Making It in Country Music: Lainey Wilson’s “Tough as Nails” Dream

Lainey Wilson confirmed her dream of becoming a country singer-songwriter on her first trip to Nashville. Headed home after a family trip to Dollywood, Wilson convinced her parents to detour through Music City. “I remember telling my parents, as I was looking at the Batman building, ‘This is home.’ I knew it,” she remembers.

While in town, the Wilsons attended the Grand Ole Opry. While her sister fell asleep in her seat, Lainey Wilson watched with stars in her eyes as Bill Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Vince Gill, Jeannie Seely, Phil Vassar, and other artists performed.

Wilson’s early conviction that she would be a country star held fast—through a slow start as a young songwriter, life in a camper van, and the loss of a mentor. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut on Valentine's Day, 2020. Reba McEntire surprised her on stage with an invitation to join the Opry in May 2024, and Wilson was inducted to the Opry by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood one month later, in June 2024, nearly twenty-two years after her first visit to the Opry House.

Learn more about Wilson’s early days in Nashville and beyond when you visit the exhibit, Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails, open now through June 2026.

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