Lainey Wilson: ‘Don’t Let Anybody Tell You No’

Lainey Wilson had an incredibe night last week at the CMA Awards, winning five awards, including the night's top honor of Entertainer of the Year.

Just minutes after her major win, Lainey came backstage and talked about leading the pack of the new generation of country music, including Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Luke Combs, and more. She told us, "I will say that we are at a very pivotal time now in country music. I am very proud to be a part of this generation of country music. You got Jelly Roll, you've got Morgan, you've got HARDY, you've got Luke Combs."

She continued, "You've got folks like Ashley McBryde and Kelsea, and they all look different, they all sound different, they all have different stories. They all come from different places, and I think It's really important for that to be a thing. There's a lot of different kinds of people in the world to hear all the different sides of the stories."

Wilson is ready for her new role as leader. She said, "For me, I will say if you say I am kind of leading the pack or whatever, I hope that it will encourage people to stay true to themselves, stay true to their stories, stay true to their sound, and stay true to their look."

She concluded, "Don't let anybody tell you 'no.' At the end of the day, it's all about timing. I've been in this town for 12 and a half years, but I didn't start working on this 12 and a half years ago; I started working when I was nine years old, and that is the truth. So, I'm hoping that I can show folks, 'You know what? Blood, sweat and tears, elbow grease and faith will take you as far as you want it to go.'"

Lainey is working on the follow-up to her Bell Bottom Country album, which won Album of the Year at both the ACMs and the CMAs and is nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Country Album at the upcoming 2024 GRAMMY Awards.

Lainey Wilson, crowned CMA's Entertainer of the Year in November, spent the summer opening shows on a number of tours, including Eric Church's "Outsiders Revival Tour." Lainey even joined Eric on stage recnetly in Orange Beach, Alabama.

The two sang "Over When It's Over," and one fan captured the performance on TikTok.

Church's camp posted images from night two of his Orange Beach, Alabama show, including a shot from Lainey and him on stage during soundcheck. His team captioned the images, "Night 20 of #TheOutsidersRevivalTour 8.18.23 // Orange Beach, AL (Night 2) // The Wharf Amphitheater."

See that post here.

Lainey posted along with several photos of herself with Eric on stage during sound check and then at the show, "Had the time of my life with ya this weekend @ericchurchmusic! Thank ya for bringing me out. Orange Beach, y'all were awesome."

Several fans reacted to her post, including one who commented, "Girl, U Can Rock Anything!" Another fan wrote, "The best in country music to me." One more fan said, "We were there Friday & Saturday nights & it was amazing! How y'all performed the way you did & we were soaking wet from sweating while just watching!"

See that post here.

Country icon Dolly Parton revealed earlier this year to ET Canada that she and Wilson would release a duet in honor of The Judds, for the tribute album that was released in October. Dolly said when asked about it, "With Lainey Wilson…. I just did with her; we've got a song we did for The Judds. They're doing an album for The Judds for mental illness and some of the problems that [Naomi Judd] had."

She added, "So they're doing a whole album of the songs, and I got to do 'Mama He's Crazy' with Lainey. I don't even know her. So, I'm going to get a chance to visit."

The duet came out in October.

We gathered four of what we believe are Wilson's top collaborations to date. We have a feeling there will be many more to come.

This fun song started a viral trend that had Blake Shelton and Kane Brown among the country stars joining Lauren on social media to dance. Lainey shines on this song, as does Lauren. The lyrics include, "Thelma and Louise and some faded blue denim / Jumpin' in them Wranglers, barely gettin' in em / Buttons hangin' on, thank god they ain't givin' / Flauntin' what we got like we do it for a livin' / Dressed to kill (Dressed to kill), to the nines (To the nines) / I got her back (She got my back), and she got mine."

The chorus includes the lyrics, "We're thicker than our accents, thicker than our hair / Thicker than the Georgia and Louisiana air / Thicker than molasses from the patches to the seams / Stealin' hearts is in our jeans / Us southern girls, we're thick as thieves, we're thick as thieves / We're thick as thieves, we're thick as thieves."

This collaboration came as a surprise when Lainey joined Jelly to sign it at the 58th ACM Awards in May. The song will be released as a single for these two label mates. Lainey said of Jelly in a recent interview, "I was an extra in a music video of his in, like, 2013. It was one that he did with Uncle Kracker. I was a drunk girl, passed out on the ground." She said it was her first interaction with Jelly, and even then, she could tell he was a "good dude."

A powerful duet with Cole Swindell that topped Billboard's Country Airplay chart. Cole said of the song when it came out, "I wrote 'Never Say Never' with Jessi Alexander and Chase McGill in 2018 about a relationship you just can't stay away from; I have been a fan of Lainey Wilson's for a while now and what she brings to this song is everything it needed."

"Wait In The Truck" is one of country music's best murder songs. She and HARDY show off some impressive acting chops in the dramatic video for the song that won Collaborative Music Video of the Year at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. "Wait In The Truck" also won ACM awards in 2023 for Visual Media of the Year (video) and Musical Event of the Year. When HARDY and Wilson won their ACM awards, HARDY said on the stage, “Man, thank you, Lainey. You absolutely killed it. There was never a doubt that you were always the one to make people believe this song.”