13 years ago today was one of the most pivotal dates in Lainey Wilson‘s life and career. It was on August 1, 2011, that Wilson moved from her native Baskin, Louisiana (population: 200), to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in country music.

Wilson was just 21 years old when she moved to Nashville. Unable to afford an apartment, she hauled a camper trailer from Louisiana, which she lived in for three years while trying to get her music career off the ground.

“Those lonely nights in my camper trailer out in West Nashville, I was envisioning myself being here,” Wilson said backstage at the CMA Awards, where she won a total of five trophies, including the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year. “I was waiting outside of the Bridgestone to get a little wristband, so I could maybe be down in the pit, and just feel like I was a part of this industry. I knew it. I knew it with every fiber of my being, and that sounds wild, but it’s true.

“And I think a lot of people around me, my mom and my daddy especially, they knew it too,” she added. “And I’ve always had kind of a weird sense of peace about it. But I do feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

The singer-songwriter had big dreams when she first moved to Nashville, dreams that she never imagined would take so long to come true. While many would have given up long before Wilson did, she never once considered doing anything but continuing to pursue her country music dreams.

“When I first got there in my camper, I didn’t know it was going to take another ten, 11 years to crack the egg a little bit…I think it was having a few believers,” Wilson said on the Today Show.  “I think God laid it on my heart a long time ago. I think it was from being from a bunch of hard-headed folks. You’ve gotta be a little bit nuts to want to do this. You do.”

The Grand Ole Opry member is now arguably one of the biggest stars in country music, but she is still very proud of her rural, simple upbringing, and grateful for her parents who instilled in her hard-working values that have also served her well in country music.

“I am who I am because of my mama and my daddy,”. Wilson told The Advocate. “I am proud of where I’m coming from. I’m proud to talk with an accent and be from Baskin. There are so many things that my parents taught me growing up, but their work ethic is one thing that I take with me everywhere. My parents taught me what it takes to get something in life. If you want something, you got to roll up your sleeves and go get the thing.”

 

It might have taken Wilson a long time, longer perhaps even than some of her peers, to achieve success, but she is grateful for all aspects of her journey, even the hard years.

“I didn’t know what it was going to look like, but I truly do think that that rejection and the time that it has taken me to get to this point, because, I mean, this year it’ll be 13 years that I’ve been in Nashville doing it,” Wilson told Fox News. “I think it’s really just a part of my story. And I think the Lord kind of wanted me to live a little bit more life so I could have more stories to tell, so I could relate to more people.

“That’s what it’s about,” she continued. ‘When you kind of zoom out and you think about all of this. It’s important to remember and realize, why are we doing this? And what are we doing this for? It’s just because we all want to feel something. And, I think, because of that rejection, I think people can relate to some of my stories.”

Wilson’s Whirlwind album will be out on August 23. Find all of Wilson’s music and upcoming shows at LaineyWilson.com.

Read ‘Lainey Wilson: 11 Things to Know About Her Extraordinary Life and Career’ here.

Photo Credit Courtesy of the CMA