Laney Wilson is one of USA TODAY’s 2026 Women of the Year, which recognizes women who have made a significant impact in and outside of their communities. We would like to introduce all the award winners here.
Laney Wilson wrote a song called “Lucky Me” when she was nine years old.
She still remembers every word.
That same year, she got her first pair of bellbottoms, her first horse, and her first glimpse of the Grand Ole Opry, the indelible stage that would shape her future.
“When I was 9 years old, my mom and dad took me to Nashville,” Wilson said in a video call from Brisbane, Australia. “I remember going to the Opry and seeing Bill Anderson, Crystal Gale, Phil Vasser, and Little Jimmy Dickens and thinking, ‘Man, I want to be a part of this community.’ It felt like I was already like that, but I just had to convince other people that I was too.”
Inspired and moved by Dolly Parton: Rainie Wilson’s next performance
One of USA TODAY’s “Women of the Year,” Louisiana-born country music sensation Laney Wilson has turned a small-town dream into a global reality.
The 33-year-old is about to play her second sold-out show at the Brisbane Entertainment Center wearing her signature bell bottoms and matching cowboy hat.
Before going on stage, she gathers the band for a quick dance party, where “really weird moves” are encouraged.
The “4x4xU” singer spent 15 years preparing for this moment and achieved worldwide recognition.
“It’s crazy to think that people on the other side of the world are somehow finding their story in my story, but that’s exactly the power of storytelling and the power of country music,” she says. “This shows us that we’re all a little more connected than we think. Even though we’re on the other side of the world, we may not have grown up exactly the same, but we all want to live and laugh and love. We’ve all been hurt. We’ve all been through things. It’s my job to just stand there and make people feel something.”
Build your dreams “brick by brick”
The singer-songwriter and her older sister Gianna grew up in Baskin, Louisiana, population 170 people. Their father, Brian, grew corn, wheat, and soybeans on farmland in northeastern Louisiana. Their mother Michelle was a school teacher.
“I feel like everyone in my town is unapologetically themselves,” Wilson says. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t know there was any other way. I knew I signed up to tell a story and make people feel something. I never wanted to be anything other than myself.”
Wilson’s father taught her some guitar chords when she was 11 years old. As a preteen, she was constantly writing songs, chasing melodies the way her father chased the harvest. In 2006, she uploaded an EP titled “Country Girls Rules” to Myspace. In high school, she worked as a Hannah Montana impersonator, performing at birthday parties, fairs, and festivals in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, and once performed for pediatric cancer patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Wilson moved to Music City in 2011 with a six-string instrument and a dream. She lived in a 20-foot camper trailer in Flagstaff for three years, traveling up and down Broadway booking gigs, playing hole-in-the-wall bars and cementing relationships “brick by brick,” she says.
“I was known around town as the camper trailer girl,” she says. “And there were definitely times when I should have packed up and went home to Louisiana, but I just had a fire burning inside me and a belief that I had been given a gift and I should share it.”
She released her self-titled album in 2014, followed by “Tougher” in 2016, which charted on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Her self-released EP in 2018 helped her secure a publishing and management deal with Sony/ATV that same year. Country Music Television selected her for its 2019 “Listen Up” class and its “Next Women of Country” tour. She toured with Morgan Wallen in 2019, and her first song to reach No. 1 in 2021 was “Things A Man Oughta Know.”
Her songs were incorporated into the hugely successful “Yellowstone” universe. She never wanted to be on screen. She never auditioned for the role. Creator Taylor Sheridan wrote the role specifically for her.
“I thought if I was going to be called an actress, I had to do it,” she says. “When I was in ‘Yellowstone,’ I was pretty much playing myself under a different name.”
Her ease on screen opened new doors in Hollywood. In March, Wilson will star in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller “His Memories.”
“After ‘Yellowstone,’ my next goal was to play a role that wasn’t a musician,” Wilson says. “I wanted to completely step out of my comfort zone and try something I’d never tried before. And to be honest, it feels a little like songwriting because sometimes you get to put yourself in other people’s shoes and write songs from their perspective.”
Unwavering faith, endless gratitude
Her trophy cabinet is now stacked with 16 Academy of Country Music Awards, 15 Country Music Association Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Country Album for “Bell Bottom Country.” And what about that big dream she chased? She grabbed it when she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry Hall of Fame just days after turning 32.
But if you ask her about hardware or praise, she won’t talk about validation. She sees it as a result of her faith in both herself and a higher power.
“There were a lot of moments where I was like, ‘Thank you, God,'” Wilson says. “To tell you the truth, I remember finally arriving in Nashville and being like, ‘Thank God, I’m here. I’ve been preparing for the race. I’ve got to get out.'”
Her favorite phone emoji is a running man, perfect for someone who rarely slows down. She’s always running and shooting. Perhaps that’s why her latest unreleased song is titled “Can’t Sit Still.”
That momentum propels her from songwriting sessions to soundchecks to sold-out shows and red carpets. At the Grammys, she turned heads in a black strapless top with dramatic ruffled shoulders and a plunging neckline, paired with her signature bell-bottom pants. His gaze drifted towards the passing train.
“I have a lot to be grateful for,” she says. “I would often say, ‘God, you have given me the desire of my heart.'”
In between, she spends nights on the porch with her fiancé, former NFL quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges, and their French bulldog, Hippie Mae Wilson.
Life is golden, she says.
women lighting the way
Looking to the future, Wilson says her one word for 2026 is “connection.”
And if connection is her foundation, then a woman is her compass. She grew up surrounded by women who took on more than their share. Her mother who balances her lesson plans with her life, her teachers who encourage her, and the artists who make enough room in country music for her to gain a foothold and make way for others.
“People in general inspire me by listening to their stories,” she says. “My family inspires me. The town I grew up in inspires me, traveling the world and meeting people from all walks of life. I feel like I get a little bit of inspiration from everywhere.”
On tour, she sees young girls in bell bottoms singing all the lyrics back. She met women who said singing helped them through difficult times. And she’s worked with some of country music’s most enduring icons, like Dolly Parton.
“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this award than Laney Wilson,” Parton told USA TODAY in an email about her friend being named USA TODAY Woman of the Year. “She is a prime example of talent, hard work, and a kind heart. She told me once that I am an inspiration to her. Well, Laney, you are an inspiration to me too. Congratulations girlfriend! I will always love you.”
So what does she want her legacy to be? “I hope people can see that I was just a girl from a small town with big dreams,” she says. “She let nothing get in her way, she treated people right, she meant what she said she would do, she worked hard, she loved people, and she wrote great songs.”
Wilson can still picture her childhood bedroom, where “Lucky Me” took shape. Maybe she’ll release it someday. Then it won’t just be a song from the past. It will prove that the girl who believed she should be on stage was right all along.
Brian West is a music reporter for The Tennessean.
Instagram, TikTok, and X as @BryanWestTV.
