Gretchen Wilson is opening up about her recent victory on FOX’s The Masked Singer. The Illinois native just won Season 13 by singing a variety of songs, like Gloria Estefan’s “Conga,” Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love For You,” Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” and more.

For Wilson, the experience was life-changing.

“I’ve been called Miss Pearl the whole time I’ve been here,” Wilson says, in a video shared on social media, of her with her Pearl, the mask Wilson wore until being crowned the winner. “And if you know me, you know I don’t like being called Miss anything. But she was definitely Miss Pearl.”

Wilson is known in country music as one of the trailblazers in country music, with hits like “Redneck Woman,” “Here For the Party” and more. Competing on The Masked Singer was a risk, but it was a risk Wilson was willing to take.

“I decided to try my hand at The Masked Singer because I wanted to see just how far I would be able to take myself,” Wilson explains. “For the first couple of performances, I was very nervous, shaking, heart was beating really fast. But after I started getting comfortable, I realized that I could do anything back there.”

“This show really, it allowed me an opportunity to show so many different sides of myself,” she adds. “There’s nothing wrong with being the ‘Redneck Woman,’ and I love that, and I love being that. But there are many different facets to who I am.”

Can’t say enough about this experience… I love you, Miss Pearl. ❤ Thank you, @MaskedSingerFOX! pic.twitter.com/Mn0S954vyT

— Gretchen Wilson (@gw27) May 12, 2025

 

Wilson got her start, like many country artists, by playing in bars and clubs. Her grueling early years prepared Wilson to be crowned the winner of The Masked Singer, decades later.

“When you’re in a bar band playing covers, people gauge whether you’re good or not by how much you sound like the record,” the 51-year-old reflects. “And so, I basically crafted my voice from song to song, to sound as much like the artist I was doing. So, maybe that was a pretty good leg up for me in this competition … I had no idea that I was preparing for The Masked Singer all these years.”

Now that Wilson’s time on The Masked Singer is completed, she has nothing but gratitude for her time on the show, and a newfound appreciation for what The Masked Singer offers.

“What an amazing experience this has been,” Wilson says. “If you don’t watch this show, you need to watch this show. You can tell that there’s a lot of love for each other. You can see it, and you can feel it. And I felt blessed to be a part of it.”

Fortunately, fans will still be able to catch Wilson on TV later this year. She recently announced she is joining Blake Shelton and Keith Urban on The Road, airing this fall on CBS. Wilson is serving as the tour manager for the aspiring artists, who try to win over fan bases by opening for Urban in various cities across the country.

“Stepping into the role of ‘tour manager’ for The Road has allowed me to take everything I’ve learned over all of my years of touring and pour it right back into these emerging musicians,” Wilson says. “Helping them sharpen their talents to capture the attention of these crowds across America, and guiding them through the real and raw grind of life on the road, has been a highlight of my career.”

Find all of Wilson’s music and upcoming shows at GretchenWilson.com.