There are no plans to slow down. Now, in the midst of a massive tour and on the eve of the release of her new album Whirlwind, Wilson takes a second to survey where she’s at: “We’re having to be very aware of taking those moments, because to be honest, things can get so fast-paced that you have to take the time to zoom out and appreciate the things that are happening,” Wilson says of her crazy few years. “It’s a lot of blessings.”

Listeners who fell in love with Wilson’s unique fusion of glimmering Nashville sheen, dusty Americana and Louisiana twang will find plenty more to enjoy on the new record. Ms. Wilson isn’t afraid to throw a few curveballs however, which make Whirlwind her boldest and most accomplished record to date. “I think we can all agree that when you hear this voice on top of anything, it’s going to be country,” she says. “My producer Jay Joyce is the best at…taking a lot of things that he’s influenced by. The truth is, I wanted to feel like there’s a little bit of something for everybody on the record.” 

“I feel like with my band being a part of this record, we knew what was missing from our live shows without even talking about it,” she shares, “When you travel around the world in a truck with four boys you really get to know ‘em, you know? Then you graduate to a van, and then you’re on a bus together. I mean, we’ve eaten the dirt together! It just makes it that much more special. At times, they know me and what I’m trying to convey better than I do myself.”

To hear it from Wilson, Whirlwind is also very much a ‘traveling’ record, forged by countless hours on the road and learning to embrace the types of new experiences that are endemic to the life of a modern touring musician. “This record, I hope it wins lots of awards but I’ll tell you I still know it’s the best thing we’ve ever done,” she says. “Since (my last album) Bell Bottom Country, I’ve grown a lot, I’ve put a lot of miles under my belt. I think I’ve become a better singer, songwriter, person, all of it! Getting to meet so many different types of people all around the world, I feel like it’s made me more of an understanding and sympathetic person. I can relate to people. You know, you hear stories from all different walks of life and you get a different point of view than you did before. I think you’ll be able to hear a bit of that on the record.”

During her rise to the top, Wilson has shared stage and studio with some of music’s biggest names. She gushes about performing with the Rolling Stones earlier this summer: “I mean, it’s the Rolling Stones!” she exclaims, beaming. “I can’t wrap my head around it, it’s one of those moments that’s hard to believe. ” 

Whirlwind features a legend of a different kind: Miranda Lambert, who seems to have forged a connection with Wilson that goes beyond music. “She’s been kind of like a country music big sister to me,” says Wilson. “She’s one of the people who’ll reach out to me and just say ‘How’s your head? How’s your heart? Where are you at? Are you sleeping? Are you eating?’”

Their collaboration “Good Horses”, a smoky ballad about coming home (wherever that may be), is one of Whirlwind’s highlights. Working with Lambert, as big a name as there is in country music, came naturally to Wilson. “We actually wrote [“Good Horses”] together on her farm,” she recalls, “It’s kind of about having that free-spirited thing in your soul that you can’t quite get rid of. Miranda and I have a lot in common. We love the road, going places that we’ve never been, but also we love coming home. It gives us a chance to re-set, get our bearings, and go back out.”

Whirlwind arrives at a time when country sounds and style are increasingly omnipresent on the charts and in mainstream culture. “Country’s Cool Again,” one of the album’s singles, directly addresses how people from all different backgrounds are connecting with this music right now. As a country music lifer, Wilson’s keenly aware of the moment: “Yes, country music is having a moment right now and I don’t think it’s slowing down anytime soon,” she says. “I think maybe people didn’t know that they were going to love it, but the truth is, it makes you feel at home and grounded. Maybe the pandemic had something to do with it, with people realizing the important things to them: family, keeping your people close, and feeling at home. That’s how country music makes me feel.”

Our conversation then turned to acting, a challenge that Wilson has taken on with great enthusiasm (“C’mon Steven, holler at your girl!” she jokes when I ask her if she’d be interested in appearing in a Spielberg movie.) “What I’ve learned from being a part of Yellowstone is that I really just love being creative,” she says. “I love stepping outside the box and trying things that are a little different. I think every artist, to an extent, could do a little bit of acting. The truth is, there are days where maybe you’re going through something, maybe you’ve had a death in the family or a breakup and you still have to get onstage and act like everything’s ok. So we’ve all been actors and actresses at some point in time.”

Wilson was also excited to tell her story in Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country, which she says gave her the chance to “pull back the curtain and let people into more of my life” and to give credit to the people who made her the woman she is today. “I feel like it was an opportunity to show people that we all put our pants on the same way, one leg at a time. My mom and daddy got to be a part of that too, to share a little bit about me as a child. My mom and daddy, they’re the people who supported me before anybody did.” 

When I ask her what she’d share today with that young woman thinking of moving to Nashville and chasing a dream, the steely determination that made her a star shines through: “I’d say ‘you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,’ in the best way possible,” she says. “You don’t know how scary and hard it’s going to be. But also, there’s something really beautiful about that naive girl who had stars in her eyes. I still feel like that girl.”

“I’ve been in Nashville for 13 years and the work started way before 13 years ago; it started when I was 9 years old,” she says wistfully. “I’ve worked my tail off to be here. I want the little ones watching to know that if you want something and you don’t have a plan B, you gotta roll your sleeves up and get it done. I’m a firm believer in working hard and being kind, just trying to share as much light and love as I possibly can – and also the truth, you know?”

Photographer: Erin Leydon