Kyle Kellams: Abbey Pierce’s first full-length album is called “Don’t Call Me Darlin’”. It’s seven songs of great, real country music. Abbey Pierce is with me in the Anthony and Susan Hoy News Studio. Welcome back to Ozarks at Large.
Abbey Pierce: Howdy, howdy, howdy.
Kellams: First full-length album.
Pierce: Can’t believe it.
Kellams: How long did it take to come together?
Pierce: Well, if you think about when I started writing some of these songs, that’s as long as six years ago. So I’ve really pulled a lot of music from my whole catalog of originals for this one.
Kellams: I like that though, because people have been seeing you live for a while. Some of these songs, it can be frustrating when you see someone and you go, ‘oh, that song’s great’, and you go to try to find it and it’s not yet ready.
Pierce: And funny enough, “Don’t Call Me Darlin’” has been the most highly requested one. I mean, people after we play that live, they’re like, when can I stream this?
Kellams: So let’s talk about “Don’t Call Me Darlin’”. I think I told you when I asked for this visit that it reminded me of being a country DJ all those years ago and playing Loretta Lynn. I fell in love with Loretta Lynn. She would be proud, I think, to sing that song.
Pierce: Well, I’ll tell you what, that really put it in stone that this is like a full-circle moment for me because I owned a Loretta Lynn vinyl before I even had a record player to play it on. I remember being in a thrift store years and years ago and seeing, I think it was her greatest hits, and it had some of my favorite songs to sing growing up, maybe not some appropriate for my age at the time, but I was singing “This City”, “You Ain’t Woman Enough”. And so that sat on my shelf for a while, and she was one of my early heroes.
Kellams: That title song, you said it’s one of the most requested. I see why, because it is a self-affirming kind of song.
Pierce: It really is. And it’s what I like to call a honky-tonk heater. So maybe one day there will be a line dance or something like that out at your honky-tonk.
(Excerpt of “Don’t Call Me Darlin’” by Abbey Pierce plays.)
Kellams: How did you finally, six years in, decide on the seven songs that were going to be on the record?
Pierce: Well, I had released my debut EP throughout the tail end of 2024 and early 2025. And that project consisted of four songs that I just felt introduced me as an artist and really represented what I wanted to say with my music.
And then I started working with a new producer out of Central Arkansas and the River Valley, Jeremy Huddleston. And he had just a little bit more of a modern ear, and he could really help my songs reach their full potential. And so once we started working together, we found this synergy and this rhythm and really started cranking out those tunes midway through the year last year.
Kellams: You mentioned the production, there’s one song, “Real Life Is But a Dream”. And it’s got beautiful instrumentation in it, but it doesn’t overwhelm the song. Did you work together with him on that?
Pierce: Yeah. So sometimes he’s a producer, and when he starts working with an artist, he can write an accompaniment specifically for how he pictures how a song could sound. And that’s actually the first track I ever received, the accompaniment first, and then wrote lyrics to the track. So that was kind of reverse engineered, I’m glad you asked about that.
Kellams: Yeah, there's some organ in there.
Pierce: Some organ, I think. A little bit of dobro and some steel guitar. Even if you listen close enough, there is a steel drum at one part of the song, because I have a line in there that says “cicadas singing like a reggae band”. And so he added a cool little accent there.
Kellams: When you’re writing songs you’re going to sing for other people, what are you thinking? Are you tapping into a character, tapping into yourself?
Pierce: You know, it depends on my environment. When I write solo, which is most of the time, I feel like it’s always me processing whatever’s going on currently, almost like writing a letter to myself. A lot of my solo writes have an uplifting kind of emotion to them. And I find when I’m with other folks, we can really start painting pictures and telling stories, even more so in Nashville how they do three-way writes, more perspectives, and you can really create this brand-new story and have people relate it to their own life experience.
Kellams: You have a guitar here with us that says Willie for president. I love that.
Pierce: Yeah, I snagged that in Austin.
Kellams: You can play one of the songs for us. It’s the last song on the record.
Pierce: It is the last song on the record, and that was intentional. That was also a solo write, and it’s one of those that just leaves you with a positive message. So I wanted that to be the very last song people hear on the vinyl.
(Abbey Pierce plays.)
Kellams: That’s a great song.
Pierce: She had to ring for a minute, didn't she?
Kellams: I love your voice. I just absolutely love your voice.
Pierce: Thank you.
Kellams: I know that you know music written and composed by men, sung by men, not just for guys. Ditto women. Right? I relate to the songs on your album. Is it important, though, for young women to be able to hear other young women have a message like that?
Pierce: Thank you. Absolutely. I grew up loving all music, and I tout now how impactful the women were on me. And if you ask me my favorite artists now, they’re all women. I think it’s so important for people to write what’s on their heart and put their art out in the world, because somebody out there needs to hear it.
Kellams: That's right. So your official launch is at the Medium. It sold out.
Pierce: It's sold out. Oh my gosh. Sorry. Can't contain the excitement. It's just like hitting me more and more every day.
Kellams: And so we'll hear the album more that night. And who's opening?
Pierce: Taylor Smith. He's actually Robert Taylor Smith of Vintage Pistol, and he's working on his solo project and has got some fun things in store this year.
Kellams: All right. If someone missed out on the ticket, where can they find out where they can see you after the meeting?
Pierce: So everything is on my website. Abbeypierce.com. That is Abbey, like the Beatles. I have all my links to my music. More about me, merchandise, shows. If you can't find it there, there's a button to email me.
Kellams: “Don't Call Me Darlin’” is the full length album debut. It's found everywhere you find music.
Pierce: Everywhere.
Kellams: Abbey Pierce, thanks so much for coming in.
Pierce: Thank you for having me.
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