Lainey Wilson is already the star of the 2024 CMA Awards, even ahead of the live ceremony. The Louisiana native is nominated for three trophies, including the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year, and will also perform, plus share co-hosting duties with Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning.
For someone who spent more than a decade living in Nashville, dreaming of being part of the country music scene without much success, it’s a lot for her to take in.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to being invited to the CMAs, being nominated, much less being in the batch of people that they nominated for Entertainer of the Year. They’re all my buddies,” Wilson, who shares the category with Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen, tells the CMA. “They’re all people that I look up to, and people who have kind of helped me along the way. To think that my name is mentioned along with theirs is pretty cool. But I feel the love. I feel like this past year, from being the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, I feel like I tried to dig my boots in a little bit deeper, and prove to some of the folks why CMA chose me to be the Entertainer of the Year. So, we’ll see what happens this year.”
Wilson is by now quite accustomed to receiving trophies. But she also likes handing them out, which she learned just as her career was taking off.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the CMA
“I think even the first time that I got to present something with Deana Carter for the CMAs, I realized in that moment how much I enjoyed it and I loved it,” Wilson shares. “I was like, ‘Man, I’d like to do this.’ And also, being able to give Peyton and Luke a hard time, and just have fun with it, it’s a fun night to celebrate country music, so I’m very honored.”
The 32-year-old will perform her current Top 20 single, “4X4XU,” written by Wilson, along with Jon Decious and Aaron Raitiere, for her latest Whirlwind album, out now. It was Wilson’s longtime boyfriend, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, who inspired her to write “4X4XU.”
“The song is very special to me,” Wilson says. “I wrote it about my good-hearted man. He’s my biggest cheerleader, and I’m excited to be able to sing the song to the world. My mom and daddy are going to be out in the crowd. It’s a big night. Any chance that I get to be a part of something like this, it always feels really, really special. And because the song is special to me, it’s just a double whammy.”
The CMA Awards will air live on ABC from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 20 at 8:00 PM ET, and stream the next day on Hulu. More information on the 2024 CMA Awards is available here.
Find all of Wilson’s music and upcoming shows at LaineyWilson.com.
Photo Credit: Brian Bowen Smith