Lainey Wilson: Her Reaction To Hearing Her Duet With Dolly Parton

Lainey Wilson and Dolly Parton have a duet on The Judds' new tribute album called A Tribute to the Judds, which is available starting today (10/27).

When I talked with Lainey earlier this week (10/25), I asked about being a part of The Judds project with her idol Dolly Parton. She said, "They had asked me if I wanted to be a part of a tribute to The Judds, and for me, that was just a no-brainer. I grew up, and they were the soundtrack to my childhood, the Judds. I had gotten to know Wynonna, and she's even better than I had imagined. She is a spitfire, just like I thought she would be."

She added, "When they told me I would be doing 'Mama He's Crazy,' I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is perfect,' and then they said, 'Well, what if you and Dolly did it together?' I was like, 'I'm done, I can go to the house now. Like, I'm done, send me home.'"

Wilson didn't actually get to join Parton in the recording studio. She told me, "Because I stay so busy and she's so busy, we weren't actually in the studio recording it on the same day. She had told 'em, 'Let Lainey go in there and put her vocal down, and then I'll go back in there and put vocals on the top of it.'"

However, Lainey did get to meet her hero in a very public way. She said, "At the ACMs this year (2022), when she announced Female Artist of the Year, that was the very first time that we had actually met, but we had already recorded the song. But when I was up there as we were walking off the stage, she grabbed my arm, and she said, 'Lainey, I love our song we did together.' And that right there was one of the most memorable moments that I will ever have."

Wilson revealed her reaction when she first heard her and Dolly's voice together on the song. She gushed, "I have a video of it somewhere; somebody captured it. I was on tour with Luke Combs somewhere up North playing a stadium show, and I boohooed. And I cried. I think everybody feels this way about Dolly, but I do feel like I know her from a different lifetime, and it's just such an honor to hear our voices right next to each other because she's such a huge inspiration to me on and off the stage."

Lainey Wilson topped the 2023 CMA nominations in early September with this year's nominee list for the show, which will take place on November 8 in Nashville. She scored nine nods in total, including the top nomination for Entertainer of the Year. She is nominated in the latter category against Carrie Underwood, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and Chris Stapleton.

Lainey's other nominations include being nominated twice in the Musical Event category, once with HARDY for "Wait in The Truck" and the second nod with Jelly Roll for "Save Me." She is also nominated for Album of the Year for Bell Bottom Country (an award she won from the ACMs in May) and her second nomination for CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. She won the honor at last year's (2022) CMA Awards in Nashville.

Wilson was nominated twice for Single and Song of the Year for her song "Heart Like A Truck" and for her duet with HARDY, "Wait In The Truck." Her ninth nomination is for Video of the Year for "Wait In The Truck."

Lainey posted a lengthy post to her fans on Instagram when the nominations came out (9/7). She wrote at the time, "Holy moly, y'all. Someone pinch me. I can't believe my eyes. I'm so proud of everything we've done this year for my own music and these collabs with my brothers @hardy and @jellyroll615. Thank y'all for having me on these songs."

She continued, "Being nominated in each of these categories amongst my friends means the world to me. And the coveted Entertainer Of The Year category?! It's absolutely surreal. We bust our butts out there on the road every dang night to give y'all the best show possible, and I have the time of my life doing it."

Wilson closed with, "All I gotta say is thank y'all. I love country music."

As we look at and ponder her many nominations, we speculate a bit about what five awards she will likely take home on CMA Awards night (11/8).

This is an award she won in 2022 from the CMA, and in this category, the CMA often repeats if a particular star has had such a good year as Lainey has. Let's not forget Miranda Lambert took this award home seven times. Reba McEntire won the honor four times in the 1980s and 1990s. It feels like Wilson is a shoo-in for this win.

Having won the Academy of Country Music's 2022 award for Album of the Year, Lainey can also win this from the CMA. The album was one of the year's biggest and has spawned two number-one songs, including "Heart Like A Truck" and "Watermelon Moonshine." She told us when the album was released, "Sure, I love a good pair of bell bottoms, but Bell Bottom Country to me has always been about the flare and what makes someone unique—I have really embraced mine, and I hope y'all can hear that across this project."

This epic video has already won Collaborative Music Video of the Year at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. It also won the Visual Media Award (basically Video of the Year) at the 2022 ACM Awards in May. With its hard-core storyline and great acting from both HARDY and Lainey, it would be wrong if it did not win Video of the Year from the CMA.

Jelly Roll and Lainey are both so very hot in country music right now, so a win here would be no surprise at all. Also, the song is solid and a fan favorite for sure. Even though Wilson is nominated against herself in this category with the Musical Event with HARDY and "Wait In The Truck," there is a good chance her collaboration with Jelly will be the winner.

Yep, I said it. Lainey should take the biggest award of the evening and the most coveted honor of Entertainer of the Year. Let's be honest: she dominated country music in 2023 with several tours, big hit songs, and many other awards from other award shows. It always seems a little soon for someone like Wilson, whose rise in country music seemed to happen so quickly, to win this one. However, she really deserves this one, and I would be surprised if she didn't take it home on CMA Award show night.