Country Is a Way of Life: From Lainey Wilson’s Hometown to Nashville

Lainey Wilson was born in Baskin, Louisiana, a farming community in Franklin Parish in the northeastern part of the state. The youngest daughter of Brian and Michelle Wilson, Lainey and her sister, Janna, enjoyed the abundant space of their rural surroundings: they rode horses and four-wheelers, and swam in nearby Big Creek. As a student at Baskin School and Franklin Academy in nearby Winnsboro, Lainey was a cheerleader and played basketball and softball. She also participated in rodeo events and took dance lessons.

Lainey’s parents served as examples of persistence and devotion. Brian sold horses, farmed the land, and worked at a bank, taking on new endeavors when business slowed down. Michelle was a teacher, a busy homemaker, and a fierce advocate for her children. “I have applied so many of those things that I have watched them do to the music business,” Wilson says.

Hard work is a way of life for the people of Baskin. “I would listen to those voices of Dolly and Loretta and Trisha and Garth . . . I felt like they were telling my story,” says Wilson, “and that’s how everybody in Baskin feels about country music.”

Since her rise to the top of country charts, Lainey Wilson has been the voice on the radio telling her story—a story of hard work, family history, and of Baskin.

Learn more about Wilson’s journey from Louisiana to Nashville when you visit her exhibit, “Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails," open now through June 2026.

Reserve tickets today: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.or…