Country singer Lainey Wilson was in shock after being nominated for nine CMA Awards.
“Holy moly y’all. Someone pinch me. I can’t believe my eyes. 🥹,” Wilson, 31, wrote via Instagram on Thursday, September 7. “I’m so proud of everything we’ve done this year for my own music and these collabs with my brothers @hardy and @jellyroll615. Thank y’all for having me on these songs ❤️.”
The singer continued: “Being nominated in each of these categories amongst my friends means the world to me. And the coveted Entertainer Of The Year category?! It’s absolutely surreal. We bust our butts out there on the road every dang night to give y’all the best show possible and I have the time of my life doing it. All I gotta say is thank y’all. I love country music 🤘🏻.”
Wilson had the most nominations out of every artist for the second year in a row. She has been nominated in categories including Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year. In 2022, Wilson took home the awards for New Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year; the latter of which she beat out Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.
Aside from Wilson, other big names in country nominated at this year’s CMAs include Kelsea Ballerini for Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen — with three nominations each — and Zach Bryan for New Artist of the Year.
Wilson — who released her hit album Bell Bottom Country in 2022 and starred as a special guest on Luke Combs’ tour — also made headlines when she made her acting debut in season 5 of Yellowstone, which premiered in November 2022. Her character, Abby, struck up a romance with Ian Bohen’s character, Ryan.
“[The show’s creator Taylor Sheridan] had put a few of my songs in the show and then invited me out to Vegas to play a horse-riding competition, and that’s where I got to meet him,” Wilson shared with Us Weekly in April. “[We] became buddies and, you know, I knew the friendship would lead to something. I didn’t know it necessarily meant me being in the show.”
She continued: “He called me last February and he said, ‘I want to create a character specifically for you, and I want you to wear your bell bottoms. I want you to sing your own songs and be yourself but go by a musician named Abby.”
Although she enjoyed starring on the show, Wilson admitted that she would never give up music to pursue acting full-time.
“I will never not make songwriting my priority because the songwriting is what has given me all the rest of these opportunities,” she told Us at the time.
The 2023 CMA Awards air live Wednesday, November 8 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
For more from Nashville, check out Us Weekly‘s VIP Guide to Music City.
