Lainey Wilson's Happy Place

THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY STAR HAS ALWAYS KNOWN HOW TO FIND HER WAY HOME

- BY SID EVANS PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID MCCLISTER

"Even if there are six people coming over [for Thanksgiving], my mama's cooking for an army. That's how it feels," says Lainey. "I'm like, 'Lord, we're gonna have leftovers for three years."

When she's home, which is not that often, Lainey Wilson lives in a modern farmhouse off a country road on the outskirts of Nashville. It's a long way from the camper trailer where she spent her first three years in town, but it's not the kind of grand estate you might expect from one of the biggest names in country music. From the outside, it looks like a lot of the other houses in this part of Tennessee-practical, charming, connected to the land.

But when you step through the front door, the interiors tell a different story. The foyer welcomes you with shiny metallic wallpaper plus a leopard-print stair runner. Two tall, gold-plated steer horns frame the fireplace, and an abstract painting of a cowboy is mounted over the dining room table. Her space is funky, colorful, and full of surprises. “I always say that this house is kind of like the inverse of me because I feel like a farmhouse on the inside but a hippie on the outside,” Lainey explains. “And I feel like my house is a farmhouse but a hippie on the inside, you know?”

In some ways, this rural getaway is a throwback to the farm she grew up on in Baskin, Louisiana, a tiny town of just over 200 people in the northeast corner of the state. Her father, a fifth-generation farmer, planted corn, wheat, oats, and soybeans and often worked from dawn to dusk. Lainey doesn’t put in that kind of time on her Tennessee patch of land, but she has inherited the same work ethic, performing dozens or even hundreds of shows a year.

She’s also been racking up plenty of awards lately, proving that her efforts have all been worth it. In 2024, she got a Grammy for her album