A week after the release of her new album, “Bell Bottom Country,” Lainey Wilson is poised to be the belle of the ball at the Country Music Association Awards.
In addition to performing that night, the northeast Louisiana native has six CMA nominations, more than other nominee this year. Her potential wins include female vocalist of the year, album of the year and song of the year. "The 56th Annual CMA Awards" airs at 7 p.m. Wednesday on ABC. She’ll be on TV again on Sunday, Nov. 13, making her acting debut in the new season of “Yellowstone.”
Wilson’s CMA nominations follow her many previous honors, including the Academy of Country Music’s song of the year award for her No. 1 hit, “Things a Man Oughta Know.”
“This flood of recognition means the world to me,” Wilson said of the attention she’s received since the 2021 release of her album debut, “Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’.”
“All I’ve ever wanted is a chance and an opportunity,” she said. “I feel like that’s what I’ve been given. And the cool part about it is this is just the beginning.”
From a farming family in the Franklin Parish village of Baskin, Lainey moved to Nashville in 2011. A decade later, “Things a Man Oughta Know” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s country airplay chart. Wilson achieved her second No. 1 this year with “Never Say Never,” a duet with Cole Swindell. She’s currently charting with “Heart Like a Truck” and her a duet with HARDY, “Wait in the Truck.”
When she previously spoke to The Advocate in April 2021, Wilson was on the rise, but still struggling.
“I had $30 in my checking account,” she recalled. “My sister Venmoed me a couple of hundred bucks just so I could go to Taco Bell.”
Wilson paid a decade of dues before her breakthrough, figuring out her place in Music City from scratch.
“I never had a Plan B,” she said. “There were moments when I probably should have packed up my camper trailer and moved home — but that never crossed my mind. Country music is my life. It’s always going to be my life. But, I’ll tell you what, now it’s looking better than I could have ever imagined.”
Wilson’s parents in Franklin Parish taught her tenaciousness and the value of hard work.
“I am who I am because of my mama and my daddy,” she said. “I am proud of where I’m coming from. I’m proud to talk with an accent and be from Baskin. There are so many things that my parents taught me growing up, but their work ethic is one thing that I take with me everywhere. My parents taught me what it takes to get something in life. If you want something, you got to roll up your sleeves and go get the thing.”
That work ethic compelled Wilson to make the most of pandemic downtime.
“I had three years to write this record (‘Bell Bottom Country’),” she said. “I wrote 300-plus songs, so I really dug deep. I grew as a person, a singer and a songwriter. You’ll hear that in the record.”
A new star of country music, Wilson nonetheless is grateful for her opportunity to record duets with the longer-established Swindell and HARDY.
“They’re both incredible artists, and it’s important for artists like them, who have been around the block, to show the rest of the world ‘Hey, I believe in this girl, and you should, too.’ I can’t wait to do that for another artist.”
Branching into acting, Wilson will play a singer in the new season of Paramount Network's “Yellowstone,” the modern-day western starring Kevin Costner. Wilson and Taylor Sheridan — the series' creator, writer and executive producer — have been friends since he began using her songs in the “Yellowstone” soundtrack. They bonded over a mutual love of horses.
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