Lainey Wilson is grateful for the hard years. The 32-year-old spent several years living in a camper trailer in Nashville, motivated only by her dreams of having her songs heard in country music. While those dreams are now coming true, in ways she could have never imagined, Wilson credits those years of uncertainty with becoming the fuel for a fire that is now aflame.

“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 tells 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 continues. ‘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.”

 

Although there were dark days, it was her undying belief in herself, even when no one else did, that gave Wilson the determination to keep pursuing her dreams, one baby step at a time. It’s her parents, Brian and Michelle, whom Wilson says gave her an innate tenacity, which made her not return to her Louisiana home, even when that seemed to be the more practical solution.

“Yes, my parents are, they’re the ones to blame. They’re the ones to blame for all of this,” Wilson says with a laugh. “They have truly supported me from the beginning.”

Wilson’s parents are part of a lineage of farmers, which Wilson credits with her hard work ethic, which is now paying off in ways she once never imagined.

“I truly do think it is from being from a long line of farmers,” Wilson says. “I mean, on my mom’s side and my daddy’s side. They rolled their sleeves up. They got to work every single day and had good years and bad years, but at the end of the day, they loved it. So, that meant that they got up, and they did it again. And they’d fall down, and they’d do it again. They just had no other option.

“And my daddy has always tried to remind me that he worked really hard, but he’s not just working hard for himself,” she adds. “He’s working hard for me and my sister and my mama and my sister’s kids and, one day, my kids.”

 

It was a trip to the Grand Ole Opry. when Wilson was nine years old that became the unlikely beginning of her deep desire to be part of country music in Nashville. Now ready to be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry, after being invited by Reba McEntire to join after performing her new single, “Hang Tight Honey,” on  The Voice, Wilson is profoundly grateful for all of the years her dreams didn’t come true.

“I think a lot of the rejection really just kind of made me want it that much more,” the reigning  CMA and  ACM Entertainer of the Year says. “I am hardheaded. I really am, and if you could sit down and talk to my parents, you would realize why I am the way that I am. Both of them, when they have their mind made up, that’s it. And I’ve had my mind made up from the very beginning that I was going to do this.”

Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up Bar will open on May 31, the same day she kicks off her headlining Country’s Cool Again Tour at Ascend Amphitheater. 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.