Lainey Wilson Finds Common Ground With Her ‘Yellowstone’ Character, Abby: ‘I Pretty Much Get To Be Myself’

Lainey Wilson revealed that her character on the upcoming season of Yellowstone isn’t too far off from who she really…

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Madeleine O’Connell

| Posted on

November 2, 2022

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8:55 am

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Lainey Wilson; Photo by Getty Images for ACM, Instagram

Lainey Wilson revealed that her character on the upcoming season of Yellowstone isn’t too far off from who she really is in real life.

“I pretty much get to be myself,” she told Country Now about her role as Abby. “I get to wear my bell bottoms, I get to be me, I get to talk with an accent, I get to sing my songs.”

As a Louisiana native, whose father is a cowboy, Wilson can relate to the show on many different levels. So while she did go outside her comfort zone for this experience, she also shared that it felt a bit like second nature to step into the role of Abby, who is also a musician.

Wilson revealed that she was given lines, but it was up to her to create a background for her character so that when she’s acting, she’s able to fully embrace who Abby is as a person and where she comes from.

“So in my mind, she’s from Louisiana ’cause she sounds like this,” Wilson said referring to her accent. “In my mind, she’s maybe traveling through Montana, a musician, maybe finds a group of people who are really starting to dig her music and she stays for a while.”

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Since this is her first time acting for a TV series, Wilson got a bit of coaching before going on set to help her feel a bit more confident in the new element.

“She didn’t really teach me how to act, but she was teaching me little tools to…like stay grounded and remain in my body,” Wilson said on The Bobby Bones Show, while speaking about her acting coach in Nashville. “She didn’t want me to like memorize my lines or anything. She wanted me to have a good idea of what they looked like, but she wanted me to really like listen to what the other person was saying to me so it would just sound like a conversation. So she just pretty much gave me those tools and I just gave it my best shot.”

While she couldn’t give away too much about what her character gets into, so far we do know that Abby doesn’t shoot anyone, she doesn’t go to the dreaded train station, and she doesn’t ride a horse…yet.

Wilson explained that flipping the switch from artist to actor was a bit daunting at first, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. 

“It’s like a totally different world,” she stated. “I was definitely, at first, like a fish out of water, but everybody made me feel so at home welcome and good. I didn’t really know what to expect and I don’t think they knew what to expect either, but we all ended up leaving there being great friends.”

The popular singer/songwriter also shared that she has found a new friendship in her co-star Kelly Reilly, who was cast in the leading female role, of Beth Dutton.

“She is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

She first revealed the news of her debut acting gig back in June, and ever since then, fans have been eagerly awaiting the new season to begin.

“This is a huge opportunity from God. I mean, I believe that this is just gonna be another way for me to be able to share more of my music with the world,” Wilson said honestly.

It was her longtime relationship with Yellowstone’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, that landed her the gig. 

“I’ve really just tried to take care of that friendship,” Wilson said of Sheridan. “He called me in February and said, ‘I want to create a character specifically for you.’ I said, ‘alright, sign me up. Let’s do it.’”

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Her first hands-on experience with the show was when she taped a performance that aired during a commercial break in support of the Season 4 finale. She delivered a special acoustic set of her song, “Workin’ Overtime,” which had previously been featured on the show’s soundtrack.

Additionally, the rising star filmed performances of “Rolling Stone” off her debut album, and her chart-topping debut single, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” as part of an exclusive Yellowstone soundtrack series on social media. 

Prior to that, her songs “Small Town, Girl” and “Straight Up Sideways” were featured in Season 3 of the popular Paramount Network series. The upcoming season will feature tracks from her latest album, Bell Bottom Country, as well as a few tracks that were written specifically for the show.

Lainey Wilson is one of the many country artists who have a relationship with the star-studded, Western-themed television show. Other artists who have had music featured on the show include Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Cody Johnson, Colter Wall, and many more.

Season five of Yellowstone will return with a two-hour premiere Sunday, Nov. 13 on Paramount Network.

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Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.