Lainey Wilson: What She Finds ‘Hard To Hold On To’

Lainey Wilson's 2023 was jam packed leading up to her November CMA win of Entertainer of the Year. Now, with 2024 to look forward to and a headlining tour, Lainey appreciates the little down moments in life a lot more.

Wilson told us recently she strives for the small steps in life these days, "It sounds silly, but just taking the time to do those kind of things like sitting on my front porch, doing my devotionals, talking to the Lord, talking to my friends, just making sure that there is time for that. There's been moments where I have been in survival mode and like great things are happening like wham, bam, thank you ma'am, and you've got to move on to the next thing."

She added, "It's about trying to be as present as you can and enjoying the ride because it is hard to hold on to."

Lainey cites that she gets support from everyone in her crew. She offered, "I do have a lot of people in my life, even Mike sitting back there. He's security, but also my therapist. He helps me with a lot. And I have a lot of people on the road who will just sit there with me, sit out in a rocking chair next to the bus and put my feet in the dirt, go on a walk, and do things like that."

Wilson recently posted a video of an end-of-tour gift exxhange between her and HARDY on her Instagram. In a video clip posted among photos from the last night of the tour, you can see Lainey and HARDY in a dressing room, and she says as she bends down to open a guitar, "We played a radio show together and what's the name of that guitar?" HARDY says, "No f------ way, dude. I've been thinking about that forever, and I just didn't want to say anything." Wilson gets the guitar out and says, "You ain't seen nothing yet." She laughs, "I'm opening your gift!" She shows her friend that the guitar has a mockingbird and a crow on "the end." He shouts, "Oh my God, dude. Give me a hug. It's gonna make me cry." She says, "I love you! Thank you for everything."

HARDY says, "That is such a good gift," They both call the guitar "bad a--" and he strums it for a minute before giving her an envelope saying, "Here's yours," telling the camera, "We're gonna put her up at Blackberry Farms for a few days." Blackberry Farm is a luxury hotel in the Smoky Mountains.

See that post here.

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.”