CMA Awards 2023 Nomination Feat Astonishes Lainey Wilson: 'I Didn't Think We Could Top It'

Lainey Wilson looks back at her breakout moment last year at the CMA Awards and says, “I didn’t think we could top it. I kind of thought that was the year that we would talk about.”

And, boy, there was a lot to talk about: a first-time nominee with six nominations (more than any other artist) and two wins, for new artist and female vocalist of the year.

But, boy, has she ever topped that now: Once again, Wilson reigns with more nominations than any other artist, but now it’s a staggering nine, including for female vocalist of the year and the most coveted of all the awards, entertainer of the year. The 31-year-old Louisianan will get to find out if there are more trophies in store at the awards show on Wednesday, Nov. 8.

The nominations were announced in early September, but Wilson still seems flabbergasted by this latest recognition. “Somehow it seems we kind of keep doing that on accident!” she says. “It’s like a continuous leveling up this year. As soon as we reach a certain place and we’ve kind of arrived, it seems like we almost have to shift immediately and level up another way.”

Career-wise, the latest shift is a major acceleration: On Oct. 20, she announced her 37-city Country’s Cool Again Tour, which moves her from playing clubs and supporting other artists’ tours to becoming country’s newest arena headliner.

The tour kicks off at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater next May 31, and to stoke the start of the public on-sale, Wilson recently took over her hometown venue’s ticket booth for over an hour. About 200 fans got word of Wilson’s hands-on approach to tour promotion and showed up to make purchases and chat with the artist.

“I want to try to make sure that I feel like I know them, and they know me,” Wilson said after event.

It’s been a year since Wilson released Bell Bottom Country, her ACM Award-winning album (now up for a CMA Award), and as she looks back on this whirlwind time — of sold-out shows and chart-topping songs — she can see “it’s just been blessing after blessing.” But, she says, she’s also trying to catch her breath.

“Truth is, you just go and go and go and then you wake up and you’re like, oh, gosh, I gotta do something to take care of myself,” she says. “For me, that’s even just sitting out on the porch. Or putting your feet in the dirt. If I have four hours here in Nashville at home, I just try to make sure that I’m outside getting exercise, or even calling my nephews and talking to them on the phone.”

She reveals she’s also been under additional stress as her father’s health concerns have persisted. Last year, the Baskin, Louisiana, farmer battled a near-fatal fungal infection that eventually took an eye. He recovered well enough to be stage side when Wilson claimed her CMA Awards, but he went on to what Wilson describes as “a rough year” that landed him back in the hospital.

Today, she says, “he’s doing all right. He has his days. He just got so sick last year, it kind of opened a can of worms for other things to pop up. But he’s a tough cookie.”

Another challenge of the past year, she says, has simply been dealing with exhaustion. “It’s hard to be happy all the time when you’re tired,” she says. “But still, when I do get really tired, I just think these are the days that we’re gonna talk about. So, I’m thankful to have a job to be tired.”

Wilson’s also thankful for the life experiences that have helped her handle all the additional pressures — resources that she didn’t have when she arrived in Nashville 12 years ago.

“If it [her career] would've happened like I wanted it to back in 2011 when I got here, there is no way that I would be mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually prepared for any of this,” she says, “because it’s not normal. It’s just not. It’s a crazy lifestyle.”

But she adds: “I feel prepared. I feel like I’ve got all my tools in my tool belt, and I have to pull ’em out every now and then and use ’em. But I’m so thankful that I’m feeling that way instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off.”

Wilson says she also is anticipating a “more manageable” schedule in the coming year. Though the tour is in bigger venues, she’ll be performing about half the number of shows she did this past year. That, in turn, is freeing up more time for songwriting and recording. Wilson says she’s already booked studio time in November, January and February with Jay Joyce, who produced her last two albums.

“Truth is, we were working on the next batch of music before Bell Bottom was out,” she says. “So, I’m just excited to create. I’m ready for those creative juices to start flowing in the studio with Jay and seeing what we can cook up.”

She promises: “It’s gonna be the same vibe but a different vibe. I want every project to kind of represent something different, and we’re just trying to figure that out right now. We might not know until we get into the studio.”

Wilson says she’s also finding time to enjoy her success with some splurges around the Nashville-area home she’s recently purchased. “I am getting a little bougie with my house,” she says. “I’m redoing it right now, and I’m picking out certain wallpapers and just getting creative with that, so I’m loving that.”

And what kind of style is she bringing to her new digs?

“It’s funny,” she says. “The outside of it is like a farmhouse, but the inside is like a hippie. It’s the opposite of me. On the outside I’m a hippie. On the inside it’s a farmhouse.”