It’s hard to believe Lainey Wilson could have a bigger year than she had in 2024. The Lousiana native headlined her own tours, had hit singles at radio, opened her own Bell Bottoms Up Bar, became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, filmed her part as Abby for a recurring role in Yellowstone, won numerous awards, released her third album, Whirlwind, and co-hosted the CMA Awards. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned performer’s head spin.
But not Wilson. The 32-year-old is already planning for even bigger things in 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’s goal from the very beginning of her career was longevity, one she is well on her way to achieving. For Wilson, the key to her success is her songwriting, even more than her singing, which is why she wrote all of the songs on Whirlwind, and focuses as much on her songwriting as any other aspect of her career.
Photo Credit: Chris Hollo
“I always tell people, the cool thing about songwriting and singing is, it’s not like sports,” Wilson says. “When you’re 80 years old, you’re not gonna be able to throw a basketball anymore. You’re not gonna be able to throw a punch. But you’ll always be able to pick up your guitar and tell a story. And that’s why I’m so thankful that I have that, and I’m gonna have that forever, as long as my mind is right. That’s a good feeling, to have something that you love to do that you know is always gonna be there no matter what. Even if my career don’t look like it does now, I’m always gonna be able to tell stories, and stories that outlive me.”
Wilson has had plenty of pivotal moments in her career, but for her, the biggest one is one that went by unnoticed to almost everyone but Wilson.
“For me, it was August 1 of 2011, when I officially came to Nashville to make the move,” Wilson reflects. “Always, when I come up around August 1, I’m like, ‘Man, how has it already been 13 years?’ And the work didn’t just start when I moved to Nashville. I had been traveling back and forth to Nashville quite some time before then. But I mean, I’ve really been trying to perfect my craft since I was nine years old. And not in an unhealthy way, where my parents were pushing me to do something I didn’t want to do — this was what I wanted to do.
“I was playing sports and doing softball and basketball and cheering and running track, but when I would get home I would pick up my guitar and I would write music and I would tell stories, and that’s what I knew I wanted to do,” she adds.
Wilson has a Top 15 single at radio with “4X4XU,” a song about her relationship with her longtime boyfriend, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, which she wrote with Jon Decious and Aaron Raitiere. After staying away from love songs for her first two records, Wilson was finally ready to embrace her romantic relationship in her music.
“That’s where I am in my life right now,” says the singer. “I’m in a happy, healthy relationship. And especially during this time of my life where it’s constantly changing, I’m really keeping my people close — the people who remind me who I am and the ones who remind me where I come from and encourage me to stay true to myself. That’s really important to me right now.”
Find all of Wilson’s music and upcoming shows at LaineyWilson.com.