Lainey Wilson Says She Looks to Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as Her Career Role Models

When it comes to her career, Lainey Wilson looks to two of her biggest heroes, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire, as inspiration for the kind of artist she hopes to be in the long run.

Fans were first introduced to Wilson in 2020 with her breakout single, “Things a Man Oughta Know.” But her Nashville journey began nearly a decade earlier, when she packed up and moved to Music City in August of 2011. Once she began to find success, her career was on a fast-track to superstardom, leading her to become a 16x ACM, 9x CMA and Grammy Award-winner and Grand Ole Opry member (and she’s really only just getting started). 

On Sunday night, Wilson shared the stage with Vince Gill for a powerful performance of “Go Rest High On That Mountain” during the Emmys’ In Memoriam segment. Ahead of the show, she opened up to Entertainment Tonight about balancing her fast-moving music career with her growing presence in acting.

“The truth is I never really thought I’d ever be acting, but it’s just something that I feel like my storytelling has kind of led to, and these doors have opened, and I am all about taking opportunity,” she explained. When I think about the kind of artist I want to be, I think about people like Reba and Dolly Parton and the ones that always kept music at the forefront, but they weren’t scared to kind of color outside of the lines.” 

Parton and McEntire have certainly paved the way, balancing their music careers with acting while also branching out into fashion, home goods, and more. Wilson is already following in their footsteps, she’s launched her own Wrangler collection as well as  jewelry, boots, and more,  and from the sound of it, even more acting opportunities are on the horizon.

Wilson made her acting debut as Abby, an aspiring musician, in Season 5 of Yellowstone, and since then, the on-screen opportunities haven’t stopped rolling in.

“I’m honestly getting pitched things right and left, which is cool,” the Louisiana native recently told Taste of Country Nights. “Opportunities where I am a musician, opportunities where I’m not, opportunities just to write for shows.”

According to Wilson, it’s not just a few projects here and there. She says she’s “entertaining a lot of things,” with possibilities that feel “kinda endless at this point.”

Soon, she will make her feature film debut in Universal Picture’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller Reminders of Him.

In the meantime, fans can catch Wilson on her Whirlwind World Tour.