“She Was Really Kind”: Lainey Wilson’s Mom Reflects on What She Was Like as a Child

In her Netflix documentary, Keepin’ Country Cool, Lainey Wilson's mother, Michelle Wilson, offers an insight into what the ‘Heart Like a Truck’ hitmaker was like growing up.

Towards the start of the documentary, while showing viewers old photo books from her childhood, Lainey's mom shares that the Louisiana native showed an interest in performing from an early age, fondly recalling, “Lainey could sing. She memorized the song ‘Butterfly Kisses’, and she sang that at her kindergarten graduation”.

She goes on to underline how good-natured Lainey has always been, “As a kid, she was really kind, always kind. She was one of these little girls that was like very sensitive”.

Lainey herself then opens up about how music was always present in their family home, “Music was a big part of my family. My daddy can play music by ear, and I just remember him sitting around the house and playing Hank Sr. ‘Hey Good Lookin‘”.

The ‘Phone, Keys, Wallet’ singer-songwriter then remembers how she, her mom and her sister would dance along to her dad's guitar-playing, “My mama loves music. She loves to dance. Me, my mama and sister would make up dance routines, while my daddy was picking on the guitar. It was the soundtrack of our lives”.

Wilson shares how her childhood performances were accompanied by a sense of familiarity that she perhaps struggled to find elsewhere, “I remember at five years old, feeling like, ‘I think I feel more comfortable on stage than I do anywhere else’”.

It's unsurprising to hear her mother pay tribute to Wilson's kindness as a child, because this is a trait the two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year has become synonymous with throughout her emergence as one of the genre's biggest modern-day stars.

Despite being faced with the intense pressures of relentless touring, back-to-back album rollouts and social media scrutiny, Wilson has remained as generous and considerate as ever, making her an ideal country music flag-bearer and role model.

As a result, it's also no surprise that a host of female artists that have come up in recent years, such as Ella Langley and Megan Moroney, regularly cite Wilson as a key influence.

Langley, in particular, often stresses how Wilson's friendship has felt like a lifeline as she has made the challenging adjustment to the spotlight over the past 12 months or so.

It makes this clip of her mother discussing her childhood all the more touching. She could never have known that Wilson would go on to become the country star she is today, but one thing that was never in doubt was the kind of person she would grow up to be.