Country
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When Lainey Wilson played Australia for the first time in March, she made sure to meet the country’s animal ambassadors: She held a koala; she pet a kangaroo. But it wasn’t all furry fun.
“I got crapped on by a bird twice,” Wilson says in her thick Louisiana drawl, shaking her head in bemused disbelief. “In the exact same spot. I heard it was good fortune, so I was like, ‘Go ahead. Do what you got to do, bird.’ ”
But if there’s anyone who doesn’t need luck, it’s Wilson. With a perseverance and grit that’s reflected in her music, the ascendant 31-year-old country star has made her own. After she moved to Nashville in 2011, Wilson endured a decade of disheartening struggles — including seven American Idol rejections. But over the past two-and-a-half years, she has broken records and reached new milestones at a staggering pace — all without compromising her traditional country sound.
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When “Save Me,” her urgent duet with Jelly Roll, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in December, only six weeks had passed since her solo hit, the coming-of-age tale “Watermelon Moonshine,” had summited the list — the shortest stint between No. 1s for a female artist in the chart’s 34-year history. “Watermelon Moonshine” appeared on Wilson’s most recent album, 2022’s Bell Bottom Country (Broken Bow Records/BMG), which took home both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Country Music Association Awards for album of the year, as well as the Grammy for best country album — only the ninth record ever to complete that trifecta. And at November’s CMA Awards, Wilson became the first woman to win entertainer of the year since Taylor Swift in 2011 and the first artist since Garth Brooks in 1991 to win best new artist one year and entertainer of the year the next.
At times, the rush has been overwhelming. “I do feel like the 10 years of nothing happening slightly prepared me, but I don’t think you can ever really fully prepare yourself for everything coming at once, and you’re just trying to hold on for dear life,” Wilson says.
“Sometimes when you’re moving that fast, maybe artistically you’re not ready. But she spent 10 years honing her craft,” says Jon Loba, BMG’s president of frontline recordings for North America, who signed Wilson in 2018. “The music was there, the personality was there, the performance was there. So in a sense, that happened overnight, but it has been a long build. It’s just the awards and the recognition have all come in an accelerated fashion.”
Georges Chakra suit, House of Emmanuele earrings.
Joelle Grace Taylor
One line in particular from Wilson’s acceptance speech for female artist of the year at the ACM Awards last May encapsulates her personal credo: “If you’re going to be a dreamer, you better be a doer.” And Wilson is nothing if not a doer. On this late-March morning, she has flown 14 hours on a commercial flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, landing at LAX at 7:30 a.m. and coming straight to Pasadena for this interview and its associated all-day photo shoot, even showering on location instead of first stopping at her hotel.
Getting a caffeine jolt from an iced brown sugar oatmeal shaken espresso from Starbucks, she sits on a bench in the lush backyard as birds chirp. Clad in a cozy, loose-fitting sweatsuit, Wilson pulls her knees up against her chest to shield against the slight morning chill. She’s not wearing any makeup, her long blonde hair sticking out from under a ball cap, her bare feet still sunburned from sitting in a Sydney park.
Wilson’s relaxed vibe contrasts markedly with the electric buzz she says she’s still feeling from the reception she received in Australia. “All I could think about was little 9-year-old Lainey just wanting to write music about my life and how in the world could somebody on the other end of the world relate to it,” she reflects. “It just goes to show you that we’re all a lot more alike than you think.”
Growing up in tiny Baskin, La. (population 200), 9 was a big age for Wilson. It was when she wrote her first song, “Lucky Me,” while at a sleepover with a friend; when she got her first horse; when she went to the Grand Ole Opry for the first time, where she saw Bill Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Phil Vassar and Little Jimmy Dickens. “My daddy actually still has the ticket stub,” she says. “He put it in the lockbox.” And it was when she first knew that one day she would perform on that stage. “My sister was asleep on the church pew like she could care less,” she says. “I remember eating popcorn and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this.’ ”
She worked her way through high school as a Hannah Montana impersonator, learning how to entertain audiences at places like St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis and realizing she was “born” to perform in the process. Wilson, who calls herself a “fifth-generation’s farmer’s daughter,” combined that desire with the whatever-it-takes work ethic she inherited from her father. “It definitely has to do with coming from a farming community, getting up and planting those seeds and watching them grow,” she says of the diligence she applies to her career. “I really do view it as ‘I’m a song farmer.’ I just try to take care of what I have, and I take a lot of pride in what we’ve grown.”
By 2011, Wilson had moved to Nashville, where her career as a singer-songwriter started germinating. But with a traditional sound out of step with the pop-dominated country in vogue, she had to survive years of setbacks before reaping her first rewards. She hit a low point in 2014: On her third year living in a camper trailer, career stagnant, the man she was dating impregnated another woman, and Wilson’s producer, who was letting her live in his studio parking lot, died. “It was a lot of dark moments in my life,” she recalls, “and I just felt not worthy.”
(Years later, she would draw on that challenging time when she collaborated with Jelly Roll on “Save Me” and its desperate yearning-for-salvation theme. “I love Lainey’s ability to be vulnerable, and I wondered if that would translate on the song,” Jelly Roll says. “Lainey has such an authentic voice [that] I felt if she could connect with the song, then she could share these lyrics from a woman’s point of view.”)
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Still, even amid those struggles, there were bright spots, like when her pal Luke Combs cut a song they co-wrote for an EP he released before he got signed. (Wilson, who considers herself first and foremost a songwriter, has also co-written songs cut by Chrissy Metz, Flatland Cavalry and Thompson Square, among others.) While working on her songwriting, she also started developing a signature country-hippie look, with bell bottoms and a wide-brimmed hat, and her sound, which combined traditional country with a slight rock edge. Around 2017 — the year she inked her Sony Music Publishing deal and a year before she signed with Broken Bow — she began tagging her social media content with #bellbottomcountry. “I just felt like during that time people were having a hard time getting it — everything from the way that I dress to the way that I sound,” Wilson says. So she came up with her own clear explanation: “country with a flare.”
Half-jokingly, Wilson says she succeeded by outlasting the gatekeepers. “I think we just kind of shoved it down their throat enough to where they’re like, ‘All right, she ain’t going away,’ ” she says.
In an era when women still struggle to get airplay on terrestrial country radio, that has been no small feat. As her popularity has grown, Wilson has flexed different facets of her artistry — and scored radio hits — by both releasing solo songs and featuring on duets with male artists. After “Things a Man Oughta Know” became her first Country Airplay No. 1 in September 2021, she featured on Cole Swindell’s “Never Say Never,” which reached No. 1 in April 2022. The following April, her “Heart Like a Truck” peaked at No. 2, as did “wait in the truck,” her collaboration with HARDY the same month. She then returned to the top spot with “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Save Me” in October and December, respectively.
“Honestly, there was not a grand strategy of alternating singles with collabs,” Loba says. “Quite simply, it has been those acts reaching out to Lainey with great songs she connected with, and the timing has fortunately worked out well.”
As Wilson’s career gained momentum, Loba says that — in addition to making sure her music was where it needed to be — her team focused on stressing Wilson’s authenticity, which was on ample display in her charming, gracious Grammy acceptance speech earlier this year. “She’s not copying anyone else,” Loba says. “At the end of the day, everyone can see her heart and is cheering for her.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on March 26, 2024 at Paradise Pasadena in Pasadena, Calif. Kelsey Randall shirt and pants, Double D Ranch boots, Brit West necklace and cuff, Minnie Lane earrings and Tenee Estelle Trading Co & Modern Myth Jewelry rings.
Joelle Grace Taylor
Long-awaited success hasn’t diminished Wilson’s ambition — when asked if she wants to headline stadiums in five years, she answers three — but she is temporarily pulling back on the throttle just a little.
After spending only 15 nights in her own bed in 2022 and then playing 180 shows in 2023, she has trimmed her itinerary to a more manageable 80 concerts in 2024; following brief Australian and European runs earlier this year, she’ll mostly play North American festivals and headlining shows (other than opening for The Rolling Stones in Chicago on June 30) for the remainder of the year. “I feel like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel when you hear, ‘100 less,’ ” she says. But with new opportunities come fresh obligations.
“As this career grows, I feel like there’s a lot of other jobs that come along with it,” Wilson says. Her expanding list of brand partnerships includes Wrangler, American Greetings, Stanley, Tractor Supply and Coors — and she even appeared on the fifth and most recent season of Yellowstone in late 2022. (Wilson doesn’t know what her future on the show holds, but she would like to return if her schedule allows.) This summer, Wilson will open a three-story bar, Bell Bottoms Up, in Nashville’s entertainment district in partnership with TC Restaurant Group.
“She won’t say no, so we have to for her,” Loba says. “Since we signed her, she has not left a moment unscheduled. Every time I see her, the only question I [usually] have is ‘How are you?’ We both come from farm families. We’re not taught how to rest in farm families. From management to agency to label to publicist, I think we’re getting better at creating that space for her.”
“Last year was a hard year,” Wilson says. “It was the best year, and I don’t know if we’ll ever have a year like that again. But everybody was tired by the end of it — not just me, but my whole crew. Everything we’ve said we would do, we did it. And then bigger opportunities would come, and you can’t pass them up either.”
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Joelle Grace Taylor
And at a time when she could understandably be focused on her own material, she wants to leave space to work with other artists. With her appearance on “Wilted Rose” off The Black Crowes’ new Happiness Bastards, she became the first act to ever feature with the storied blues-rockers. The group’s Rich Robinson tells Billboard he and brother Chris reached out to Wilson because “her voice is so powerful. You can tell that she really feels what she is singing.”
Wilson says she would “love to collaborate with Victoria Monét,” especially after seeing her perform at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party in February. “She just turned it on,” Wilson continues. “At the Grammys, her [victory] speeches were from the heart. I was like, ‘I want to be her friend.’ ” And she hopes to work with new pal Lana Del Rey, though she hasn’t written for Del Rey’s country album that’s due later this year.
As the demands on her time increase, Wilson is leaning into time-honored practices to help her cope. In Australia, she started waking up an hour early to pray, journal and meditate. “I do sound a little hippie-dippy, but it works for me,” she says. “Just kind of starting my day with an attitude of gratitude.”
She vows to do the same when her WME-booked Country’s Cool Again tour starts May 31 in Nashville. “I have no choice because it has made me feel so good and grounded,” she says. When following that routine, “the shows have gone better. I feel more levelheaded. I got to treat myself like an athlete.”
Over the last two years, one word seems to keep coming up around Wilson.
“Whether I’m running into somebody and they’re saying, ‘Man, your life has been a whirlwind,’ or whether the word’s coming out of my mouth, or I open a book and see the word ‘whirlwind,’ it just seems to be surrounding me,” she says. “Whirlwinds cause turbulence that cause chaos. But at the end of the day, you figure out how to come back to the center.” Which is why it’s also the title of her third full-length Broken Bow album, out Aug. 23.
She describes Whirlwind as “the Western sister of Bell Bottom Country,” and lyrically more “introspective” than previous efforts: “I feel like it’s got a little bit more character [and] cinematic storytelling.” Wilson teamed again with producer Jay Joyce (who produced Bell Bottom Country and its predecessor, 2021’s Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’), but in a sign of her increasing clout, her road band plays on Whirlwind instead of the cast of studio musicians who typically appear on country albums. “We’ve played close to 400 shows in the past two-and-a-half years. I knew they could do it,” Wilson explains. “I felt like that’s where the magic was going to come from this time.”
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Joelle Grace Taylor
Wilson co-wrote all the songs on the album. While her sound still leans traditional and her voice has an old-fashioned twang, her lyrics usually avoid country’s common nostalgic bent and have separated her music from some of her contemporaries’. Longing for the imaginary good old days — whether in life or her music — isn’t her focus.
“It’s important for me to be proud of where I come from and the way that I was raised, but not dwell on it too much — because who really cares? Let’s take that and move forward with it,” she says. “That’s just how I like to view life. You just got to keep trucking along.”
While she has nothing against a light-hearted ditty — and has written a few herself, including “Hold My Halo” and “Straight Up Sideways”— as a songwriter, Wilson prioritizes depth. “I think about the songs that made me fall in love with country music and made a difference in my life,” she says, citing Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls,” Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All,” Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” and Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss’ “Whiskey Lullaby.” “I just think, ‘I’ve got to do that.’ Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a beer-drinking song, but even with that, I think you can dive a little deeper and get people to think a little bit.”
Listeners relate to the authenticity of Wilson’s writing, says her musical hero, Dolly Parton. “Even though Lainey is breathtakingly beautiful to look at, her true beauty comes from deep down where songs are born and written,” Parton tells Billboard. “People feel her heart and soul in what she writes because she knows what they know, feels what they feel and has the gift to present it in words. God bless her. He has and he will.”
The night after her Grammy win in February, Wilson was enjoying a celebratory dinner in Los Angeles with her manager, Red Light’s Mandelyn Monchick; Loba; and Broken Bow executive vp JoJamie Hahr when Loba mentioned his 6-year-old nephew was being picked on at school.
“Lainey goes, ‘I hate bullies. I’m going to go to his school and do show and tell and sing some songs and say what an amazing little guy he is… I can make a difference,’ ” Loba recalls. “She has just won [best country album], and the night after, she’s sitting there concerned about my nephew.”
Wilson is a people-pleaser by nature. Say something she agrees with and she looks straight at you, nods and says emphatically, “100%.” The effect is powerful — and that natural empathy has helped her connect with both fans and fellow artists. “Lainey is someone you can get in the foxhole with and get raw and real,” Jelly Roll says. “She is also a very grounded person, so if I’m ever overwhelmed, I know I can call her.”
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Joelle Grace Taylor
Wilson attributes that down-to-earth sensibility to her upbringing, though she admits she has had to work to maintain it as her star has risen: “I have fought tooth and nail to make sure that I am doing the things that make me feel like me, [like] calling my family at home, checking to see how the farm’s going and see if Daddy has planted his crops, [checking in] on my nephews, hanging out with my boyfriend on the porch and those kinds of things.”
She went public with her relationship with former pro football player Devlin “Duck” Hodges at the 2023 ACM Awards, but otherwise vociferously protects the privacy of herself and those around her. In her personal life, too, Wilson has looked to Parton — who has spoken about the importance of keeping some things to yourself when you’re sharing so much else with the world — as a guide.
“I think that was probably [about] her husband,” Wilson says. “When it comes to mine and Duck’s relationship, there’s going to be some things that we can’t escape and people are going to say and do whatever, but me and him are on the same page about the less we put out there, the less that we’re going to have to deal with people making anything up and saying anything. We want to keep that as sacred as we possibly can between me and him, and so far, it has worked for us.”
Wilson, whose first Broken Bow album features a song called “WWDD” (short for “What Would Dolly Do”), got to spend some time with — and glean some useful advice from — her inspiration last year at Dollywood. “She dove right in,” Wilson says of Parton. “She was like, ‘You got a good manager?’ And I was like, ‘Yep.’ She said, ‘Well, is he an a–hole?’ ” Wilson pointed to Monchick and said, “ ‘She’s a big a–hole.’ And [Dolly] said, ‘That’s all I needed to hear. That’s what you need.’ ”
Kelsey Randall shirt and pants, Double D Ranch boots, Brit West necklace and cuff, Minnie Lane earrings and Tenee Estelle Trading Co & Modern Myth Jewelry rings.
Joelle Grace Taylor
Parton has faith in Wilson’s ability to navigate fame’s tricky waters. “In this business, as in any other, you have to sacrifice and compromise to get things done,” she says. “But I believe Lainey, like myself, will never sacrifice her principles and values for a dollar bill.”
Another icon, Brooks, has also encouraged Wilson. After winning CMA entertainer of the year, she anticipated naysayers who believed her ascent had happened too quickly and that even her own doubts would creep in, but Brooks helped silence that inner critic. “He said, ‘I feel like you’ve got the keys to country music and you’re going to be driving it for a while.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, Lord. I hope I don’t wreck this thing,’ ” she jokes. “But when somebody like him says that to you, it does make you feel like, ‘OK, yeah, that imposter syndrome can just go kick rocks.’ ”
With that mindset, it’s easy to believe Wilson can do anything — and to understand why, at the end of the day, she sees herself as a cowgirl: rough and ready, and hanging on to the rollicking ride she’s on. “Being a cowgirl is digging in. Getting up, dusting your jeans off and not being scared to get your hands dirty,” she says. “I’m from a long line of cowgirls.”
This story will appear in the May 11, 2024, issue of Billboard.
When Lainey Wilson played Australia for the first time in March, she made sure to meet the country’s animal ambassadors: She held a koala; she pet a kangaroo. But it wasn’t all furry fun. “I got crapped on by a bird twice,” Wilson says in her thick Louisiana drawl, shaking her head in bemused disbelief. […]
NBC has given the green light to a series order for Reba McEntire‘s upcoming comedy Happy’s Place, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the series, McEntire portrays Bobbie, who inherits a restaurant after her father’s passing, but finds out that her new business partner in the venture is a half-sister she didn’t know she had (played by Belissa Escobedo). The show will join the network’s 2024-2025 season.
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Other castmembers include McEntire’s former Reba series cohort Melissa Peterman, as well as Tokala Black Elk, Rex Linn, Cheryl Francis Harrington and Pablo Castelblanco. Kevin Abbott is the writer on the series and will produce with Michael Hanel, Mindy Schultheis, McEntire and Julie Abbott, with the new series reuniting much of the team that produced six seasons of the series Reba from 2001-2007. Schultheis and Hanel were also executive producers on McEntire’s 2012-2013 series Malibu Country, while Abbott also contributed to the series.
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Recently, McEntire’s acting credits have also included roles on Young Sheldon, as well as portraying Sunny Barnes on season three of Big Sky, and her starring role in the Lifetime film Reba McEntire’s The Hammer. These are in addition to her role as a judge on the NBC singing competition The Voice.
In other McEntire news, the multi-faceted entertainer just released a new song, “I Can’t,” which she performed on The Voice. She will also serve as host for upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony, returning to guide the ACM Awards show for a record 17th time. During her career, McEntire has amassed 16 ACM Awards wins, and has earned nine nominations for the ACM’s entertainer of the year accolade, including notching a win in the category in 1995.
McEntire recently told Billboard of hosting the ACMs, “It’s a lot of fun. No. 1, you get to promote your new music, and No. 2, you get to go have fun with all your friends and buddies you’ve gotten to know over the past 45-50 years in the business, and you get to meet new people. It’s the best place to get to meet the new artists.”
Hear McEntire’s “I Can’t” below:
Jelly Roll made a hug stride in his fitness journey this week, completing his first-ever 5K alongside his wife, podcaster Bunnie XO.
The two stars ran a total of 3.1 miles together in the 2 Bears 5K hosted by comedians Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer, held in Los Angeles Tuesday (May 7) as part of the Netflix Is a Joke Fest. Afterward, the country star — who’s been open about his weight-loss journey — opened up about the emotional milestone in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, noting he lost “50- to 70-some pounds” while training for the event.
“I couldn’t walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January,” Jelly told the outlet, revealing he teared up after crossing the finish line. “So the fact that we got 3-point-whatever it was [miles], got it down, I feel really, really good about it.”
“I feel great, I’m a little tired,” he continued. “It was a little bit harder than I thought it was [going to be], but it’s awesome, man … I think the coolest thing is how many people stopped to tell us that they were motivated by us, other big guys. It was really cool to see that.”
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After the race, Bunnie shared a sweet video on TikTok of Jelly taking an ice bath alongside Segura and Kreischer. In the clip, she hops in with her husband as excited onlookers count down.
“The couples that finish the 5k together, cold plunge together,” she wrote in text over the video. She added in her caption, “What a beautiful day w/ beautiful ppl! So proud of my baby doing the 5k & losing 50 lbs to do it!”
The event comes a couple weeks after the entrepreneur told fans on TikTok that Jelly had quit social media because he was “so tired of being bullied about his f–king weight.” “My husband doesn’t show it to you guys, but I’m going to have a very vulnerable moment here,” she added at the time. “It hurts him.”
Later, the CMT Award-winner clarified that “it wasn’t just bullying” that led him to step away from the internet. “It was not only the toxicity of social media, but the addiction of it,” Jelly explained to Variety. “I was becoming too busy to waste hours of my life scrolling.”
See Bunnie’s TikTok below.
Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Jelly Roll, Old Dominion, Lady A, Riley Green, Ashley McBryde, Brothers Osborne and Walker Hayes took the stage on Saturday (May 4) at the 11th annual iHeartCountry Festival Presented by Capital One in Austin, Texas. Old Dominion kicked off the show with a performance including some some of their biggest hits “Song For […]
If given the chance, singer-songwriter Jelly Roll says he would be all in on becoming an American Idol judge.
Speaking with Audacy following his first set as part of the country music festival Stagecoach in Indio, Calif., Jelly Roll reacted to American Idol judge Katy Perry’s earlier comment recommending him as her replacement after she leaves her role as judge on the ABC music competition series after seven seasons.
“I gotta say, Jelly Roll was crazy when he came on the show,” the pop star had told E! News of the country artist, who served as an Idol mentor in April. “I was convinced at anything he said. He could run for president, he could be my pastor, I might go back to church for him. He could sell me anything.”
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While interviewing Jelly Roll backstage at Stagecoach, Audacy station KFRG’s Kelli & Guy asked about Perry’s comments and whether Jelly Roll would consider becoming an American Idol judge. “Of course!” he said. “Consider? I’ve accepted the job and they haven’t offered it.”
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“How cool is Katy, though,” he added. “When we were talking backstage the other day, she tells me this, just me and her, and my wife of course, everybody’s watching. She says, ‘I’m telling you, you need to replace me.’ I always love people that are the same way publicly as they are privately, ’cause some people will tell you how great you are privately, but then won’t post your album. But for her then immediately, first interview she gets asked, brings me up, I’m like, ‘I love you, Katy!’”
Jelly Roll recently appeared as a guest mentor on the April 8 episode of American Idol and performed his song “Halfway to Hell” from his 2023 album Whitsitt Chapel.
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Jelly Roll, who is married to Bunnie XO, also spoke of the possibility of doing a reality television show together. “What my dream is, is to get into scripted television. I think that’d be cool, if we told our story in like, a 10-part series,” he said, also noting that a duet with Bunnie XO would also be realistic.
The country star is vying for numerous trophies at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards on May 16, including the coveted entertainer of the year honor.
Watch Jelly Roll’s interview below:
The 30th anniversary edition of the TODAY Show‘s summer Citi Concert Series will kick off on May 24 with a show by rock trio Wallows. The long-running morning show event will feature an eclectic mix of rock, pop, country, Latin and hip-hop acts performing at TODAY Plaza at Rockefeller Center including Anitta, Meghan Trainor, Kehlani, Lainey Wilson, Gracie Abrams, Bleachers and Rauw Alejandro.
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Viewers interested in attending one of the shows can register for Fan passes beginning today (May 7) here; Fan Passes allow priority access to the show before general admission opens. Those without Fan Passes can queue up in the G.A. line on the morning of each show for admission if space allows.
Other acts slated to appear this summer include: Maggie Rogers, Little Big Town & Sugarland, Chance the Rapper, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, LL Cool J and more acts to be announced at a later date.
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Last summer’s lineup was equally stacked with shows by the Jonas Brothers, Ed Sheeran, Niall Horan, Kim Petras, Karol G, Brad Paisley, TWICE, Reneé Rapp and Jung Kook, among others.
Check out the full announced list of the 2024 TODAY Show Citi Concert Series performers below.
May 24 Wallows
May 31 — Anitta
June 10 — Meghan Trainor
June 21 — Kehlani
June 25 — Lainey Wilson
June 28 — Gracie Abrams
July 4 — Bleachers
July 12 — Rauw Alejandro
August 9 — Maggie Rogers
August 12 — Little Big Town & Sugarland
August 16 — Chance The Rapper
August 23 — Thomas Rhett
Sept. 27 — Chris Stapleton
TBD — LL Cool J
“‘Austin’ was written out of a lot of rage,” Dasha tells Billboard in late April. At a Los Angeles session in early 2023, the singer-songwriter began working on a different song with Adam Wendler, Cheyenne Rose Arnspiger and Kenneth Heidelman, which proved unfruitful. After Dasha suggested taking a quick break, she poured out a story of a tumultuous relationship; when the break ended, the group turned her heartbreak into her breakout smash.
With its irresistible groove and defiant storytelling, the single arrived as an independent release last November, and appeared on her sophomore album, What Happens Now?, released in February. “Austin” details the country artist hightailing to L.A. and leaving her no-good lover a drunken mess in Texas. Though she’d never actually been to Austin, at the time, Dasha says that “all the emotions that drove the story were real to me.”
They’ve resonated with listeners too: the song became Dasha’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry in March, since reaching a No. 28 high. It has also peaked at No. 3 on Hot Country Songs and registered 86.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams through May 2, according to Luminate.
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Ashley Osborn
Born Dasha Novotny, the 24-year-old has been writing songs and performing for over a decade. The San Luis Obispo, Calif., native started performing at local coffee shops at 10, and three years later, her father gifted her a professional studio session for her birthday to record one of her songs. “That experience at such a young age was pivotal,” she says. “I feel like I got an internship to my artistry. I was ready for this spotlight.”
After finishing high school, Dasha attended Belmont University in Nashville, though she dropped out in 2020 amid the pandemic to focus on her music career. She independently released pop-R&B singles “Don’t Mean a Thing” and “None of My Business” that year before releasing a project of remixes and her first EP, $hiny Things, in 2021. Her pop-oriented debut album Dirty Blonde followed in 2023, but it wasn’t until “Austin” 10 months later that listeners flocked en masse, prompting Dasha to further explore the blend of catchy pop-country fusion as an artistic sweet spot.
Before its official release, “Austin” drew the attention of Type A Management’s Alex Lunt, who had been looking for an act just like Dasha. “I had been working in the urban space and in rock, but I wanted to work in country and everyone knew it,” he says. He has been managing her brother’s band, Beauty School Dropout, for several years already, and after her brother sent Lunt a few of Dasha’s demos — including “Austin” — he soon became her manager as well.
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Ashley Osborn
Alex Lunt and Dasha photographed April 25, 2024 at The Comedy Chateau in Los Angeles. Dasha wears a Prada top, jacket, skirt and belt.
Ashley Osborn
Prior to the track’s release, Lunt connected her with the indie label Version III, as well as PR company King Publicity, in anticipation of broadening the song’s reach. Dasha created a line dance timed to the song’s chorus and worked with a handful of influencers, including Zoey Aune, to create shortform videos to showcase it. “The goal was to target very specific demographics upfront: the female country audience,” Lunt says.
Clips began to roll out in early 2023, with one such video on Aune’s TikTok account featuring the influencer dancing with Dasha that went viral (with 29.4 million views on the platform to date). “That was the video that started the massive tidal wave,” Lunt recalls. A week later, Dasha posted herself line dancing in a corral solo; that video has since garnered 68.5 million TikTok views.
“I remember feeling really nervous that it would be cringey,” Dasha recalls. “I think the reason it worked so well is because it came from such a fun place and I feel like there’s this gap in community on TikTok right now, so people are down to connect any way they can. When you go to the club and you know the dance, you can participate in the community.”
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The song’s surge on social media sparked a label frenzy, with Dasha signing to Warner Records in March. (At the time of the announcement, she told Billboard, “Warner felt like they had the most heart. They were so passionate about my songwriting, which is my priority.”) The next month, she inked a deal with WME for booking. Media appearances followed, including Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a performance at the CMT Music Awards (notably held in Austin), and a set at the country music festival Stagecoach in Indio, California.
As the single continues to build, the team is now putting its efforts toward stabilizing it stateside — recently promoting it to country radio — and across the globe. “Austin” reached a No. 23 high on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart on April 27, with Lunt revealing they have since targeted Scandinavian, German and Australian creators.
“I think the magic of this new country sound is that I can incorporate those big pop hooks,” says Dasha. “The first time you listen to it, you can sing it back. I think that’s why it’s working so well overseas. But then also it has a super vivid lyric, so it’s like a movie in your head.”
While Dasha works on a deluxe version of What Happens Now?, she believes the biggest opportunity to grow the song is performing it live: “Now that I finally have an audience listening, we can spend the time and energy and make this into something really, really magical.”
Mark Gong top and pants, Petit Moments necklace.
Ashley Osborn
A version of this story will appear in the May 11, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Grammy winner and reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson is set to become the latest country star with a bar in downtown Nashville.
This summer, Wilson will open the three-story restaurant and bar Bell Bottoms Up in partnership with TC Restaurant Group on 120 3rd Ave. South, in the location that used to house the now-closed FGL House.
The 27,000-square-foot venue will feature two stages, four bars and a mezzanine floor featuring a bar lounge overlooking the first-floor stage and a dining area. The rooftop level will be home to a 1970s western-inspired aesthetic, with a dance floor, disco-inspired decor and frozen drinks. Guests will also get a look at Wilson’s Louisiana roots through a basement-level space set to open this summer, which will include craft cocktails and a live music space.
Meanwhile, the bar’s menu will offer several Cajun-inspired entrees and bar foods, curated by Wilson in partnership with TC Restaurant Group’s vp of culinary development, chef Tomasz Wosiak. The menu will include Wilson’s favorite salads, as well as crawfish, shrimp boils and boudin, in addition to a cocktail menu that features favorites such as whiskey, experiential group drinks and classic drinks.
“I’m so excited to announce Bell Bottoms Up, which will be opening later this summer,” Wilson said in a statement. “I’ve always wanted to create a destination for all my fans to visit and create new memories at, in the heart of country music city. So, to have a permanent destination in Nashville, is such a dream come true. I can’t wait for all my Wild Horses to get to experience my home away from home.”
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“We are honored that Lainey has trusted us to deliver a venue that is faithful to her story, fans, and love for country music,” said Grant Burlingame, vice president of operations at TC Restaurant Group. “Fans gravitate to Lainey because of her authentic, down-to-earth personality, and Bell Bottoms Up will be a representation of her character and legacy. Lainey Wilson is one of the biggest names in country music, and we’re proud to partner with her on a venue that celebrates her genuine mark on the industry and brings another female artist to the forefront of Nashville’s Entertainment District.”
TC Restaurant Group is known for its work on several star bars in Nashville, including Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar and Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa.
Meanwhile, Wilson is gearing up for the release of her Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country documentary on Hulu and is nominated for several honors at next week’s ACM Awards on May 16.
Miranda Lambert is set to blend two of her favorites — music and dogs — when she launches an upcoming benefit concert Oct. 5 in Nashville, all in an effort to raise funds to help animals. The five-time ACM Awards album of the year winner will welcome many of her animal-loving friends and fellow musicians […]