This Week’s Guest Host: Lainey Wilson

It's a big week for Lainey Wilson as she guest hosts Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country. She's also heading to the 2023 CMA Awards on Wednesday night at the top of the list.

Wilson joins Shawn Parr all week (November 6-10). She'll discuss her life at home and out on the road, the advice she received from Keith Urban and working with Jelly Roll. Of course, she'll talk about her critically acclaimed Bell Bottom Country album, and more.

Wilson the most-nominated artist at this year's CMA Awards with a total of nine nominations. And she has also received her first nomination for Entertainer of the Year.

– Entertainer of the Year
– Single of the Year (“Heart Like A Truck”)
– Single of the Year (“wait in the truck”)
– Album of the Year (Bell Bottom Country)
– Song of the Year (“Heart Like A Truck”)
– Female Vocalist of the Year
– Musical Event of the Year (“Save Me”)
– Musical Event of the Year (“wait in the truck”)
– Music Video of the Year (“wait in the truck”)

Last year, Wilson took home the CMA Award for New Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. She will return to the CMA Awards stage on November 8 live from Nashville to perform her track "Wildflowers and Wild Horses."

The 31-year-old released Bell Bottom Country, her fourth studio album, in October of 2022 which features the fan-favorite "Heart Like A Truck." In addition, earlier this month, she received her fifth consecutive No. 1 song on Country Radio with her single "Watermelon Moonshine."

Wilson recently announced her 2023 Country's Cool Again Tour with special guests Jackson Dean, Ian Munsick, and Zach Top on select dates. The tour will hit more than 35 cities across North America and kick off on May 31 at the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Tennessee.

Check back all week for more from Lainey Wilson on Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country. For more information, visit laineywilson.com and follow Lainey Wilson on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see more.

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.