I’d write the world’s worst song over getting a speeding ticket any day.
The more we learn about Lainey Wilson, the more her life seems like a movie at times. In the best way possible, might I add. From the fact that she lived in a camper in her friend’s front yard when she first moved to Nashville chasing her dream of being a country music singer, to learning that she was a Hannah Montana impersonator for years, and Lainey Wilson would open the stage for Hannah Montana, highlights the dedication she had to making her dreams come true.
She’s a small-town girl who had big, big dreams and made them come true.
Lainey Wilson recently shared another golden story from growing up in a hometown that makes you love the “Hang Tight Honey” singer even more. Wilson recently appeared on the Life With John Mayer show on SiriusXM radio, where she shared perhaps the most motivating thing that’s inspired a song from her. And no, it wasn’t the promise of collaborating with Dolly Parton or Reba.
Lainey Wilson shared with Mayer that she was once given the option to write a song or accept a fat speeding ticket from the local judge (who just so happened also to be her neighbor).
“I got a ticket when I was 15 for going 75 in a 45.”
15! Kind of frightening to think 15 year-olds are out here gunning it at 75 miles per hour…
“Thank goodness the judge was my next-door neighbor. And he made me write a song about speeding.”
I’d say the judge went easy on Wilson for that charge. And if there were any reason to write a #1 single, doing it to get out of the speeding ticket is as good a reason as any. Wilson then shared a little bit of how she recalled the tune when for John Mayer.
“Going 75 in a 45.. Do, do do…”
Honestly, for being written at 15 years old, this aged pretty gracefully and could make for a great chorus of a song today about chasing a past lover down a highway… Yes, that idea can be taken for free.
I guess this is proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same for the “Can’t Sit Still” singer. She’s still moving at 100 miles per hour, but in a different area of life.
Lainey Wilson Lived In A Camper In Her Friend’s Yard For Three Years After Moving To Nashville
The queen of “bell-bottom country” has become one of the biggest artists in country music over the past couple of years. In 2021, she had her first #1 single with “Things A Man Oughta Know.” She won the CMA New Artist of the Year award at the 2022 ceremonies, and “Heart Like a Truck” became a massive hit and Lainey’s second #1 single with the help of TikTok and…well, Lainey’s bell bottom.
Lainey has also scored #1 hits with her collaborations with Cole Swindell, “Never Say Never,” and HARDY with “wait in the truck,” as well as her single “Watermelon Moonshine.” And last year, Lainey swept Entertainer of the Year at both the CMA and the ACM Awards, officially cementing her superstar status. At this point, everything she touches pretty much turns to gold.
So if you just started following her career, it probably seems like Lainey’s had a meteoric rise since the release of her major-label debut album back in 2021. But what you don’t see is the years of hard work that it took to get there.
Lainey actually started at a young age…as a Hannah Montana impersonator. And when she would perform as the famous Miley Cyrus character, she would “open” for Hannah Montana as herself so she could play some of her own music.
Then she began playing with a local band in her home state of Louisiana. But when she decided that she wanted to make a career out of music, she bought a camper and moved to Nashville – and lived in the camper for three years.
Lainey talked about her time living in the trailer on the Just Being ERNEST podcast a while back:
“When I decided I needed to be here full time, I ended up buying a camper trailer and moving it to Nashville. I lived in it the first three years I was here and finished college in it…
It was a Flagstaff, it was like a 20-foot bumper pull. It did have a shower, but I flooded it at one point and then the floor started rotting out. I was always having problems with it.”
Luckily for Lainey, she had one connection in Nashville when she moved here – and he let her park her camper in his studio parking lot.
“I moved here in August of 2011…There was a guy from my hometown, his name was Jerry Cupit. He had some success in the ’90s with like Ken Mellons, Kevin Sharpe…
And crazy story, my daddy’s daddy has always loved music, just wanted to support it any way he could. So in the ’70s he gave Jerry Cupit a few hundred bucks to help him move to Nashville and get started.
And as a favor in return, Jerry let me live in his studio parking lot for free for those three years.
So he was really my only contact that I knew.”
But it wasn’t an easy road.
Lainey talked about the struggles of living in a camper in a new city while trying to chase her dreams:
“There has been some dark days for me. I was very lonely. I didn’t know hardly anybody in town.
Tornadoes would roll through, the tornado sirens would be going off. The winters were cold, I’d have to sleep in three or four jackets, three pairs of socks just to stay warm.”
See, it’s not all glitz and glamour.
And Lainey admits that if she had known what it was going to take to “make it,” she’s not sure if she would have done it:
“When I look back, honestly, if I had known it was going to be this hard, I don’t know if I would go and do it again.”
