![Carly Pearce on Coronavirus Touring Shutdown: ‘It Would Be So Much Easier If We Had a Light at the End of the Tunnel’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/02/carly-pearce.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Carly Pearce on Coronavirus Touring Shutdown: ‘It Would Be So Much Easier If We Had a Light at the End of the Tunnel’
While Carly Pearce has been "extremely creative" at home during the novel coronavirus quarantine, the singer admits she's jonesing to get back out on the road. During a media event in mid-June, the singer confessed that the hardest part about being unable to tour because of the virus is the fact that there's no end date in sight.
"I was talking to Kelsea [Ballerini] about this last night and we both [agreed], it would be so much easier, I feel like, if we had a light at the tunnel -- like a date where we were like, 'This is when we go back out,'" shares Pearce, who was looking forward to a summer of festival shows and concerts with Old Dominion.
"I was pulled off the road very fast, and in an instant, I watched my band walk away in the airport, and it was like, 'Oh, wow, okay, this thing that I talk about as such a hectic [lifestyle] ... was taken away in just two seconds,'" Pearce adds. While she does have a few shows remaining on her calendar for the year, they're frequently being rescheduled or canceled the closer they get, she says.
Pearce thinks it's going to be up to an individual artist to jump-start the touring industry again: "I believe somebody has to just do it -- somebody has to go play some sort of show, and maybe it is, like, extremely [socially distanced]," she says.
And while some artists have been playing, or are planning, drive-in-type events, Chase Rice and Chris Janson have recently come under fire for playing more traditional-style concerts. Ballerini, in fact, was one of the vocal opponents of Rice's show, calling him "selfish" for playing in eastern Tennessee on Saturday night (June 27).
In recent weeks, a number of country music tours and festivals scheduled for the fall, including some that had been postponed until that time, have been canceled for the year or rescheduled to 2021. Until a COVID-19 vaccine is available, they will remain risky endeavors, a fact that, per a recent survey, may keep many fans from attending shows even if they return before a vaccine is produced.
![TheBoot logo](https://townsquare.media/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/theboot.png?w=100)
LOOK: Country Artists Who Have Been Tested for the Coronavirus
More From TheBoot
![18 Years Ago: Jo Dee Messina Runs the Boston Marathon](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/04/jo-dee-messina-boston-marathon.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![14 Years Ago: Alan Jackson Receives Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/04/alan-jackson-hollywood-walk-of-fame-star.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![35 Years Ago: Dolly Parton Serves as Host and Musical Guest on ‘SNL’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/04/dolly-parton-saturday-night-live.png?w=980&q=75)
![53 Years Ago: John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ Is Released](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/11/john-denver-birthday1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![35 Years Ago: Garth Brooks Releases His Debut Album](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2017/04/garth-brooks-debut-album.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![32 Years Ago: Wynonna Judd Hits No. 1 With Debut Solo Single](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2017/04/wynonna-judd-she-is-his-only-need-no-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![29 Years Ago: George Strait Records ‘Check Yes or No’ and ‘I Know She Still Loves Me’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2017/04/George-Strait.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![33 Years Ago: Patty Loveless Earns First Gold Album With ‘Honky Tonk Angel’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2015/04/patty-loveless-honky-tonk-angel.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![55 Years Ago: Bob Dylan Releases ‘Nashville Skyline’](http://townsquare.media/site/623/files/2019/04/dylan-nashvill.jpg?w=980&q=75)