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The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will explore the life and career of hitmaking artist and songwriter Lainey Wilson in a new exhibition, Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails. Tracing Wilson’s story from her upbringing on her family’s farm in Baskin, Louisiana, to her rise to global fame, the exhibit will be open from July 18 until June 2026 and is included with museum admission.
"From a young age, Lainey Wilson had an unwavering vision and faith in herself,” said Kyle Young, chief executive officer of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “This exhibit will examine the seeds of her career, including the requisite talent, hard work and ingenuity throughout her ten-year journey in Nashville that fueled her emergence as a globally popular and beloved artist. As her career has flourished, she continues to reflect these roots and core values in her music and life.”
“It's a dream come true to have my own exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and such an incredible honor to be included next to so many of my heroes and legendary artists,” said Wilson. “These past few years have been a complete whirlwind, and it's going to be really amazing to see the whole journey captured in the exhibit, along with some special items from growing up in Louisiana. I can't wait to see how it turned out and for my family, friends and fans to check it out.”
In support of the exhibit, there will be a Songwriter Session with Aaron Raitiere and Jon Decious in the museum’s Ford Theater. The museum will hold a variety of programs throughout the life of the exhibit, including arts and crafts programming for families. Visitors can find more information on upcoming programming on the museum’s website.
The exhibit will include stage wear, instruments, photographs, childhood memorabilia and more. Examples of items to be displayed include:
- The first tooled leather saddle Wilson used as a child.
- The Montana Silversmiths custom-made silver and gold belt buckle — engraved with the brand of her family’s farm in Baskin, Louisiana, and ornamented with rhinestones — that Wilson wore to the Country Music Association Awards in 2022.
- Sixteen-year-old Wilson’s journal, where she wrote, “My dream is to become a country singer/songwriter. I know I can do it.”
- A program for Baskin School’s kindergarten graduation listing Wilson’s first public performance, when she sang “Butterfly Kisses.”
- One of Wilson’s first hats, given to her by a fellow musician who is also a hatmaker.
- A Go Vicki! fringed jacket belonging to Wilson’s mother, which Wilson wore when she performed at Saddlebags, a country music venue in Savannah, Georgia, on February 9, 2018.
- A Wrangler trench coat, denim vest and jeans — all embellished with rhinestones — and the Charlie 1 Horse by Lainey Wilson hat she wore during her halftime performance at the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024.
- The sequined tank top Wilson wore while impersonating Hannah Montana in the late 2000s.
- The floral-pattern shirt, Cat O’ Nine studded bell bottoms and rhinestone-embellished Kippys belt Wilson wore during her debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry, February 14, 2020.
- The rhinestone-embellished Wrangler vest; Wrangler jeans, accented with feathers and rhinestones; and Rotate metallic bustier Wilson wore at her “Country’s Cool Again” performance at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on June 1, 2024.
- The Wrangler denim vest and studded jeans Wilson wore in her role as Abby in the series finale of “Yellowstone,” when she performed “Hang Tight Honey” on location at Billy Bob’s Texas, a historic country music venue in Fort Worth.
- The Dolce & Gabbana rawhide leather shirt and Alice + Olivia suede bell bottoms Wilson wore during the photo shoot for her 2024 album, Whirlwind.
- The Norma Kamali-designed patchwork-pattern blazer and matching bell bottoms Wilson wore when she made her first appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” May 26, 2022.
- The Carolina Herrera-designed strapless satin bell-bottom jumpsuit with ruffled pant hems Wilson wore on the red carpet at the Country Music Association Awards in 2023.
Wilson grew up in Baskin, Louisiana, a farming community in Franklin Parish in the northeastern part of the state — riding horses and four-wheelers and swimming in nearby Big Creek with her older sister. Wilson envisioned a career as a country artist and started working to make it happen from a young age — singing publicly for the first time at her kindergarten graduation and writing songs for fun by the time she was 10. As a teenager, she learned how to handle herself in front of audiences through performances, pageants and local talent competitions.
In addition to writing her own songs, Wilson spent her teenage years impersonating fictional pop superstar Hannah Montana, played in the Disney television series by Miley Cyrus, and booking herself under her own name as Montana’s opening act.
In 2011, Wilson moved to Nashville. Her one connection to the country music business was Jerry Cupit, a family friend from Franklin Parish who became her producer, a songwriting partner and a mentor. His death in 2014 left Wilson’s future in Nashville uncertain, but she refused to give up. In 2015, she met Mandelyn Monchick, who advocated for Wilson as a friend before officially becoming her manager and introduced Wilson to Aslan Freeman, now her bandleader.
Wilson signed a song-publishing contract at Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2017 and a recording contract with BBR Music Group’s Broken Bow Records one year later. She enjoyed several early-career wins in 2019 and made her Grand Ole Opry debut in February 2020, but her debut single was not a hit and she struggled financially. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, Wilson focused on building a following online. Her next single, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” became her first country radio #1, ten years after she moved to Nashville.
Wilson has continued her success with a chart-topping mix of solo songs and high-profile duets that have made her a near-constant presence on country radio. At the 2023 CMA Awards, she won five trophies and became the first woman to win Entertainer of the Year since Taylor Swift in 2011. Wilson is the reigning Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year two years running.