Lainey Wilson and Trisha Yearwood just discovered they have a lot in common. Both grew up in small southern towns. Both are daughters of teacher mothers and banker-farmer fathers. Both have one sibling, an older sister. Indeed, the list goes on.
The comparison of notes came when the two stars shared the stage Wednesday, interviewing each other during the Country Radio Seminar, the broadcasters’ annual convention in Nashville.
“It’s kind of weird,” Wilson, 31, said of all her similarities to her newfound friend.
“It’s a little weird,” agreed Yearwood, 59, then playfully added, “I do not won entertainer of the year.”
As the crowd — and Wilson — laughed, Yearwood joked with laughter, “but we’ll let it go.”
Wilson, the 2023 CMA Entertainer of the Year, wasn’t having it: “Did you hear that? You all know where my vote is going this year!”
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Prior to the event, which was attended by several hundred seminar attendees, the two women had only met briefly once when Wilson opened for Yearwood’s superstar husband, Garth Brooks, at a stadium show in New Orleans last September. But it’s clear that they’ve been admiring each other from afar for some time.
Wilson was happy to say that Yearwood is a childhood hero: “Yeah, this is a dream come true for me to sit up here and talk to this lady.”
Meanwhile, Yearwood, who good-naturedly noted that she started her career before Wilson was born, heaped praise on the new country superstar: “I know you’re the real deal. You just see it right away. … Not only is your voice amazing, but your song choices, the songs you write, the songs you choose … I really love what you do.”
Here are more highlights — and similarities — that emerged from the women’s extensive hour-long conversation:
Both knew from early childhood that they would pursue a singing career.
“I knew at 5 years old,” Yearwood said. “I had no doubt. I never chose. … And I told everyone I wanted to, well … I wanted to be Cher, actually! That was the first dream.”
Wilson recounted her experience: “I knew at a very early age — like, I had a weird sense of peace knowing that this was it. I didn’t know what level it was going to be, but I knew I needed to do this.” Among the childhood memories: singing Yearwood songs on his toy karaoke machine.
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Both never thought of giving up on their dream.
Although both women endured years of struggle to gain a foothold in Nashville, neither said they ever thought of doing anything else.
“There’s no part of me that ever thought I wouldn’t want to do this,” Yearwood said. “First of all, I am a singer. … I always say that I was ‘called’. Feed my soul. I can’t imagine not doing it. I’ll stop when I can’t sing anymore, but I won’t stop until then.”
Wilson said: “It’s the only thing I really know how to do. This is my only option. There are definitely times when I should have been like, okay, pack up and go home. But I’m stubborn and maybe a bit of a psychopath, I guess you must be too.”
Lainey Wilson and Trisha Yearwood at CRS in Nashville on February 29, 2024.
Danielle Del Valle/Getty
Both commiserated over a bad experience during a radio promotional tour early in their careers.
Yearwood said she was blindsided during an interview by a question about the wrong story about her in the tabloids.
“I just snapped,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I can’t believe you asked me that question. And you are the reason why people know about this story who wouldn’t even know about it, and shame on you.’ And I left. And I have never done such a thing!” She added with a laugh: “I’m pretty laid-back, although now that I’m 59, I’m not going to take your s—.”
Wilson offered a chilling story about meeting a station guy who initially told her, “You should have left the guitar in the car because I don’t want to hear you play.” Then, after listening twice to her first single, “Dirty Looks” (from 2021), Wilson recalled, “He leaned over his desk and said, ‘Lainey, you’re just not that good.’ And I leaned across his desk and said, “So-and-so… in the 10 years I’ve been in Nashville, what you’re telling me doesn’t mean s—.”
Wilson punctuated the memory with a laugh. “If nothing else,” she said, “I appreciate moments like that because they lit another fire under me.”
Both received important career information from their heroes.
Wilson recently had the opportunity to ask Dolly Parton about her decision-making process when new opportunities arise. “And she said it has to be something that I’m really passionate about and really excited to do,” Wilson said. “And if that’s not the case, don’t do it.”
Wilson also recalled that Yearwood herself offered her an important insight into her rising career during their first meeting last fall — words, she said, that she hurried to write.
“She said, ‘The line between being loved and being hated in the world is getting smaller every day,'” Wilson said. “And I was like, oh my God! Because people love you and people hate you. And sometimes people hate you because people love you. It’s crazy.”
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Yearwood said she has long drawn inspiration from the example of mentor and friend Reba McEntire. Her husband, Brooks, she noted, often told her: “You work 10 times as much [than men] for half as much.
“But,” she added, “you don’t say, ‘Oh, it’s so hard because I’m a girl.’ You just do the job. And I learned that from Reba. Reba just does the job.”
Yearwood wishes he had Wilson’s performance style.
The senior artist marveled at how the new star worked the 360-degree stage at the New Orleans date. “You owned the stage — just the confidence,” said Yearwood, who admitted she’s always been most comfortable with a calmer stage presence. “I’ve learned in my shows to just talk a lot and say things that I think are funny. … That’s what I do. But man, you were everywhere. I was so envious. It was so cool.’
Wilson revealed that she gained her stage confidence during high school in an unlikely way: by taking a job as a Hannah Montana impersonator. “I would organize three or four birthday parties in a weekend,” she recalled. “I did it from the eighth grade until the 12th grade. And that will teach you a bit of stage presence.”
She added that she has yet to meet pop superstar Miley Cyrus, who played Hannah Montana in the hit Disney Channel series, although the two were under the same roof last month when they both won Grammys.
“I saw her performance very, very close,” Wilson said. “And we know a lot of the same people. Dolly said to me the other day, ‘You remind me of Miley.’ So I am ready to meet her and we will definitely make a song together. I’m putting him outside!”
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Lainey Wilson and Trisha Yearwood at CRS in Nashville on February 29, 2024.
Danielle Del Valle/Getty
Stardom gave both Yearwood and Wilson a surprise.
For Yearwood, it was a revelation of how little time he spends doing what he loves most.
“All you want to do is sing and perform, get out in front of people and do what you want,” she said. “And that’s – if you’re lucky – a few hours a day. It’s a business, and whether you’re involved in the business or not, your name is at the bottom, so you better be involved. There are so many decisions that have to be made that have nothing to do with going on stage.”
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Wilson resonated with Yearwood’s sentiment, and she mentioned another realization: “It’s surprising that I don’t really feel any different. I think maybe I thought I would feel different. But I’m glad I don’t. At the end of the day with all the wonderful things that happened last year — with the awards and accolades and accolades and No. 1s and all that — I haven’t gotten to the point and I hope I never will. , where I’m like, okay, okay that’s it. We did it. I’m just not wired that way. I always wonder, what’s next? What’s next?”
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Source: HIS Education