Lainey Wilson is a country music singer-songwriter who was born in Baskin, Louisiana, a small town with a population of around 250 people. She decided to become a singer at 9 years old after attending a performance at the Grand Ole Opry featuring Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Crystal Gayle. She made her own debut on the Opry stage on Valentine's Day in 2020.
For five years, she made a living as a Hannah Montana impersonator, performing at birthday parties, festivals, and other events. Her last gig playing Miley Cyrus' alter ego was a special performance at her local St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Being able to connect with the young patients through music was the push she needed to give it a go in Nashville in 2011.
Wilson's early days in Nashville were far from glamorous. She lived in a camper trailer outside of a recording studio and carted her demos up and down Music Row only to be greeted with doors slamming in her face. But her rough start in Music City proved to be the key to her success: It inspired the fearless attitude that shone through on tracks like 2018's "Middle Finger," and landed her a deal with Broken Bow Records.
In 2021, Wilson issued her major-label debut,
Say What I'm Thinkin', which includes her breakout single, "
Things A Man Oughta Know."
Her first major award was for New Female Artist of the Year at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards, where "Things A Man Oughta Know" was also named Song of the Year.
Wilson knew it was tough to make it in Nashville, and even tougher for a female artist, so she came up with a signature look to stand out from the crowd: bell-bottoms. The vintage-style pants also inspired the name of her 2022 album, Bell Bottom Country.
"I'll probably be 90 years old and still wearing bell-bottoms," she told People. "I don't think anybody's ever seen my ankles!"
Wilson made her acting debut on the TV series Yellowstone, which had previously used a number of her songs before inviting her to play Abby, a country singer, in season 5.
She counts Dolly Parton as a huge influence and wrote the song "
WWDD" (What Would Dolly Do) in her honor. The pair went on to collaborate in 2023 on a cover of "
Mama He's Crazy" for a Judds tribute album.
In 2022, a
clip of Wilson performing went viral on social media, but it wasn't because of her music. The way her leopard-print bell-bottoms hugged her derriere made TikTokers go wild and even inspired women with similar body types to flaunt their rears to the tune of Wilson's music. The singer took the attention in stride, but lamented she couldn't go on the platform without seeing her "fat butt on everything."
She's romantically linked to former NFL quarterback Devlin "Duck" Hodges. The couple walked the red carpet together for the first time at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards, where the singer announced they'd been dating for over two years.
Wilson scored some big wins at the 2023 ACM Awards, winning Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for
Bell Bottom Country. "
Wait In The Truck," her collaboration with
Hardy, also took home Musical Event of the Year and Visual Media of the Year.
Lainey Wilson's hometown of Baskin is just a 22-minute drive from Start, Louisiana, where Tim McGraw grew up. Wilson has a connection to her fellow Louisiana native, as her step-grandmother used to babysit him.
Lainey Wilson revealed on Today that her celebrity crush is none other than the actor Matthew McConaughey. She admires his humor, good looks, and charisma, which makes him her ultimate "somebody cute."
Lainey Wilson realized she needed LASIK surgery after co-hosting the CMAs with Peyton Manning and Luke Bryan in November 2024. She struggled to read the teleprompter because of her poor eyesight, and decided to get the procedure the following week.
Her hometown of Baskin, Louisiana, named a portion of a highway after Wilson. Ironically, it's the same road where she got a speeding ticket at age 15.
Lainey Wilson comes from a long line of farmers. Her father grows corn, wheat, soybeans, and oats, and they also have horses. Growing up in a farming family shaped her deep connection to country music and its storytelling traditions.
Lainey Wilson recalled on
Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast how she was more interested as a child in showing horses than competing in beauty pageants. But at her mother's urging ("My mama back in the day was the Farm Bureau Queen," she recalled) Wilson entered the Farm Bureau pageant. It was the only one she ever did, and she won.
Wilson credits her victory to the short but punchy answer she gave onstage when asked what agriculture meant to her: "Agriculture is the backbone of America."
"I think they said, 'Give it to her,'" she laughed.
She wrote her very first song at just 9 years old.
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Wilson said it was about "tequila and cigarettes and everything else."
Even though she didn't know much about those adult topics as a kid, they were staples of the country music she was hearing on the radio, so they naturally crept into her early songwriting.
Wilson had a big night at the 2025 CMA Awards, where she hosted the show and also won Entertainer Of The Year and Album Of The Year (for
Whirlwind). Early in the ceremony she sang a medley of hits to the stars who made them famous; serenading Shaboozey with "
A Bar Song (Tipsy)" and Gretchen Wilson with "
Redneck Woman."
