Lainey Wilson is ready to slow down, at least a little. The three-time reigning CMA Female Artist of the Year has been moving full-speed ahead for more than a decade, and is now ready to sit back and enjoy the massive fruits of her labor.

It’s a lesson she learned from her hero and mentor, Miranda Lambert.

“She was like, ‘It’s so important for me to get out there and scoop the poop and throw the hay and catch the horses. Those are the things that remind you what’s really important,'” Wilson tells NME.

With tour dates, her own Bell Bottoms Up bar, a new album, a blossoming acting career and so much more, Wilson is ready to just sit for a while, and recharge.

“I need to get bored,” Wilson says, adding that she knows how she wants to spend her days, and nights, in this season of rest.

“I’m looking forward to sitting around a bonfire at night and waking up late and sitting on the porch with my dog,” Wilson reveals. “I’ve been touring solid since I was in eighth grade.”

Not that her time away is only for her own peace of mind. The 32-year-old knows that, by taking time for herself, she will also be able to continue to give her fans the kind of music and career they have come to expect from her.

“The truth is I can always fight for creativity,” Wilson concedes. “I’ve been able to write with such incredible writers [who] taught me how to put myself into the shoes of whatever we’re writing … I’m excited to see – because I have not had it in a long time – what creativity means for me when I get bored.”

Wilson also wants to live life a bit, away from the spotlight, away from her fans, and away from the crowds who remind her of her superstar status.

“I think I needed to experience more loss, heartbreak, love and rejection to tell the kind of stories I was meant to tell,” she explains.

Wilson’s 2024 Whirlwind album was a pivotal moment for her, in more ways than one. The record, her third, was the first that she released with her place firmly embedded in country music.

“With this record, I’m learning to trust myself,” Wilson admits. “I’m stepping into a confidence I lacked on the first or second record… I can go on stage now and tell my band exactly what I’m thinking. That’s been a game-changer.”

Wilson won’t be taking too much time away. She is taking headlining her Whirlwind Tour in Europe, and hints that she will spend a lot of 2025 on the road. But those plans are secondary to Wilson’s biggest goal right now: to rest and find herself again.

 

“I’m excited to have my own little farm and get back to doing those things that make me, me and made me want to write music,” the Grand Ole Opry member says.

Wilson is performing on January 18 as part of Luke Bryan‘s annual Crash My Playa. Her first concert date is on March 4 in Europe. With dates on the calendar until mid-July, it’s likely that Wilson will soon announce another tour for the latter part of 2025.

“We’re gonna be touring,” Wilson tells Variety. “We’re in the weeds of figuring all that out right now. But it’s fun. As our team grows and as the career grows and everything, with more people having their hands on things, it’s starting to really start to run like a well-oiled machine. And, because it happened so fast, it was just like, ‘Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.’ But all of a sudden we’ve got lots of new team members, and I feel like now we’re kind of starting to get into the groove of it. So we’re just gonna be touring a lot, and hopefully filming some more stuff. We’ll see what that looks like. Just being creative — that’s what I want to do.”

Wilson has a Top 10 hit with “4X4XU,” from Whirlwind. Find all of her music and upcoming shows at LaineyWilson.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the CMA