Lainey Wilson Was Writing About The Hard Stuff At Age Ten

Songwriting has always been an escape for Lainey Wilson, who was writing about the hard stuff at an early age. She told us, "When I was ten years old, I was writing about tequila and cigarettes, you know." She added, "We didn't have either one of those at my house. I picked up on things that people were saying from watching TV and stuff like that."

Writing songs has been a sort of savior for Wilson. She offered, "It's just been an outlet for me that I can't even explain. I am so thankful for songwriting and what it has done for me professionally, but also for me personally."

When Lainey was just nine years old, a trip to Tennessee changed her life forever; it was on that trip that she realized what she wanted to do with her life and that one day, she could do it.

Wilson explained to us, "My family took me on a vacation to Gatlinburg, to Dollywood actually when I was nine and I had just written my first song. On our way back home to Louisiana, I begged my daddy just to drive through Nashville, and he actually took me to the Grand Ole Opry."

Lainey can still recall every detail of that fateful night. She said, "I remember where I was sitting, and I remember who we saw Bill Anderson, Little Jimmie Dickens, Phil Vassar, Crystal Gayle, and Jeannie Seely. I remember sitting there and dreaming about having the opportunity to stand in that circle. Even at nine years old, I knew deep in my heart that I was going to have that opportunity one day. It is so crazy years later standing in that circle and still having that overwhelming feeling that I did."

We asked Lainey what she thinks about when she steps on the Opry stage as the country superstar she is today. She said, "I'm telling you right now, everything I've ever dreamed about. It's that and just so much more."

As she celebrates her 31st birthday today (5/19), Lainey Wilson is the reigning Female Vocalist for the ACMs and the CMAs. She also won the ACM Album of the Year award for Bell Bottom Country, beating out albums by  Miranda Lambert and Luke Combs.

There is no doubt that Lainey is well on her way to becoming a country music superstar. She currently opens stadium shows for Luke Combs and gets a performance slot at the 2023 CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium in June in front of 65,000 fans worldwide.

As she celebrates her big day today (5/19), we count down what we believe are her six very best songs to date, with many more to come in the future.