Lainey Wilson is sharing her heartfelt speech at the recent Time100 Next event, where she was honored as one of the World’s Most Influential Rising Stars.
“I heard a sermon one time that said, ‘You don’t have to chase opportunity. You just have to stay planted,'” Wilson begins. “That really stuck with me, because where I come from, out in the Louisiana fields – I’m from a town of 157 people – being planted means something. You put a seed in the ground, you’ll water it, you wait, and you trust. You don’t see the fruit right away. Sometimes it takes a whole lot longer than you’d like. But when it finally starts to grow, you realize the roots were really just getting stronger the entire time.”
Wilson went on to share how her humble beginnings became the unlikely path to the superstar career she now enjoys.
“I am a fifth-generation farmer’s daughter, from the village of Baskin, in northeast Louisiana,” Wilson reflects. “I got to watch firsthand what it actually means to reap what you sow. I would sit up in my daddy’s lap as a little girl on his John Deere tractor, and I swear it’s like I got to see the world from a different point of view. I saw the value of hard work. I saw that not everything comes with instant gratification. Some things require patience and perseverance.
“I got to see the importance of community, and how it truly does take a village,” she continues. “I saw my neighbors showing up when we needed an extra hand, and I remember my parents making sure that the Wilsons showed up when they needed somebody. I got to see prayers being sent up for a prosperous harvest, and I got to see gratitude for the rain, which is really cool, and something I’m proud of. And that’s kind of how I see my journey with music.”
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Lainey Wilson Reveals Why She Is Grateful For Her Path in Country Music
Wilson went on to recall playing Hannah Montana to make a living, before moving to Nashville, and living in a camper trailer for her first three years. Wilson is far from an overnight success story, but she is profoundly grateful for the winding road it took her.
“For years, I felt like I was bogged down, but it turns out, I wasn’t,” the Grand Ole Opry member says. “I wasn’t buried, I was planted. And when you are planted with purpose, it’s only a matter of time before that light finds you. What I’ve learned is, you cannot rush the growing season. You have to just keep showing up; you have to keep nurturing your gift. Keep believing that what is meant for you is gonna find you when it’s the right time.”
“Fruit does not grow for itself. It grows to feed others… Stay planted,” she concludes. “Water your roots. Keep searching for the light, because when your season comes, people will taste the fruit of your faith, and the world will be a better place because of it.”
Wilson is currently working on a new album.
Photo Credit: Disney/Frank Micelotta