“We Are In This Together”: Lainey Wilson on Why She Prayed for Ella Langley at the ACM Awards

Lainey Wilson is shedding some light on why she decided to pray over Ella Langley backstage at the 2026 ACM Awards, stressing that she wants to ensure that every new female artists breaking through in country music knows they are not alone.

While accepting the award for ACM Female Artist of the Year - a category Wilson was also up for - Langley recalled how the ‘Heart Like a Truck’ hitmaker had helped her steady her nerves during a particularly anxious moment ahead of the ceremony.

Langley shared, “Today I was having a strange day. I don't know what it is about awards but I have strange days in the mornings, and I walked right into Lainey's room. I just got emotional and she hugged me, wrapped me up and started praying for me”.

During Wilson's new appearance on Amazon's Country Heat Weekly with Kelly Sutton and Amber Anderson, Sutton and Anderson both pay tribute to Wilson's kindness towards Langley at the ACM Awards, “I will say too, another thing is when Ella said that she was having anxiety, and that you brought her to your room, you prayed over her. I think we looked at each other and we're like, that's what's really happening”.

Wilson responds, “That's what's really going on”, before explaining that she feels a responsibility to support the next wave of women in country music, because she had mentors in the genre that did the same for her - most notably, the late Dolly Parton.

The Louisiana native shares that, without this help and camaraderie, it can feel isolating when you're in the upper echelon of country music, “Well, there's just women who have done that for me. Dolly Parton being one of them. It can be lonely at the top. A lot of people say that, but I always thought, surely not. I mean, if you're at the top, you have anything you want, or you can have all the friends you want, and this and that. But sometimes you just feel like there's not many people that understand or get it. And because, like I said, I mean, struggles are struggles”.

She goes on, “It's important, at least, for me...for the girls who are figuring it out right now, just for me to just be like, you ain't alone, we are in this together. And look at the new artist nominees. I mean, you got Emily Ann Roberts, Carter Faith, Avery Anna”.

The ‘Phone, Keys, Wallet’ singer-songwriter adds, “Yeah, we're coming up, we got them. I mean, that's the coolest part about it. It's not just the current situation where we have so many of you dominating at the top, but the pipeline is coming too”.

Sutton and Anderon stress how crucial Wilson's role is in inspiring not only artists like Langley and Megan Moroney, but also young girls watching these awards shows at home, “Which is awesome, because there are so many little girls right now at home that are looking at you going, I can do it. That's right. Lainey did it. That's right”.

Elsewhere in their conversation, Wilson also makes light of her now-iconic 2025 CMA Awards acceptance speech for Female Artist of the Year, when she mocked online critics and trolls that attempt to drag women down, sharing, “For the folks that are sitting at home, in your mama's basement, eating your Cheetos, trying to pit women against each other, y'all need to find something better to do”.

On this new episode of Country Heat Weekly, Wilson hilariously quips, “I hope somebody was mid-bite pulling a Cheeto out of the bag going...I'm like, yeah, you, you, I'm talking to you. And here's the thing, I like a good Cheeto. Don't get me wrong”.

Throughout the episode, Wilson proves once again why she is such a fantastic flag-bearer for modern country music, with the ‘4X4XU’ crooner serving as not only a consistent chart-topper, but also a beacon of light, generosity, humility and compassion.

You can't help but feel that, if it wasn't for Wilson blazing the trail by winning ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year in 2023, after a lengthy stint of male-dominated triumphs in the category, the floodgates wouldn't be as firmly open today for women in country music, with female artists leading the way in the 2026 CMA nominations.

Now, women in country music are leading the way, with Langley one of the biggest stars in the genre while artists like Wilson, Moroney, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini and more continue to cement themselves as pillars of the modern country scene. And unlike fractious eras gone by, it feels like Wilson's assessment that “we are in this together” is an accurate portrayal of today's landscape, where women in country are raising one another up, rather than succumbing to the pressure imparted on them from media outlets - and Cheeto-devouring keyboard warriors in their mama's basements - attempting to stir up tension.