When I sat down to interview Lainey Wilson, I never thought I’d be interviewing an auxiliary deputy! Yes, you read that right. Lainey was deputized in her home parish in Louisiana. She said that her dad was approached with the opportunity and he said he’d do it, as long as his daughter could, too.
Lainey grew up in a small farming town in Northeast Louisiana with only 300 residents. Her dad is a farmer and her mom is a teacher. Lainey said her upbringing shaped her as a person and artist. She said that the music business is like farming, you must water it to watch it grow. There are good and bad crops, but you have to work hard regardless and ride the highs and lows.
Her journey to Nashville started in a unique way. When she arrived in town, she lived in a camper trailer for three years outside of a friend’s recording studio. She said, “It was not easy, for sure, but I wouldn’t trade it for nothin’ now. It taught me things, like this is not gonna be easy.” During this time, she did what she could to survive. In high school and college, she was a Hannah Montana impersonator at birthday parties, but when those jobs became less frequent, she would drive back and forth to Louisiana on the weekend to play with a band.
“It took me a really long time to get my foot even slightly in the door, in Nashville.” It was all about switching gears and trying something for a little while to see what worked. She began focusing on relationships in town, and that seemed to do the trick.
In 2017, she was selected to be part of the GPS project, where they choose ten songwriters who they think should have a publishing deal and are introduced to publishers. From here, she signed with Sony ATV, which opened up a lot of doors.
Lainey wrote her first song when she was just nine years old called “Lucky Me” and described it as a Britney Spears type of song. Her friends still remember it. “My writing style has changed and developed a little bit,” she laughed.
One thing that did remain the same throughout her songwriting was honesty. Nashville songwriters have helped her flourish and encouraged her. I asked whether writing with others was nerve wracking at first. She said she was only really nervous for the first five minutes of writing. “It’s a really cool process,” she said. “They just make you feel comfortable.”
Lainey Wilson’s New EP: Redneck Hollywood
Get more information at https://laineywilson.com.
*Article updated in September 2019 to include the new EP.