Kelley.

Pearce invited Kelley to perform the heartache ballad with her, knowing that she and Lady A — the award-winning trio that also includes Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood — would both take the stage at the 2024 Country Radio Seminar (CRS, Lady A performed their single, “Love You Back”). Pearce released “We Don’t Fight Anymore” in June 2023. She wrote the song with Shane McAnally and Pete Good, and produced it with McAnally and Josh Osborne. Pearce said at that time that she asked fellow Kentucky-born singer-songwriter Stapleton to join her on the duet by DMing his wife, Morgane Stapleton, first, “what any person should do.”

“I feel like all of us agreed that this is probably a point that people have been in, in a relationship,” Pearce told iHeartCountry of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” when it made its debut. “Maybe they’re still together, maybe they’re not, maybe they shouldn’t be together, maybe this song will help them. But you’ve always, at some point, I guess, experienced something like this, of just that feeling of indifference. Writing it was super special. I knew it was something that needed to be said, and I remember just really being inspired that day by the track that Pete built and just the really, really honest, almost uncomfortable, lyrics that we were writing.”

Nearly one year to the day of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” releasing, Pearce confirmed her highly-anticipated fourth studio album would arrive. The Grammy Award-winning artist revealed on Friday morning that her new album, hummingbird, is due on June 14. Following her duet with Kelley, Pearce delivered her first-ever live rendition of the title track, “hummingbird,” to celebrate its release with her album announcement.

“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,” Pearce announced. “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,” she continued. “That we can all find the ‘hummingbird’ in the midst of whatever we’re going through.”