There’s nothing like true friendship.
And in the music industry, that can be nearly impossible to come by, which is why Lainey Wilson holds her friendship with Miranda Lambert very close to her heart.
Lainey recently sat down on Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen to talk about life lately, and she specifically mentioned Miranda and how she’s been someone Lainey’s really leaned on since starting her journey in Music City.
And seeing as there’s so much that only women can understand even logistically when it comes to tour life (and being a musician in general), which I won’t get into here but you can use your imagination, I can’t imagine trying to do it all alone and having no one to talk to that fully understands the craziness of it all.
Lainey has been open in interviews in the past about her personal struggles with anxiety and depression, and she told Kelleigh that Miranda has been someone that understands her and has “helped me through a lot”:
“Sometimes it can be lonely because at times you feel like, man, I don’t even know who I could talk to right now that would understand. Miranda is one of those people for me.
She’s helped me through a lot. It’s the life on the road part that’s hard. It’s the early mornings, it’s the late nights. Anybody who has lack of sleep, you’re going to start feeling a little bit off.”
In an industry, and world, where Miranda could easily look at Lainey as competition and be unwilling to help her, it’s awesome to see that she’s taken her under her wing, so to speak, and been a friend and mentor.
Another person Lainey talked about was Ashley McBryde, who took Lainey out on tour before she even had a full band and let her open with just an acoustic guitar.
Lainey said it’s been important for her to support other young women trying to do the same thing she has, and Ashley was a badass example of that very early on, telling her just how important that was and she would eventually need to do the same for someone else:
“That’s what it’s about. And I’ve had people do the same for me. You help each other over that wall. And for me, one of those people was Ashley McBryde. I remember sitting on her bus in Texas and she had let me open a few shows for her, just me and my guitar.
And I remember her just looking at me dead in my face and saying, Lainey, I believe in you and I love you. But she said, and I’m going to help you over that wall, but you got to promise me that when you find people who you love and believe in as much as I do, that you do the same.
And that’s how it works in this town. I’m so thankful for this community. I mean, this was my family when I was eight hours away from home. You got to go out and you got to find your family. But they’re here.”
I can’t think of three women I’d want on my side more than Lainey, Ashley and Miranda, so I love knowing that they have a support system with each other and really stick together to support women in the country music industry.
And considering how they all three have pretty big, spunky personalities, I feel like their banter and behind-the-scenes hang out sessions are like a real life Steel Magnolias, and I want in…
And speaking of Lainey, she appeared on the Christmas At Graceland special last night to perform a rousing rendition of Elvis’ “Santa Claus Is Back In Town”:
