yellowstone-lainey-wilson-reflects-full-circle-moment-episode-6

‘Yellowstone’: Lainey Wilson Reflects on ‘Full-Circle Moment’ in Episode 6

For country music star Lainey Wilson, it’s safe to say that life has been pretty good lately. She recently spoke with USA Today about a special moment that she felt really brought her career full circle.

As a high schooler in the tiny town of Baskin, Lousiana, Wilson’s first paid gig as an entertainer was performing cover songs from the TV show Hannah Montana on a small stage made out of a flatbed trailer. Years later she found herself in the state of Montana performing one of her original songs, Watermelon Moonshine, from a flatbed trailer on the set of TV’s biggest show, Yellowstone.

Lainey Wilson Performs Her Music On ‘Yellowstone’

“I’m on this flatbed stage singing once again, but not in my Hannah Montana wig. And I thought, dang, this is a full-circle moment for me,” says Wilson. “And I’m singing ‘Watermelon Moonshine,’ a song about young, wild and crazy love.” 

Her song was a fitting soundtrack for her romantic scene on the show, which included her first on-screen kiss. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but you go in there head-first. I was going to give people their money’s worth,” said Wilson.

She admitted that there has been a learning curve when it comes to transitioning from singing to acting. However, she said Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan simply encouraged her to be herself. “He said he wanted me to pretty much be myself, which is a dream come true, especially when you’re trying to introduce yourself to people,” she said. Wilson also recently spoke about the jitters she had filming her first scene with Kelly Reilly, who stars as Beth Dutton.

Watermelon Moonshine isn’t the first song she’s performed on Yellowstone. She previously used her role on the show to debut two new songs, New Friends and Smells Like Smoke. Both are featured as bonus tracks on her recent album, Bell Bottom Country

Her newfound success meshing music with television isn’t the only exciting thing to happen to her career in 2022 though.

Lainey Wilson’s Big Year

The twangy singer has had a huge 2022, but her career momentum really picked up towards the second half of 2021. That’s when her hit song Things a Man Oughta Know took the top spot on the charts. That song was a part of her acclaimed Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin‘ album that catapulted her to stardom.

At the beginning of 2022, she was honored with a New Artist of the Year Trophy at the ACM Awards. About a month later, she won an iHeartRadio Award for Best New Country Artist. In October she took home a CMT Award for Breakout Artist of the Year. She also recently released a powerful duet with Hardy titled Wait in the Truck. The song and music video took the country music scene by storm.

Knowing the attitude with which she approaches her career, it’s safe to assume that she has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.