It’s hard to imagine Lainey Wilson being anything but a country music superstar. But the Louisiana actually went to college to be a nurse, something she reveals in a letter she wrote to Tim McGraw while she was dreaming about a career in Nashville.
Wilson’s Tough As Nails exhibit is open now at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Included in that is a letter she wrote to McGraw, asking him for help.
“My name is Lainey Wilson from Franklin Parish, Baskin, La.,” Wilson writes. “I am 18 years old and have just entered my first semester at La. Delta Community College of Monroe to pursue a nursing degree. I have been writing songs since I was nine years old.”
Wilson goes on to explain her reason for writing McGraw, detailing what she has done to get her music career off the ground. She then asks if she and her family could meet with Tim McGraw, since they are both from Louisiana.
“We are in the process of trying to get ready to get sponsors,” Wilson says. “But before we go around and ask people for sponsorship, my family and I would really like to talk with you. We feel like we can trust someone like who you comes from my hometown. We could use some [insight] on the choices that we need to make to propel my career the smartest way possible.”
Wilson concludes by saying, “Singing, writing and performing are the most important things to me. All I need is the opportunity; I can do the rest.”
@countrymusichof The Museum’s newest exhibition, “Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails,” is now open. Watch @Lainey Wilson as she takes her first look at the exhibit. Reserve tickets at the link in bio. #laineywilson #countrymusichalloffame #musicmuseum #visitmusiccity #thingstodoinnashville ♬ original sound – Country Music HOF & Museum
Lainey Wilson Quit College And Moved To Nashville
Wilson ultimately decided nursing wasn’t for her, fortunately, and moved to Nashville. Still, Wilson is far from an overnight success story. Wilson moved to Nashville in 2011, living in a camper trailer on her friend Jerry Cupit’s property for three years. When Cupit passed away, Wilson still didn’t have much momentum in her career, and was also struggling in her personal life as well.
“That was definitely a dark time in my life because when you write 300 plus songs with somebody, you become really close,” Wilson recalls (via American Songwriter).
“During that time, too, I was dating a boy who got a girl pregnant … It was all happening at the same time,” she continues. “I was like, when it rains it pours. I’m telling you, I learned how to just embrace the heartbreak. I’m just like, ‘Is this happening to me? Like, am I getting punked? Is it happening just so I can have something to write about?’ Now, I’m learning how to adjust with my life changing. It is a lot of pressure.”’
How Lainey Wilson Moved Forward Amid Her Struggles
Most people would have likely given up by then. Fortunately, Wilson isn’t most artists. The Grand Ole Opry member credits her childhood with giving her the tenacity to keep going, amid seeingly impossible odds.
“I remember the horse was bucking and it was acting crazy,” Wilson tells iHeartRadio. “And I was crying, ‘Let me down, let me down. I wanna get down. I’m scared.’ I remember it like it was yesterday. He told me, ‘You better hold on.’ Those words have stuck with me forever. Because any time I feel like I’m about to lose control or I’m about to fall and hit the ground, it just makes me dig in a little deeper, and it makes me just hold on.”
Now, Wilson is grateful for all the hard days, because it made her the artist she is now.
“I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Wilson says. “But I will say, if I had known how hard it was gonna be, I don’t know if I would’ve ever done it.”
Wilson’s Whirlwind Deluxe album will be out on Friday, August 22. The record includes her current Top 20 single, “Somewhere Over Laredo.” She is currently headlining her Whirlwind World Tour. Find all of Wilson’s music and tour dates at LaineyWilson.com.