“This song right here is about finding freedom and strength,” said Lainey Wilson during her CMT Award acceptance speech for the Female Video of the Year Award for her hit “Heart Like a Truck.”
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“It’s about not being afraid of the scratches and dents and bumps along the way,” added Wilson of the lead single from her 2022 album Bell Bottom Country. “We all got a story to tell, y’all.”
[RELATED: Lainey Wilson Reacts to CMT Music Awards Wins: “We Ain’t Done Yet!”]
Moving to Nashville
A native of Baskin, Louisiana, Wilson first moved to Nashville in 2011 and lived in a camper trailer, which would often flood when it rained, outside of a recording studio in West Nashville.
“It was some hard days,” she said of the deeper meaning behind the song. “It taught me that this thing was not going to be easy. It taught me perseverance. And when things didn’t work out my way, when doors closed right in my face, that made me work harder.”
In the song, written by Wilson, along with Trannie Anderson and Dallas Wilson, she compares her journey to an old beat-up truck.
I never stay in one place too long
A dirt road’s singing me a siren song
I gotta find a field
I need to spin my wheels
I got a hankering for four wide tires
And I can’t help it it’s the way I’m wired
‘Fore you get too close
Boy you need to know
The lyrics of “Heart Like a Truck” move through all the bruises and scars Wilson said she had endured trying to make it in Nashville. By the chorus, Wilson drives deeper into her personal and professional struggles.
I got a heart like a truck
It’s been drug through the mud
Runs on dreams and gasoline
And that ole highway holds the key
It’s got a lead foot down when it’s leaving
Lord knows it’s taken a hell of a beating
A little bit of love is all that it’s needing
But it’s good as it is tough
I got a heart like a truck
There ain’t no breaking when I throw it in drive
Don’t always keep it in between the lines
If you’re ready for a ride pedal down state of mind
Boy I tell you what
You better buckle up
“I’m so proud to be a small part of the song,” said Wilson. “When I heard the song, I tell you, it’s an opportunity for people who have been through this to feel like they are not alone, and it’s an opportunity for the people who have been doing this. Don’t even get me started.”
Horse Power
The cinematic music video for “Heart Like a Truck,” directed by Elizabeth Olmstead, stars Wilson as a stable hand who is called to help tame a wild horse. She eventually gains the trust of the animal and is seen riding the horse on the farm.
Wilson, who released her fourth album—and second major label release—Bell Bottom Country in 2022, became the most-nominated artist at the 2023 CMT Awards, with four nominations for Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and CMT Performance of the Year.
[RELATED: Top 10 Lainey Wilson Songs]
In 2021, Wilson also picked up two ACM Awards for New Female Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Things a Man Oughta Know,” in addition to her 2022 CMA wins for New Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.
Wilson is also nominated for six ACM awards, Female Artist of the Year, Single of the Year (“Heart Like a Truck”), Song of the Year (‘wait in the truck’ with Hardy), Album of the Year (Bell Bottom Country), Visual Media of the Year (“wait in the truck” with Hardy), and Music Event of the Year (“wait in the truck” with Hard).
The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony will be co-hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks and will broadcast live from Ford Center, in Frisco, Texas on May 11.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for CMT
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