Lainey Wilson is easily the hottest thing in country music these days, and fans can watch her rise to fame in a new ABC documentary called Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country, now streaming on Hulu.
The hour-long film takes fans back to Wilson’s hometown of Baskin, La., where her dreams of being a country singing sensation were formed.
“I feel like the place that raised me and the people that raised me, I mean, they’re responsible 100% for who I am and the stories that I tell,” Wilson says.
How Did Lainey Wilson Grow Up?
According to the “Hang Tight Honey” singer, she was raised in a very small town filled with cornfields and not a single stoplight. The last census in 2010 shows that the Franklin Parish village featured a population of 254. Needless to say, her beginnings were humble.
“My parents, they lived in this little uninsulated house in Baskin for years,” she shares. “They had two little girls and they needed extra space, so instead of adding on to the house like most normal folks would do, they cut one end of the house out and put a portable building on the side of it.”
When Did Lainey Wilson Figure Out She Wanted to Be a Singer?
It was during a family vacation when Wilson was just nine years old that she first experienced Nashville. While driving through Music City, she told her mother that the city felt like home to her. During the trip, the family went to the Grand Ole Opry, which solidified her ambitions to chase after a career in country music.
“That trip was extremely important because it planted a seed that never really quit growing,” Wilson explains.
When Did Lainey Wilson First Move to Nashville?
It was in 2011 that the “Wildflowers & Wild Horses” made the big move to Nashville. At 19 years old, she was terrified; however, she knew her dreams were bigger than her fears. It took some time — 10 years, in fact — before she gained some traction with her first hit single “Things A Man Oughta Know,” but since then, she’s been holding on for dear life as her career has skyrocketed.
“Somebody told me a few years ago they said the best way for me to explain it is once it really kinda starts working, it’s gonna feel like you’re in behind a ski boat and you’re just like dragging through the water,” she told Taste of Country at the 2023 ACM Awards. “And then eventually — years later — you finally just stand up and then you’re off to the races and you better be holding on.”
Wilson has certainly been off to the races with a Grammy award, two Entertainer of the Year awards, headlining international tour dates, a bar opening in Nashville and countless other accolades and accomplishments.
Keep scrolling to see the surprising things we learned while watching Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country.
