Lainey Wilson: From Young Country Fan To CMA Fest Headliner

Before Lainey Wilson became a country superstar, there was Lainey, the country fan. At 14, the singer-songwriter traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend CMA Fest on a family vacation, which she says was the "best trip" she had ever been on. 

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While hosting Backstage Country this week, Wilson recalled her experience attending CMA Fest as a fan.  

This year, CMA Festival will be held June 6-9 at Nissan Stadium, bringing hundreds of country artists together for four days of music and events. Country artists have been looking forward to performing at the festival for more than 50 years. And so was a hopeful young Wilson. 

"We saved up our money and we came on this family vacation, and it was the best trip that I had ever been on. I remember being at Riverfront on the Riverfront stage, watching Taylor Swift in her little sundress. I kind of had a weird feeling about it then, I knew that she was going to do some pretty cool stuff," Wilson told Kelly Ford. 

She continued, "My parents tell me that I would sit at the top of the stadium and I was like, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and I didn't really say much. I wasn't like up dancing around and hooting and hollering and [they] thought that I wasn't enjoying it, but truthfully, I was just taking notes." Those notes proved to come in handy. 

Fast forward to now and Wilson is scheduled to be a headliner at CMA Fest for the third time this summer. She'll perform on the lineup alongside Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, and The War and Treaty. 

Between Wilson's tour schedule, receiving five nominations at the upcoming ACM Awards, and starring in a new doc-style Hulu special to be released next month, she's confirmed that "Country's Cool Again." 

Wilson will hit the road next month for her headlining 2024 Country’s Cool Again Tour with supporting acts Jackson Dean, Ian Munsick, and Zach Top. Wilson’s tour will kick off in Nashville on May 31 and run through November 15 in Monroe, Louisiana. 

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