Lainey Wilson: Country music star discusses her career and success in the industry

From living in a trailer outside a recording studio to selling out 80 thousand capacity stadiums, Lainey Wilson has made it big. 

For over a decade she’s been one of the biggest country music stars to come out of Nashville, with nine Country Music Association Awards under her belt, as well a Grammy. 

Her career started in 2014 with the release of a self titled album, but it was with the release of her second album ‘Tougher’ in 2016 that kickstarted her career properly.  

Since then, her success has only grown, and now she’s headed to New Zealand for the first time in 2026. 

Despite Wilson’s current stardom, she had a rough start to her career.  

The trailer she lived in had a lot of issues, from flooding and rotting floors to running out of propane and having to sleep in coats to stay warm. 

“I was willing to put up with whatever I had to put up with to be able to do it,” Wilson told Mike Hosking. 

“It didn’t even cross my mind that it was actually hard in the moment.” 

Finding success in the music industry isn’t easy, but Wilson was determined, with a “weird sense of peace” in her heart, knowing that this is what she was supposed to do. 

“I knew at nine years old that I was going to be in Nashville and that I was going to tell stories,” she said. 

“So it was important for me to like, listen to that feeling and see it through.” 

However, despite that gut feeling, she had no idea “telling stories” would look lead to nearly 30 awards, eight number 1 hits, and over 2.1 billion streams. 

“It looks even better than I could have ever imagined.” 

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