Country music has a long tradition of sisterhood, with the relationship between Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn as one prime example. The industry hasn’t always been particularly inviting to women, and many female artists have survived by prioritizing collaboration over competition. Multiple ladies, including Miranda Lambert, helped Lainey Wilson navigate her rise to fame, and the reigning Entertainer of the Year wants to do the same for rising star Ella Langley.
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“Let’s Go, Girls”: Lainey Wilson Pays it Forward to Ella Langley
Leaving behind her tiny Louisiana hometown in 2011, Lainey Wilson came up in Nashville the hard way. The “Watermelon Moonshine” singer, 33, self-released two EPs before her breakout single, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” caught fire in 2020.
Not long after that, Wilson’s phone rang. It was the Academy of Country Music’s most-awarded artist in history, Miranda Lambert.
“She’s kind of just become, like, my country music big sister,” Wilson said of her “Good Horses” collaborator. “She tells me what to do, what not to do, and she, like, checks on me, cares for me. And she’s like, ‘Where you at? How’s your head? How’s your heart?’”
Having a fierce, seasoned professional like Lambert has made all the difference for Lainey Wilson, which is why she’s currently trying to extend the same guidance to Ella Langley.
“I just think about the wisdom that people have passed on to me. I mean, folks like Miranda and Reba [McEntire] and Wynonna [Judd} and all the ladies,” the Grammy winner said during a recent conversation with Country Nights Live’s Bev Rainey.
Continuing, Wilson added, “You’ve got to pass on that wisdom. You can’t keep it all for yourself. These people have been more than willing to just pour loads of wisdom into me. And I love Ella and she is like a sister, and I just see her and I think she’s one of the most talented people in this business, and so it’s important for me to check in on her and just be there for her if she needs me.”
[RELATED: Lainey Wilson Reveals the Advice She Lives by From Her “Country Music Big Sister”]
Ella Langley Is Taking a Break
Coming off the success of her viral Riley Green collab “You Look Like You Love Me” and her studio debut Hungover, Langley, 26, stepped away from the road in August to heal her “mind, body and heart.”
She is scheduled to return Sunday, Sept. 7, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
Featured image by Christopher Polk/Penske Media via Getty Images
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