Lainey Wilson gave an amazing performance of her song “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” from the 2022 album Bell Bottom Country at the 2023 CMA Awards. Wilson reigned going into the CMAs with nine nominations including Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year with “Heart Like a Truck,” Album of the Year with Bell Bottom Country, Song of the Year, Female Vocalist, and Musical Event and Music Video with HARDY for “wait in the truck.” In an early awards decision, Wilson and HARDY won Musical Event and Music Video of the Year along with the team involved with “wait in the truck.”
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The set design was off the charts for this performance, with Wilson emerging from a wreath of barbed wire. The backdrop consisted of a video of rolling storm clouds, and the stage was set with prairie grass and wildflowers. The song is a rollicking, guitar-heavy anthem reminiscent of outlaw country, perfectly fitting Wilson’s unique vocals. The end of the performance featured the ring of barbed wire going up in pyrotechnic flames, which brought the audience right out of their seats.
Wilson recently reflected on her rapid career rise in a press conference preceding the pre-sale for her 2024 Country’s Cool Again Tour. “From the struggle to the slingshot,” she said of her growth in the music industry. The Louisiana native made her label debut in 2016 with the album Tougher after moving to Nashville in 2011, and a stint on the popular show Yellowstone further rocketed her into the mainstream.
“I didn’t think that we could top last year, to be honest,” she said of the two CMA Awards she won in 2022 for Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year, one of which she was nominated for again in 2023. “I thought that was the year that we would talk about. We topped it somehow,” she continued.
“It seems like we keep doing that on accident. It’s a continuous leveling up this year. It seems like as soon as we reach a certain place … we almost have to shift immediately and level up in a way and it’s truly the whole team, everybody. It’s just a continuous leveling-up, which is fun. It keeps it very interesting.”
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