“She's Become Like a Big Sister to Me”: Anne Wilson Pays Tribute to Lainey Wilson and Teases a Deluxe Version of ‘Stars’

As the excitement continues to build ahead of her third studio album, Stars, Anne Wilson has paid homage to her good friend and ‘Praying Woman’ duet partner, Lainey Wilson.

The two artists joined forces for the soulful ballad as part of Anne's 2024 project, REBEL, with the duo later linking up to perform a stunning acoustic rendition at the Opry.

During a forthcoming interview with Holler, Anne has reflected on how she views Lainey as a key role model, both musically and personally. They're not related - despite their shared last name - but Anne admits Lainey is basically “a big sister” to her.

Anne begins by stressing that she would be very keen to hit the studio with Lainey again in the near future, underlining, “I would love to”, adding warmly, “Lainey has become like a big sister to me, and I really look up to her, and she's such an inspiration to me. [A collaboration] is definitely something that I would love to pursue”.

Anne teases that there is an expanded version of Stars on the horizon, which will include some duets, “This is the first part of the album, before we do the deluxe later on, which will have some features on. But on this part, we didn't have features”.

She goes on to explain why she ultimately decided to make Stars entirely solo, unlike its lauded predecessor, REBEL, which featured Lainey, Jordan Davis and Chris Tomlin, “Honestly, we were going back and forth. I told my manager, ‘I feel like for this album, I want to be the one to sing every song’. It's such a personal album that I was like, ‘Let's do it just me, and let's just keep features off until later on’”.

She concludes with another touching homage to Lainey, emphasising again that she hopes a sophomore duet is in store, “But I would love to do something with Lainey in the future. She's just an incredible person, and I look up to her in so many ways”.

We're undoubtedly looking forward to hearing the fruits of Anne's potential second studio session with Lainey, especially given how evocative and moving ‘Praying Woman’ is.

If we had to choose one song from Stars to be reimagined into a Lainey duet, we'd probably opt for the unashamedly twangy and irresistibly charming ‘Hold Your Horses’.

Even so, it feels apt that the Kentucky native has chosen to allow the spotlight to fall solely on her throughout Stars, with this mirroring the vulnerability and deeply personal nature of the record. It finds Anne reflecting on turning the age at which her late brother, Jacob, passed away, on the heart-rending ’Twenty Three’, as well as pleading for divine guidance in a particularly dark moment on the rousing ‘Carry Me’.

It's wonderfully vibrant, eclectic and hopeful record, that sees the ‘God Story’ hitmaker doubling down on the message of optimism and faith that permeated both My Jesus and REBEL, while pushing herself to dig deeper thematically than ever before.

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