Lainey Wilson is one of USA TODAY's 2026 Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and beyond. Meet all the honoreeshere.
WhenLainey Wilsonwas 9 years old, she wrote a song called "Lucky Me."
She still remembers every word.
That same year, she got her first pair of bell-bottoms, her first horse and her first glimpse of the stage that would indelibly shape her future: theGrand Ole Opry.
"My mom and daddy brought me to Nashville when I was 9 years old," Wilson says on a video call from Brisbane, Australia. "I just remember going to the Opry and watching Bill Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Phil Vassar, Little Jimmy Dickens, and I just thought, 'Man, I want to be part of this community.' I felt like I kind of already was. I just needed to try to convince everybody else that I was, too."
The 33-year-old, dressed in her signature bell-bottoms and matching cowboy hat, is moments away from performing her second sold-out show at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Before stepping onto the stage, she gathers her band for a quick dance party, where "really weird moves" are encouraged.
The"4x4xU"singer has spent 15 years building toward this moment, becoming a global household name.
"It is crazy to think that people on the other side of the world are somehow finding their story within mine, but that truly is the power of storytelling and the power of country music," she says. "It just goes to show that we're all a little bit more linked than you think. Even on the other side of the world, we might not have grown up the same exact way, but we all want to live and laugh and love. We've all been hurt. We've been through things. It's my job to just get up there and make people feel something."
Building dreams 'brick by brick'
The singer-songwriter and her older sister, Janna, grew up in Baskin, Louisiana, population 170. Their father, Brian, farmed corn, wheat and soybeans in a stretch of northeastern Louisiana farmland. Their mother, Michelle, was a schoolteacher.
"I feel like everybody in my town is just who they are, unapologetically themselves," Wilson says. "The truth is, I didn't know there was any other way. I knew that I was signing up to tell stories and make people feel something. I sure would have hated to have been anything other than myself."
Wilson's father showed her a few chords on the guitar at 11. As a preteen, she was writing constantly, chasing melodies the way her dad chased harvests. In 2006, she uploaded an EP to Myspace titled "Country Girls Rule." In high school, she booked herself as a Hannah Montana impersonator, performing at birthday parties, fairs and festivals across Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, even once for child cancer patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
With a six-string and a dream, Wilson moved to Music City in 2011. She lived in a 20-foot Flagstaff camper trailer for three years and hustled up and down Broadway to book gigs, play at hole-in-the-wall bars and cement relationships "brick by brick," she says.
"I was known as the camper trailer girl around town," she says. "And there were definitely times when I should have probably packed it back up and went back home to Louisiana, but there was this just burning fire inside of me and this faith that I was given a gift and I was supposed to share it."
She released a self-titled album in 2014, followed by "Tougher" in 2016, which cracked the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. A self-released EP in 2018 helped land her a publishing deal with Sony/ATV and a management contract that same year. Country Music Television tapped her for the "Listen Up" class of 2019 and its "Next Women of Country" tour. She toured with Morgan Wallen in 2019, and her first song to reach No. 1 was "Things A Man Oughta Know" in 2021.
Her songs found their way into the massively successful"Yellowstone"universe. She never asked to be on screen. She never auditioned for a role. CreatorTaylor Sheridanwrote a role specifically for her.
Her 2022 breakout hit, "Things A Man Oughta Know" got Wilson a songwriting nomination at the ACM Awards that year." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Wilson accepted the Female Artist of the Year award from Dolly Parton at the Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11, 2023. "She's the one that I look to when I think about how to go about this business," Wilson has said of the country legend." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
At the CMA Awards on Nov. 8, 2023, Wilson took home the trophies for entertainer of the year, female vocalist, album of the year and music event and music video of the year." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Wilson performed during CMA Fest on June 10, 2023, in Nashville." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
"It's my job to just get up there and make people feel something," Wilson, here at Nashville Municipal Auditorium on Oct. 27, 2023, says about performing." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Wilson won a Grammy for Best Country Album in 2024 for "Bell Bottom Country." The album, she said in her acceptance speech, "changed my life." " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lainey Wilson arrives on the red carpet for the 2025 CMA Awards, where she took home three major awards, including the top honor of Entertainer of the Year. She also won Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year, in addition to hosting the show." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
See Lainey Wilson's journey from small town girl to global star
Her 2022 breakout hit, "Things A Man Oughta Know" got Wilson a songwriting nomination at the ACM Awards that year.
"I thought, if they're calling me to be an actress, I got to do it," she says. "Showing up for 'Yellowstone,' I was pretty much playing myself with a different name."
Her ease on screen opened new doors in Hollywood. In March, Wilson will star in the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestseller"Reminders of Him."
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"After 'Yellowstone,' my next goal was to play a role where I was not a musician," Wilson says. "I wanted to completely step out of my comfort zone and try something that I had never tried. And honestly, it feels a little bit like songwriting because sometimes I am stepping into the shoes of somebody else and writing from their perspective."
Unwavering faith, endless gratitude
Now her trophy shelf is stacked: 16 Academy of Country Music Awards, 15 Country Music Association Awards and a Grammy, for best country album with"Bell Bottom Country."And that big dream she chased? She nabbed it just days after she turned 32, when she was inducted into theGrand Ole Opry.
But ask her about the hardware and accolades, and she doesn't talk about validation. She sees it as a result of her faith, both in herself and a higher power.
"I've had a lot of those moments where I'm like, 'Thank you, God,'" Wilson says. "To tell you the truth, it goes back to me finally getting to Nashville. I'm like, 'Thank you, God. I'm here. I've been preparing for the race. I've got to enter it.'"
Her favorite cell phone emoji is the running man, fitting for someone who rarely slows down. She is always running and gunning, which is probably why her newest, unreleased song is called"Can't Sit Still."
That momentum carries her from songwriting sessions to sound checks 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. The look flowed into a sweeping train.
"I have a lot, a lot, a lot of things to be grateful for," she says. "It's been a lot of just like, 'God, you have given me the desires in my heart.'"
In the in-between moments, she spends evenings on the porch with her fiancé, former NFL quarterback Devlin "Duck" Hodges, and her French bulldog, Hippie Mae Wilson.
Life, she says, is golden.
Women who light the way
Looking towards the future, Wilson says her one word for 2026 is "connection."
And if connection is her foundation, women are her compass. She grew up surrounded by women who carried more than their share: her mother balancing lesson plans with life, teachers who encouraged her and artists who created enough room in country music for her to gain a foothold and make way for others.
"People in general inspire me, hearing their stories," she says. "My family inspires me. The town that I grew up in inspires me, getting to travel the world and meet people from all different walks of life. I feel like I kind of pull inspiration from a little bit of everywhere."
On tour, she sees young girls in bell-bottoms singing every lyric back to her. She meets women who tell her a song helped them through a difficult time. And she works with some of country music's most enduring icons, likeDolly Parton.
"I can't think of anyone more deserving of this award than Lainey Wilson," Parton tells USA TODAY in an email about her friend being honored as a USA TODAY Woman of the Year. "She is a prime example of talent, hard work, and a soft heart. She told me once that I have been an inspiration to her. Well, guess what Lainey? You are an inspiration to me as well. Congratulations girlfriend! I will always love you."
So what does she hope her legacy will be? "I hope people can see that I was just a girl with a big old dream from a tiny town," she says, "who didn't let anything stand in her way, who treated people right, who meant what she said, who followed through, who worked hard and loved people and wrote some damn good songs."
Wilson can still picture her childhood bedroom, the place where "Lucky Me" took shape. Maybe she'll release it one day. If she does, it won't just be a song from the past. It will be proof that the little girl who believed she belonged on stage was right all along.
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean.
Follow him onInstagram,TikTokandX as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean:How Lainey Wilson went from 'trailer girl' to global superstar
Lainey Wilson is one of USA TODAY's 2026 Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impac...
