Lainey Wilson might just be the brightest new star in the pantheon of country music. Since her 2020 breakthrough single, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” caught fire in 2021, the 31-year-old Baskin, Louisiana native has racked up an impressive string of hits on country radio—from solo singles “Heart Like a Truck” and “Watermelon Moonshine” to unforgettable collabs with the likes Cole Swindell (“Never Say Never) and HARDY (“Wait in the Truck”).
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At the 2023 Academy of Country Music last spring, the Yellowstone star was the bonafide belle of the ball, hitting the stage to perform “Save Me,” her latest duet with fellow rising star Jelly Roll, and ultimately walking away with the most awards of the evening, including Female Artist of the Year Album of the Year (for her sophomore record Bell Bottom Country).
The triumphant moment served as a deserving coronation for the singer-songwriter after a hard-fought decade gaining every foothold she could in Nashville. Accepting the trophy for Female Artist of the Year, a bowled-over Wilson memorably shared the secret to her seeming overnight success. “For the little girls watchin’ this,” she said, brandishing her award as host Dolly Parton beamed from the sidelines, “This stands for hard work. If you’re gon’ be a dreamer, you better be a doer.”
Last weekend, Wilson reiterated that motto to a small room of superfans assembled at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust for the GRAMMY Museum’s “A New York Evening with Lainey Wilson.” Fresh off drawing an attendance record-shattering crowd of over 53,200 people at the New York State Fair, the country starlet opened up about her sudden rise, love for ‘90s country, pre-fame life as a Hannah Montana impersonator, and more before performing an intimate acoustic set featuring fan-favorite songs like “Smell Like Smoke,” “Atta Girl,” and “Heart Like a Truck.”
Below, American Songwriter breaks down all the secrets and stories from Wilson’s exclusive Q&A for the GRAMMY Museum.
ON HER MUSICAL INFLUENCES
“I grew up in the ’90s and I love ’90s country,” Wilson told the rapt audience, naming female trailblazers like Parton, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, The Chicks, and Shania Twain as artists she looked up to as a kid in rural Louisiana.
Coincidentally, the singer also shares a unique connection to none other than Tim McGraw thanks to her childhood in a town of 250 people. “Tim McGraw actually grew up right down the road from me,” she confessed. “My step-grandmother used to babysit him. So I viewed him and his career as, ‘My gosh, this guy right down the road did it. Maybe I can do it too.’”
ON HER START AS A HANNAH MONTANA IMPERSONATOR
“I started impersonating Hannah Montana in eighth grade,” Wilson said, revealing it was actually her eighth-grade teacher who asked her to dress up as Miley Cyrus’ famous Disney Channel alter ego for her daughter’s birthday party.
“I performed on a flatbed trailer out in the yard of this birthday party and it spread like wildfire,” she continued. “I did this for five years. And I would open up for myself a lot of the time: I was like, ‘I’m not leavin’ here without them knowin’ my name, too!’ So I would go backstage and put my wig on and then I’d go out there…But I was playing a three-year-old’s birthday party one day and then I would be playin’ the nursing home the next. So it really taught me a whole lot about adjustin’ to who you’re playin’ for. Because the truth is, the way that you’re performin’ in a stadium is different than the way that you perform in a theater.”
ON THE REALITIES OF MAKING IT IN NASHVILLE
Wilson first moved to Nashville in 2011 to pursue her career but was immediately slapped with a frustrating reality check. “When I moved to Nashville, what I did was not cool,” she recalled. “That was not the thing that was bein’ played on radio [at the time]. I was honestly too country for country. I moved there thinkin’ I was gon’ play some country music and it turns out I was a fish outta water.”
Still, the singer refused to take rejection as a final answer and stuck to her proverbial guns — a decision that would pay off in big ways years down the road. “Whether it’s ‘Heart Like a Truck’ or ‘Smell Like Smoke’ or ‘Atta Girl,’ I do have a lot of the songs that talk about goin’ through hell but comin’ out on the other side of it,” she continued. “I’m not gonna sit here and act like things have been handed to me ’cause they have not. And I’m proud of that. I’m proud that it’s taken me as long as it has, I’m proud that I’ve been in Nashville for 12 years. I want the little girls and the boys watchin’ my journey to know that not everything is handed to ya. If you want somethin’, it’s up to you to go get it. And if somebody tells you no, it’s up to you to want it that much more.”
ON FINDING HER SIGNATURE STYLE
In an ever-crowded field of country singers, Wilson is instantly recognizable — not only due to her powerful voice but also thanks to her signature look of bell bottoms and a flat-brimmed hat.
“I’ve always just been obsessed with things that are throwback because I feel like they tell a good story. And I’m a sucker for a good story,” she said. “When I got to Nashville, you know, I went through my daisy duke phase and I did all that stuff. But I realized really quickly that just being a decent singer-songwriter, as a female in Nashville, sadly is not enough. And I thought, ‘What can I do that is true to me and somethin’ that I do love that can make me stand out just a little bit?’” The answer was what’s become her trusty uniform of sorts these days, reflecting her “Hillbilly Hippie” aesthetic with a vintage flair.
ON HER RADIO STRATEGY & “WAIT IN THE TRUCK”
“After ‘Things a Man Oughta Know,’ I had ‘Heart Like a Truck’ in the pipeline,” Wilson reflected. “Like, I thought I was ready. But then Cole Swindell brought me [Never Say Never’]. And I felt like, OK, I need to show these folks that I’m here to stay. We didn’t know if that second single goin’ to radio was gon’ stick or not. But I knew with somebody like a Cole Swindell takin’ me under his wing, I knew that that would be very beneficial. And It just helped that I loved the song too.”
The singer’s next collaboration with HARDY, however, was much more of a gamble, particularly considering “Heart Like a Truck” was already working its way up the charts.
“HARDY literally calls me like a month or two after we had already been at radio and he’s like, ‘I have another song about a truck!’” she remembered with a laugh. “But oh my gosh, it stopped me in my tracks…It took me back to why I fell in love with country music to begin with. It reminded me of songs from the ’90s — ‘Whiskey Lullaby,’ ‘The Thunder Rolls’ and ‘Goodbye Earl’ and ‘Fancy.’ I knew, because of what the song was about and the way that it made me feel that I had to fight to be a part of it.
“So I’m very thankful to be a part of that song ’cause I do feel like country radio really, really just opened up about it,” the singer continued. “And I didn’t know if they’d ever play it or not. But the truth is, I just felt like I needed to be a part of it no matter what, I did.”
ON COUNTRY NEWCOMERS YOU SHOULD BE LISTENING TO
When asked by an audience member what music she’s listening to these days, Wilson was quick to champion a number of rookies coming up in her wake on the country scene. “Meg McRee, Ben Chapman, y’all be sure to write those names down,” she rattled off. “There’s a guy named Zach Top who I’m a big fan of, he’s new. The Red Clay Strays. There’s so much cool music comin’ out right now. I really think it’s a really important time for country music.”
ON WHERE SHE SEES HERSELF IN FIVE YEARS
After jokingly asking the audience what year it was (“Y’all think I’m playin’. I literally thought everybody was full of it when they’re like, “Where are we? What day is it?’”), Wilson was earnestly confident in what she wants to accomplish over the next half-decade.
“We gon’ be playin’ stadiums, I’ll tell you that,” she said as the room broke out into cheers. “There’s a whole lot that I wanna do. I want to definitely dive into more of the acting world. This next year I really wanna focus on more of writing music for other artists because songwriting is my one true love. It really is. I just love tellin’ stories so I’m ready to get some hits by other artists.”
Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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