Inside Lainey Wilson's non‑stop rise through tours, Netflix doco, Stagecoach and new single

Being one of the biggest musicians on the planet makes for a busy schedule. Thankfully that's just the way American country star Lainey Wilson likes it.

"I love running and gunning," she says. "I love living life on the edge. And that is the perfect job for this."

Case in point: Monday, February 2.

That morning, Australian time, we switched on the TV to see Wilson in a resplendent country‑inspired outfit walking the Grammys red carpet.

Not long after, Instagram showed her on a beach in New Zealand.

"It was crazy," she exclaims. "We actually had to leave the Grammys in the middle of the show in order to make it to our flight to New Zealand. It was a wild 24 hours for sure."

Full steam ahead

Now that her Australian tour — where she packed out arenas and headlined Newcastle's Howlin' Country festival — is wrapped, another huge chapter begins.

Last week brought the release of Reminders of Him, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 2022 novel and Wilson's feature film debut.

Next month comes Lainey Wilson: Keepin' Country Cool, a Netflix documentary about her rise and her determination to stay true to herself.

In late April she'll headline the Saturday night of California's Stagecoach festival, the so‑called "country Coachella," which attracts close to 90,000 punters a day.

All of this arrives alongside Can't Sit Still, the aptly titled new single she released last week. Though its high‑flying subject matter suits the A‑list country star she's become, the song's origins sit firmly in her early, uncertain years.

"My band leader, Aslan Freeman, has been my right-hand man for the last 10 years," she says. "He produced one of my very first projects, I think I paid him $1,000 to do like five songs for me. Neither one of us had anything going on.

"He has stuck with me through the thick and the thin. He's gone from riding around, just the two of us in a truck, to a van, to a bus. He's seen it all.

"He told me not too long ago, 'Lainey, I want to write a song about you never being able to sit still.' We sat still long enough to write the song, but that's about it."

Thriving in the Whirlwind

Wilson's just‑finished Whirlwind tour saw her play enormous shows most nights for the better part of a year. The pace suits her — so long as she's careful.

"It excites me to see everything that's happening and all the places I'm getting to go and the new people that I get to meet," she says.

"Of course, it is very important for me to be refilling my cup and doing the things that give me energy so I can go out and pour out and do what I'm supposed to be doing.

"But at the end of the day, I feel like my parents were right when they said that strike when the iron's hot, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the early bird gets the worm.

"I just love my job so much. I love creating. And I feel like, even since I was just a little girl, that's just kind of how I was. I was always about two steps ahead."

As her profile has grown, she's learned how to adapt her live show to the massive spaces she now plays.

"It gave us an opportunity, especially out here on the road, to really just kind of have to level up and step up," she says of the latest tour.

"The crowds got bigger, the shows got bigger. We were able to spend more time working on the show and the set."

But the biggest evolution has been learning how to look after herself in order to sustain this pace.

"I need to make sure that I'm not talking a lot leading up to the show. I need to make sure that I am taking that time to get in the zone just like an athlete would."

The stakes are higher, but the grind has a new shape. Playing to tens of thousands every night means she can scale back the number of shows, leaving more time to actually live — and more life means better music.

"Just a couple years ago we were playing 186 shows a year," Wilson reflects. "We've definitely scaled back since the crowds are getting bigger, but it feels good.

"I feel like I'm going to be able to like live life outside of just playing shows. That way, I can write music and I can stay creative.

"I think in order for me to keep writing the kind of music that's connected to people, I have to live to write. So blocking off that time is very important."

Songwriting has always been a way for Wilson to make sense of the world — and, in turn, help her listeners make sense of theirs.

"I have written probably 5,000 songs at this point. And I feel like every single song that I write, I feel like I've learned something about myself and the people that I'm writing the song with and just about life in general," she says.

"But it's crazy to think that even now during this time of my life, I feel like I am still learning and growing. I'm becoming a better songwriter, a better singer, a better performer.

"But also, I'm pulling back some layers and I feel like I'm even becoming more vulnerable than I have been with any of my other stuff. That's a big leap for me."

The big stages, red carpets and global spotlight clearly thrill her. But it seems as though none of it would matter nearly as much if she didn't feel that genuine connection between her music and those listening to it.

"I feel so blessed to be able to come to the other side of the world and play country music. It's just cool to hear people talk about how they're finding their story in mine. That gives me a lot of peace about the world that we're living in."

Hear the full chat with Lainey Wilson on Saturday Night Country. Her new single Can't Sit Still is out now.