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Lainey Wilson took the stage to accept the Grammy Award for Best Country Album for her smash-hit sophomore project, Bell Bottom Country. The Baskin, Louisiana-born singer-songwriter earned the honor while attending the Grammy Awards for the first time on Sunday evening (February 4).
Fellow Grammy-winning country artist Kacey Musgraves revealed Wilson as the winner of the category on stage at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Other artists to receive nods in that category include Kelsea Ballerini (Rolling Up The Welcome Mat), Brothers Osborne (Brothers Osborne), Zach Bryan (Zach Bryan) and Tyler Childers (Rustin’ in the Rain). See our live-updated list of 2024 Grammy Award winners here.
Wilson, 31, said winning her first Grammy Award was “absolutely wild, y’all.” She went on to credit her team that helped bring Bell Bottom Country to life and spotlight the farming community where she grew up. Wilson, a fifth-generation farmer’s daughter, said she holds to the values of “getting up every single day and planting those seeds and watering them and watching them grow. And sometimes, when you find the right farming community, you can have a harvest of a lifetime. I truly believe that. I think that is exactly what this is tonight.”
“This is absolutely wild y'all. This is my very first Grammys. Thank you so much for my collaborators: Jay Joyce, Jason [Hall], the cowriters, musicians, anybody who had anything to do with this record. It has truly changed my life. I am from a farming community in Northeast Louisiana. A little town of 200 people. I'm a fifth-generation farmer's daughter and I would consider myself a farmer, too. And everybody that I surround myself with, I think they are farmers, too. They're story farmers. It's about getting up every single day and planting those seeds and watering them and watching them grow. And sometimes, when you find the right farming community, you can have a harvest of a lifetime. I truly believe that. I think that is exactly what this is tonight. God bless every single one of y'all. Thank you Jesus. Thank you so much to the Recording Academy. Thank you to my fans. I love y'all so much.”
Wilson added in a caption on Instagram later Sunday night that she’s been “left speechless. All I can say right now is thank you, thank you, thank you [Recording Academy].”
Bell Bottom Country also scored awards at the 2023 ACM Awards and 2023 CMA Awards. Wilson is also the reigning CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year, the first female artist in more than a decade to score that honor.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s the only thing I know how to do,” Wilson said as she accepted her Entertainer of the Year Award, presented by Keith Urban. “We have played — I think at the end of the year, we have played about 186 shows this year, and we’ve worked our butts off this year and so many years in between. I’ve been in this town for 12 and a half years, and it finally feels like country music is starting to love me back. I love it with my whole heart.” It was during her Female Vocalist of the Year speech that Wilson delivered a message to little girls and young women watching: “For all you little girls watching and the ones that are here tonight, too, it’s something that I’m doing. I’m getting up every single day and I’m looking at myself in the mirror and I’m saying ‘I am beautiful, I am smart, I am talented, I am Godly, I am fearless.’ If somebody tells me I can’t do it, hold my beer. Watch this.”
Bell Bottom Country made its debut in October 2022 with “Heart Like A Truck,” “Watermelon Moonshine,” “Grease,” “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” her cover of “What’s Up (What’s Going On)” and other highlights. Wilson expanded the 14-track project with two new tracks, “Smell Like Smoke” and “New Friends,” as she made her acting debut on Yellowstone.
“It's cool to be able to write your story and your truth and get vulnerable and have people appreciate that. …The truth is, I mean, preparing for something like that is really scary,” Wilson said during a previous interview with iHeartCountry, when asked what it’s like to observe how her fans receive her music after spending so much time writing and recording it. “You're like, 'well, I mean, all I can do is do what I do and hope that folks like it.' But it seems like I just keep on getting surprised, and people are finding little pieces in each song to connect to and relate to. And a lot of people have shared their stories with me on why they love each song and why it means something different to them. And that's what country music's about. It's about making people feel like they're not alone. And I've known from a very early age that I was supposed to be doing this, and it feels really nice to just be embraced.”
Watch Wilson accept the Best Country Album Grammy award here:
Wilson is also nominated at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, alongside other heavy-hitters in the genre like Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and others. See the full list of country artists nominated here. Fans across the country will be able to watch the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards live as the show will be airing live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday, April 1st from 8pm-10pm ET live/PT tape-delayed on FOX. The event will also be broadcast on iHeartRadio stations nationwide and on the free iHeartRadio app.