Lainey Wilson is opening up about her current No. 1 single, “Somewhere Over Laredo.” Written by Wilson, along with Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson, and Andy Albert, the song is on Wilson’s latest Whirlwind Deluxe album.
If not for Wilson’s busy tour schedule, “Somewhere Over Laredo” likely never would have been written.
“The truth is that I spend a lot of my time in the air, headed to the next town, the next show,” Wilson explains on Country Nights Live with Bev Rainey. “And I find myself looking out the window, just dreaming and reminiscing. And really, the storyline of the song, it gave me an opportunity to step back into a pair of boots that I wore years ago. It’s not a sad song. It’s a great one. It feels good. It has that nostalgic feeling that ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ has, too. I tried to make sure that we kept a similar feeling.”
Wilson previously revealed how her frequent travels gave her the inspiration to write “Somewhere Over Laredo.”
“I spend a lot of my time in the air on a plane, headed to the next town, to the next show,” Wilson tells iHeart. “And I catch myself just looking out the window and dreaming, and thinking, and reminiscing, talking to God, writing songs. And I feel like this song right here, it gave me an opportunity to step back into a pair of shoes that I wore years ago, and I got to tell a story from that perspective. And that’s what country music is. It’s about taking you back to a certain time and place, and memory and feeling, and that’s what we wanted to capture in this song right here.”
Lainey Wilson Is Working On a New Album
After releasing both Whirlwind in 2024, followed by Whirlwind Deluxe one year later, the Louisiana native is hard at work on her next album.
“I’ve written so many songs at this point, I’m like, ‘Okay, it’s time to dig deeper. What have I not talked about? What am I learning about myself?’” Wilson reveals on The Bobby Bones Show. “And so, I think if I’m willing to be open and honest about all of my feelings and stuff, which I keep a lot to myself, too. You can’t tell all your business. Then you have none. Then I feel like I still have a lot more to share.”
Wilson plans to share more of herself on her forthcoming project, but not all of herself. Also planning on getting married in 2026, the singer-songwriter says some parts of her life, including her relationship with her fiancé, Devlin “Duck” Hodges, she plans on keeping to herself.
“I definitely think it’s very important for me to try to keep some stuff. … Even though me and Duck, everybody knows about us and our relationship, that’s another thing that’s really sacred to me,” says the singer. “I just want to do what most married couples do, and treat each other that way. I do feel like it can get pretty sticky or dangerous when everybody knows.”
Photo Credit: CMA / Kayla Schoen