Throughout her time in country music, Lainey Wilson proved herself to be more than a one-hit wonder as she won numerous awards including Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year. At the 66th Grammy Awards, the singer even won the Best Country Album award for Bell Bottom Country. While Wilson enjoyed her time in the spotlight, it wasn’t always glitz and glamor. The singer recently discussed her struggles to break into the industry and how one radio DJ told her “You’re just not that good.”
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Speaking with Trisha Yearwood about the new wave of country music at the Country Radio Seminar, Wilson took a trip down memory lane when sharing her struggles surrounding radio tour. “Radio tour, it was hard. It was really, really hard, I’m not going to lie to y’all. It taught me a lot. I made a lot of friends along the way that I still text and we talk all the time.”
[Don’t Miss The Chance To See Lainey Wilson Live In Concert]
Recalling a certain DJ who decided to share his opinion on her style and voice, Wilson said, “I go in and we waited in the foyer. He brings us into his office and he said, ‘Play me what you got.’ This was my first single, ‘Dirty Looks.’ He said, ‘You should have left your guitar in the car. I don’t want to hear you play. I want to hear what it sounds like through the speakers.’ Well, he had like 1997 computer speakers, so of course you couldn’t understand anything that the song was saying.”
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With the meeting not going exactly how Wilson pictured, she explained, “He listened to it twice, back-to-back. I was just sitting there and he let the second time finish. He leans across his desk and he said, ‘Lainey, you’re just not that good.’ And I leaned across his desk and I said, ‘So-and-so, out of the 10 years that I’ve been in Nashville, you telling me that don’t mean ****.’”
Lainey Wilson Found The Fire She Needed To Make Her Dreams A Reality
While Wilson might not have impressed the radio DJ, the singer didn’t let his words create a divide when it came to her passion for music. “It did light another fire underneath me. After I left there, I was like, ‘Okay, at the end of the day you put yourself out there. Not everybody’s going to like you or love you.’ I think moments like that, they’re not fun. But if anything, they do build character.”
Having more than enough memories of hardships she faced, Wilson laughed, “They give you fun stories to talk about with Trisha Yearwood.”
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