Lainey Wilson is arguably one of the busiest artists in country music right now. The Louisiana native is not only a hit singer-songwriter, but also appears on Yellowstone, and has numerous business opportunities and endeavors as well, including her partnership with Wrangler jeans.
Wilson, who reportedly spent only 15 nights in her own bed in 2022, probably had even less in 2023. Although she gets very little sleep, and is always on the go, Wilson says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I always think back to a time of my life where I wish I was busy,’ Wilson says on CMT‘s new On the Road series. “I wish people were noticing me or my music and I was praying for opportunities.”
“Anytime I do feel like, ‘Man, how much more do I have to actually give?’ I have to make time to refill my cup so I can give more,” she adds.
Wilson is far from a rags-to-riches story. It will be 13 years this summer when she moved to Nashville, living in a camper and struggling to pay her bills. While many would have given up, Wilson set out to prove she could outwork anyone else.
“When I do feel like, ‘How am I going to muster up enough energy to get through all these things, that are incredible things,’ I just go back to that place of, when I first moved to Nashville, of keeping your head down and grinding it out,” Wilson shares. “It’s really crazy how that part of me has never gone anywhere. I’m still using that part of me just to get further on down the road.”
Wilson already has a shelf full of trophies, including the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. She is heading into this year’s Grammy Awards with two nominations, both for Country Duo/Group Performance, for her “Save Me” collaboration with Jelly Roll, and for Country Album of the Year, for Bell Bottom Country
“Everything from the ACMs and the CMAs, and here we are Grammy-nominated,” Wilson boasts. “It’s a little bit hard for me to wrap my head around. It’s awesome.”
At a recent show, Wilson shared her mantra for how she keeps succeeding and overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds.
“It’s getting up every single day and looking at yourself in the mirror and saying, ‘I’m beautiful, I’m Godly, I’m smart, I am talented, and I can do anything I set my mind to,'” Wilson said from the stage. “If somebody tells me I can’t do it, hold my beer. You’ve got to speak it to believe it.”
With two headlining tours this year, plus a performance at this year’s RodeoHouston, the 31-year-old might be tired, but she is also overwhelmingly grateful to see the fruits of her years of hard work.
“I do feel like we are seeing the payoff,” Wilson says. “It’s been grinding for a long time. My team has just been working so hard, my band and everybody, especially the folks on the road the last few years. They have sacrificed a whole lot to be out here, to watch my dreams come true, and their dreams too. But they would do anything in the world for me, and I’m thankful that I found people like that.”
Find music and tour dates at LaineyWilson.com.