Lainey Wilson: ‘So Grateful’ For Cowgirl Honor

Lainey Wilson added one more honor to her growing list of accolades over the weekend. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

Lainey posted photos and a video clip of herself accepting the honor on her Instagram. She said in part in her acceptance speech, which she posted, "It's wild. It's such an honor, and I feel grateful to continue to support and live by the traditions of being a cowgirl through and through. I am inspired by their generation of women in this room."

She added, "I am so grateful to have a platform that allows me to, in turn, inspire young women who will come after me and, of course, continue to keep the traditions of the country alive."

Wilson wrote in her post, "Went down to Fort Worth for my first Cowgirl Hall of Fame Luncheon & Induction Ceremony to receive the Patsy Montana Entertainer Award - an award that has recognized women like @khouri__official @christinaalexandravoros @faithhill and @emmylou_harris_ for advancing the traditions of the cowgirl in film, TV, music, writing and theatre. What an honor. It feels like this award recognizes my roots, my family, my growth, and my current chapter."

She concluded, "I left TX so inspired by the women at @cowgirlmuseum…their strength, impact, and spirit is like no other. Congratulations to all the inductees."

Many of Lainey's faithful following reacted to her post, including one who commented, "Love your voice, love your style." Another fan said, "Congratulations Lainey. Love you. Please stay true to yourself." One more fan wrote, "Please don't ever change (heart emoji)."

See that post here.

Wilson is on the cover of the November/December issue of Cowgirl magazine and posted a photo of the cover story on her Instagram. While the article cannot be found online and can only be read when the physical magazine is purchased, the feature title is "The Unapologetic Voice Of A Country Cowgirl Renegade."

Cowgirl magazine's covers in the last year have included a number of rodeo stars, as well as Dolly Parton and Maddie & Tae, just to name a few.

Lainey posted to her almost two million followers, "I grew up a cowgirl, so this right here is a full circle moment for me. @cowgirlmagazine…thank y'all for asking me to be on the cover."

See that post here.

Lainey Wilson won five awards at the CMA Awards last week (11/8), including the night's top honor of Entertainer of the Year. She also won Female Vocalist and Album of the Year for her Bell Bottom Country project, which was just nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Country Album.

After her major win, Lainey came backstage and talked about leading the pack of the new generation of country music, including Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Luke Combs, and more. She told us, "I will say that we are at a very pivotal time now in country music. I am very proud to be a part of this generation of country music. You got Jelly Roll, you've got Morgan, you've got HARDY, you've got Luke Combs."

She continued, "You've got folks like Ashley McBryde and Kelsea, and they all look different, they all sound different, they all have different stories. They all come from different places, and I think It's really important for that to be a thing. There's a lot of different kinds of people in the world to hear all the different sides of the stories."

Wilson said, "For me, I will say if you say I am kind of leading the pack or whatever, I hope that it will encourage people to stay true to themselves, stay true to their stories, stay true to their sound, and stay true to their look."

She concluded, "Don't let anybody tell you 'no.' At the end of the day, it's all about timing. I've been in this town for 12 and a half years, but I didn't start working on this 12 and a half years ago; I started working when I was nine years old, and that is the truth. So, I'm hoping that I can show folks, 'You know what? Blood, sweat and tears, elbow grease and faith will take you as far as you want it to go.'"

Under the radar at the CMA Awards was the fact that Wilson, along with her buddy and duet partner HARDY, won a CMA for Video of the Year for "Wait In The Truck."

As country fans celebrate Lainey Wilson, we take a look at five of her best music videos.

This music video is quite personal as it was filmed in Lainey's own home and filled with personal elements and close friends. It was released on April 2, 2021.

Wilson told us at the time of release, "I hoped that people would connect to this song, and it's been so incredible to see just how strong the reaction has been. For the music video, we wanted to create a piece of art where people could watch it and feel something all over again."

This cinematic video stars Lainey as a stable hand who is brought in to earn the trust of a free-spirited pony that no one else has been able to tame. Through time, care, and patience, she can get through the difficult period and eventually rides the horse around the farm, designed to mirror her own approach to relationships.

Wilson recently celebrated the song going to number one on the country charts with a party on Music Row, where she and the song's co-writers sang it from their own separate truck beds in a parking lot.

This song was never released as a single, but they did make a music video of it, and it's kind of personal to this journalist as my buddy, a budding country singer named Presley, is a dancing extra in it, dancing right beside Lainey. The video features a bunch of breakdancers all dancing to the song in front of Wilson's tour buses.

It's another number-one country song. Lainey told us about it, "This song embodies what country music means to me, creating a timeless story that will resonate with people for generations to come. This song is about the crazy, young, nostalgic love we all hope to experience." The video has been watched almost 10 million times on YouTube.

Even though Wilson is an actress herself, she actually has actors Rachel Lynn Matthews and Sam Sherrod play in the video, acting out the storyline of the song and depicting the unfolding of a young love. Wilson performs the song in a field as she narrates the story.

This fantastic video from a duet with Lainey and HARDY is an award winner. It won the CMA for Music Video of the Year and the Musical Event of the Year award. "Wait In The Truck" also won the Visual Media of the Year (basically Video of the Year) at the 2023 ACM Awards. The music video also won Collaborative Music Video of the Year at the 2023 CMT Music Awards and was nominated for Video of the Year.

In this journalist's opinion, the murder ballad and video is one of country music's most prolific videos in the last decade. The video has been watched 69 million times on YouTube.