It was a country-girl summer takeover when Lainey Wilson performed for TODAY’s Citi Concert Series on June 25. Holding up signs and outfitted in cowboy hats, a sea of fans were there for it.
Among them? Melissa and Greg Steber, who brought their daughter, Bella, to the TODAY plaza on an early Tuesday morning to see Wilson sing her hits.
“We got up at 1 a.m. and headed here to see Bella’s girl, Lainey,” said Melissa Steber, explaining her family made the two-hour trek from Drums, Pennsylvania.
“She inspires me every day and I love her so much because I’m a musician just like her and a singer,” gushed Bella, who said that while she loves all of Wilson’s tunes, her favorite is probably “Country’s Cool Again.”
The song fittingly sums up the current sentiment in popular music, which is, country is cool again, and Wilson is one of its fastest-rising stars.
With warm sunshine lighting up the plaza, Wilson had the crowd singing and dancing to fan favorites like “Watermelon Moonshine,” “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” and “Heart Like a Truck.”
She also performed “Hang Tight Honey” and “Country’s Cool Again,” two tracks off Wilson’s latest album, titled “Whirlwind,” which is slated for release on Aug. 23.
During her performance, Wilson told TODAY’s co-hosts that the title of the new album was inspired by her recent success, which has been nothing short of, well, a whirlwind.
“That’s what my life has been the last couple years, truly,” said Wilson.
Since her first hit, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” charted in 2021, Wilson has steadily climbed the ranks, as well as generated buzz for her portrayal of Abby, a country music singer, in the popular TV series “Yellowstone.”
In February, Wilson took home a best country album Grammy for her fourth studio album, “Bell Bottom Country,” and in May, she qualified for the Academy of Country Music’s triple crown award after accruing ACM wins for new female artist of the year, female artist of the year and entertainer of the year during her career, a feat only nine other artists have ever accomplished, including Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.
Whirlwind? Yes, indeed.
As part of this year’s Citi Concert Series, TODAY.com sat down with Wilson, who agreed to answer questions for our original video series “8 Before 8,” a Q&A session with each of our featured Citi artists.
Here’s how it works: TODAY.com asks eight questions, and performers have the option to skip one if they prefer not to answer.
The hitch? If they choose to bypass a question, they must take a shot instead. Since it’s morning and all, the choices of shots consist of ginger, wheatgrass or electrolytes rather than whiskey or wine.
Naturally, we tossed in a couple of questions we thought Wilson might take a pass on, including whom she wrote “Watermelon Moonshine” about, as well as revealing her biggest celebrity crush.
However, in true Lainey Wilson spirit, she good-naturedly answered them all without hesitation, no shot needed.
Read on to find out what she had to say.
1. Among female country greats, whose footsteps would you like to follow?
I feel like I like to pull, like, bits and pieces from a little bit of all of my heroes, but I’ve gotten to spend some time with Dolly Parton and, you know, everybody says, “Don’t meet your heroes.” But that does not count for Dolly Parton. I mean, she truly is even better once you get to know her, and she’s just got a heart of gold. And the way that she just carries herself, and she has this light about her that I think all of us should want to have and share with other people.
2. As a Hannah Montana impersonator, which song was your favorite to cover?
So, yes. I impersonated Hannah Montana from eighth grade to 12th grade. And I had the best of both worlds because I would open up the show as Lainey Wilson before I would go backstage and put on my wig and be Hannah Montana. So, I think my favorite song that I covered of hers was, it has to be “Best of Both Worlds.” That’s the one that all the kids would get so pumped up about. And I have not got to meet Miley just yet, but we got a lot in common.
3. Who did you have in mind when you wrote “Watermelon Moonshine”?
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe! Look, I’ve had to kiss some frogs to find the one that I’m with now. Let’s just leave it at that, all right? And y’all, probably some of these frogs are watching this right now — you know you a frog.
4. How does it feel knowing Taylor Swift is a fan of yours?
It is really cool that Taylor Swift is a fan of me. I’ve always been a fan of hers. I saw her at CMA Fest when I was, like, 14, I think she was 16 years old. She was playing on the Riverfront Stage. And I actually got an opportunity to tell her, I said, “I was at your show!” And she said, “There was, like, 10 people there.” And I said, “Well, me and my family, we were a part of the 10!”
I’m just a huge fan of what she does. But, most importantly, her work ethic, I think she’s just a lady that a lot of folks should look up to.
5. Which country artist would you love to write a song for?
There are so many people that I would love to write music for. I know a lot of my artist friends in country music, they write a lot of their own stuff, so maybe we could write something together? But when it comes to Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, those are some of my favorites. My goodness, there’s so many people in this genre right now that are incredible songwriters, incredible singers. They all have their own thing. I’m proud to be a part of this generation of country music and I’d love to write songs for all of them.
6. Who is your celebrity crush?
Celebrity crush. Hmmm. See, I’m all about humor. Like, that’s what makes somebody cute to me. So, Matthew McConaughey, of course. I mean, he ain’t just funny, he’s good-looking, too. So, there you go. Ashton Kutcher, yeah.
7. If you could work with anyone, past or present, who would it be?
That’s a hard one because there’s a lot of people that I would like to collaborate with. But I think it’d be really cool to do something with Elvis, Loretta Lynn. The list goes on and on and on. But, those two come to mind.
8. With each Citi Concert, we ask performers to leave a question for the next artist, as well as answer a question from the previous one.
Meghan Trainor was the most recent artist on the plaza, she had a question for Lainey: Lainey, I have so many questions for you. Are you nervous for today? Are you excited? This is gonna be your favorite concert ever. Also, do you ever want babies someday? That’s a weird question. Do you ever want babies someday? I can help you out. Not like that. But I can be there for you. Ohhh, I love you. Let’s be friends!
Awww, I love her, too. I wanna be your friend! Let’s be friends! What are we waiting on? My goodness.
Excited? Nervous? Yes. I’m always nervous about shows though. I mean, whether I’m playing for 20 people, 20,000, it does not matter. I think that’s because I truly care and the “new” has not worn off and I’ve been doing this my whole life and I hope it never does.
And, yeah, I do, I do want kids one day. I got, you know, some things to do and I want some more years under my belt. But when I do have a family, I’ll call you, Meghan, and I’ll get some, some tips.
The artist that hits the Citi Concert stage after you is Gracie Abrams.
I love Gracie.
Well, that’s wonderful, because now you get to forward a question to her. What would you like to ask?
Gracie: First of all, I get so excited when you text me and I see your name flash up on my phone. We’re like each other’s hype girl, truly. And I know that we come from, like, two different parts of the world, two different walks of life. And I think it is so cool that we can cheer each other on and love on each other, being so different from each other.
But, my question for you is: When are we gonna let those worlds collide? When are we gonna do something together? You got my number. Holla at your sister!
