Lainey Wilson Invited to Join the Grand Ole Opry by Reba McEntire on The Voice Finale

Lainey Wilson has been invited to become the latest member of the Grand Ole Opry by Reba McEntire, with the country icon delivering the news during the grand finale of The Voice USA. Lainey's induction will take place in just two weeks’ time, on June 7th.

Elsewhere during the final episode of Season 25, which saw Reba's contestant, Asher HaVon, taking the crown, Lainey delivered an electric performance of her new track, ‘Hang Tight Honey’, with the ‘Watermelon Moonshine’ hitmaker dancing across a bank of luminescent speakers as she stormed through the high-energy track.

It was as she was soaking up the well-deserved applause for her set that The Voice's host, Carson Daly, invited Reba up from the judging panel to say a few words in tribute of Lainey.

What simply started off as a sweet homage to the 2024 ACM Entertainer of the Year soon blossomed into an incredibly special moment, as Reba officially invited Lainey to join the Opry.

Reba McEntire touched on how Lainey is helping to bring a host of new listeners to country music, “Lainey, I am so proud of you. You did a wonderful job, and I have heard that I have inspired you and what you've done so far, and I am thrilled to bits if I had anything to do with your career because you are blowing it up. I was so proud of you at the ACMs the other night and I couldn't be more proud to be the one that helps you continue to bridge the gap between our generations”.

Reba shared her gratitude at being the one to offer the news to Lainey, announcing, “I'd like to be the person to invite you to be an official member of the Grand Ole Opry”.

Lainey Wilson was visibly moved, with the ‘Country's Cool Again’ singer-songwriter expressing her pride at being asked to join the hallowed Opry family, “My family's over here tonight, and I will say, they took me to Nashville when I was nine years old, and we went to the Grand Ole Opry, and we saw Bill Anderson, Crystal Gayle and Little Jimmy Dickens, and I knew I wanted to play there. I wanted to do it”.

Lainey then addressed Reba directly, “It's just so crazy that you are asking me to be a member because I look up to you so much. I'm not talking about just musically, but the way that you carry yourself and your work ethic. You inspire me every day”.

Lainey Wilson's evolution into one of the biggest names in modern country music has been so emphatic over the past two years, that many greeted the news of her Grand Ole Opry induction with the assumption that she'd already become a member. With Lainey currently preparing her keenly anticipated Bell Bottom Country follow-up, Whirlwind, the momentum continues to build as 2024 shapes up to be yet another hugely successful year for the Bell Bottom Country trailblazer.

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