Lainey Wilson Pays Tribute to Brandon Lake After GMA Dove Award Win: “So Honored to Celebrate This with My Brother”

Lainey Wilson and Brandon Lake took home the 2026 GMA Dove Award for Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year, in honour of their enchanting collaboration, ‘The Jesus I Know Now’. The song is expected to feature on Lake's new album.

Lake and Wilson performed the heartfelt offering during the show, with their moving rendition capturing both the vulnerability and hope that permeates the studio recording.

Taking to social media after the win, Wilson expressed her gratitude to Lake for this song, commenting, “So honored to celebrate this with my brother @brandonlake”. These touching words echoed Lake's tribute after their performance, with the ‘Gratitude’ hitmaker asking attendees to “give it up for my sister, Lainey Wilson”.

Fans have been able to watch their heartwarming friendship blossom in recent months, with Wilson a key part of Lake's country-leaning writing sessions earlier in the year. In his acceptance speech, he even revealed they penned another song together, called ‘Lost Sheep’, so we're hoping this features on his forthcoming record.

In her moving acceptance speech, Wilson reflected on how transformative she found the writing retreat with Lake, “I feel like I've learned so much from the people I get to sit in a writer's room with, and write songs with, and I remember that day, walked in, and immediately we were just talking about our relationship with Jesus”.

Wilson touched on the spirit behind ‘The Jesus I Know Now’, which finds both the Louisiana native and Lake exploring how the Jesus they now have a strong, loving relationship with doesn't align with the punishment-oriented picture they were given growing up.

Wilson muses, “I said, ‘I feel like the Jesus I know now is not the one that I grew up knowing, the one that was shaking His first, and the one I was, like, scared of’. And it's because of folks like that, who have continued to pour into me, that I feel like I am finally starting to have an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. And yes, I'm learning a lot about identity, and there's a line in the song that says, ‘He says who I am, and it's not what I do’. And so I just want to remind all y'all creators in this room, like, we're not just singers, we're not just songwriters”.

Wilson offers some words of advice that feel fitting in any given situation - to be a little more like Dolly Parton, “We are connectors, and that's what we're supposed to be doing. Just like Dolly Parton did, we are supposed to be loving on people and lifting them up”. Amy Grant and Natalie Grant delivered a powerful homage to Parton during the 2026 GMA Dove Awards at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Wilson then passed the microphone to Lake, who began by thanking Wilson for being a part of this song, before meditating on his current journey into the country music scene.

Lake outlined, “I'm so thankful, Lainey...I'm in this crazy season of just like, God opens another door, and I'm waling through it, and just trying to give Him glory in every single room, and I'm thankful that you wanted to write and it's just cool to see people connecting with this song - especially for those that have had a church hurt, or maybe had this wrong picture of who Jesus is. And I even know that there's some trolls on the internet that were hating at like this ‘Grace, grace, grace’ thing”.

Lake went on, “But what I love about grace is that it's not an excuse to sin, it's what makes us want to be more like Him. When you experience grace. So I'm thankful that we get to share this together, and it's been a really cool friendship”.

Lake then joked about a deal he and Wilson have involving some sheep, suggesting they adjust it in honour of their new award, “We wrote a lot of songs for my next record. There's one called ‘Lost Sheep’. And I don't know if it's on the record or not, but we did say - I think we should change it - and like, we said, ‘if this song comes out, we were going to buy each other a sheep, and name it Lainey and Brandon, and give it to each other’. But I think since we won a Dove Award together, we should buy each other sheep. I'm going to buy you a sheep named Brandon”.

Lake concluded with a heartfelt message underlining that, throughout all the accolades and praise he might receive, he wants to ensure the glory always goes to God and Jesus, “But no, I'm so thankful, and I'm thankful that the song says, ‘That it doesn't take trophies to make Him proud’. But we're very grateful for this one, and for this moment, and so to God be the glory, and country music, Christian music, and what He's doing all over the globe. So thank y'all very much”.

Lake continues to tease a multitude of country-inspired songs from his next chapter, including collaborations with Thomas Rhett, HARDY, Dan + Shay, Russell Dickerson, Tyler Hubbard and more, after having already released country-Christian crossover duets with the likes of Wilson, Cody Johnson and Bailey Zimmerman.

As Lake suggested during his speech, the heart of this era is to highlight how the love of God and Jesus is for everyone, regardless of where they're at in their walk with faith.

The mistake some Christian artists make, Lake seems to imply, is that they play it safe, only going into rooms that are already bathed in light and preaching to the choir, rather than venturing into rooms that perhaps have a little spiritual conflict and darkness.

By embarking on this country music journey, Lake is striving to bring Jesus’ message to as many people as possible. As Wilson emphasises in her speech, regardless of how many listeners this song touches, Lake has already succeeded in giving Wilson herself the space to open up about and strengthen her walk with Jesus, in a way that she perhaps can't when working in traditional Music City writing rooms.