The Louisiana native has what many would call a breakout last year or two (that even feels like an understatement), though she was in Nashville for right around a decade grinding and busting her ass to get to this moment.
Suffice all that to say, she’s more than earned it and certainly deserves it, and as a longtime fan of hers, I absolutely love to see her getting so much attention and becoming the superstar that I know she’s always been.
I’ve always had a deep appreciation for her songwriting ability and how honest she is as a writer, and in a recent feature with American Songwriter, she opened up about her process and where she pulls inspiration from.
And if you’re a fan of hers and listen to her music regularly, then you probably already know that she very often writes about her real life and what’s going on in her mind, which makes for very authentic songs that clearly resonates.
But she hilariously revealed that she was writing about things like “tequila and cigarettes” from a very young age, even though her parents didn’t keep any of that in the house, and obviously, she didn’t actually know anything about tequila or cigarettes.
She added that it was because she was “eavesdropping” on adult conversations and paying attention to the world around her that she wanted to include those things in her music, and even back then knew those subjects simply sounded good in a song, eventually growing up to learn why adults really like them so much:
“We didn’t even have tequila or cigarettes in the house, but it’s because I was listening to adult conversations.
I was eavesdropping. I was watching TV. I was listening to country radio. I was thinking about things that I didn’t even really know what they were, but I knew that it sounded good.
It’s crazy because I still write about those things. I know what they are now.”
Of course, these days she has a much better understanding of vices such as those listed above, and has clearly honed her craft and a much more refined outlook on life, but I think it’s so funny to imagine an 11-year old Lainey writing a country song about smoking a cigarette or taking a shot of tequila.
Her songwriting is a talent that’s always been a huge part of who she is, and while she grew up riding horses, playing basketball, cheerleading and doing all kinds of other fun activities, her “one true love” has always been writing music:
“I felt like I had no other option but to write music. I love writing music. Before anything else, I’m a songwriter.
That’s what I would do when I would get home from basketball practice. I would get my guitar and go into the bathroom where the acoustics were the best and start writing.
That was the thing that got me through the growing pains of growing up and trying to navigate life. Songwriting was my saving grace. That’s how I felt like I could communicate best with people.”
Lainey released her album Bell Bottom Country last year, and one of my favorites on the tracklist was a song called “Smell Like Smoke,” which was also featured on the hit Paramount series Yellowstone, and is a perfect example of one of her longtime favorite topics (I kid, I kid).
Turn it up…
“Smell Like Smoke”
