Lainey Wilson has certainly carved out a place for herself in country music, and she’s done it through hard work and dedication.
Her success also comes from seeking advice from the right kinds of people and surrounding herself with those who will be honest with her, even when they disagree with her.
“I do and I keep those people close,” she says when asked if she has people around her who aren’t afraid to tell her no.
“Like the truth is I always say, like, I don’t wanna take advice from people who aren’t where I wanna be.”
Unfortunately, that means she’s not absorbing input from her own mother, Michelle Wilson. Well, at least she’s not listening to her advice on singing.
“I remember even like growing up and singing and my mama cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but she would try to tell me how to sing,” Wilson recounts. “And it would make me so mad cause I was like, ‘You can’t sing.'”
There is insight from her mama that she trusts, though, even when it comes to her career.
“But I will say when it comes to like choosing songs and picking songs and the ones that I write, I can always trust my mama’s judgment,” Wilson explains.
“And she will tell me, she’ll be like, ‘I don’t think that one is as good as you think it is.'”
Who Are Lainey Wilson’s Parents?
A native of Baskin, Louisiana, Wilson grew up on a farm owned by her parents Brian and Michelle Wilson. Her father — or “Deddy,” as she calls him — worked the farm while her mother served as a schoolteacher. Wilson also has a sister named Janna.
And, just like her mom, her dad has a way of letting her know which songs are going to top the charts.
“He’s a man of few words,” Wilson admits to Taste of Country. “I’m talking about like, the only way I knew that he liked a song of mine when I was little was if he was tapping his toe or not.”
Even today, she knows he liked a song she wrote for him called “Those Boots (Deddy’s Song)” because of his toe-tapping.
“I played it for him and he was tapping his toe, so I was like, ‘alright, check,'” Wilson explains.
“But then afterwards, he said, ‘That’s pretty dang good.’ So I was like, ‘We’re getting somewhere!'”
The country hitmaker is still very close to her family, even though she left home a long time ago to chase her dreams of making music.
“My family means a whole lot to me,” Wilson said in a 2024 interview. “I am who I am because of the people who raised me. I love them, I really do. I feel like I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t raised by Brian and Michelle Wilson.”
Lainey Wilson and Duck Hodges’ Relationship Timeline
Lainey Wilson and Duck Hodges dated for nearly four years before getting engaged in February 2025. Here is a timeline of their romance, from first date to going public, to moving in together, to now!
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
