Lainey Wilson Talks Whirlwind Album and Being a Hannah Montana Impersonator (Extended)

-Welcome back. Congrats on the new album. What a year you've been having, by the way. -It has been wild. -Can I just go through a couple of things first? Your last album, "Bell Bottom Country," won Best Country Album at the Grammys. Congratulations. That's a big deal. -Not too bad. -You just recently received the highest honor in country music. You became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Come on! That's, like -- -That takes the cake. -That's iconic. -That takes the cake. -And yesterday, you were nominated for four CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, which you also won last year. Lainey Wilson, welcome. That's what I'm talking about. -My hype man. -That's what I'm talking about. -My hype man. -I'm your hype man. -You are. -Thanks for sitting down and talking, because I know you've been on the show performing a couple times, but now I get to talk to you and find out where it all began. I've heard stories that you used to perform in a Walmart, in the aisles. -I would play anywhere that they let me play. I'm talking about nursing homes, flatbed trailers. Anywhere that -- My parents would be like, "Hey, Lainey, sing that song you just wrote last week for anybody. -Is that right? -And I'd just do it. -How young were you when you started writing and performing? -I wrote my first song at 9 years old and I got bit by the bug. I think it's because I'm from a town of 180 people, Baskin, Louisiana, little speed trap. [ Light cheering ] -There's five of them. Yeah, five people -- -It's probably my family. -Yeah. -It's probably family. I love y'all. But, yeah, where I'm from, being such, like, a small community, we sit around and we tell stories and we listen to stories and we hear the same ones over and over again, but they get better every single time you hear them. -Yeah, they keep embellishing, yeah. -Yeah, yeah. My daddy tells this story about, like, hitting the fence on his horse and flying 5 feet. The next time he tells the story, he's like, "And then I flew through the air 10 feet." And then, "I flew through 15 feet." But, yeah, I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to make people feel something. -I think we have a photo of your first CD that -- Is this your first? You made this, and -- -Oh, my gosh. Lord help us. -Yeah. -Yep. -And you would sell these? What would you do with these CDs? -Well, nobody was buying them. -You were trying to sell them. -I'll tell you that. I was trying to sell them, though. I was handing them out like candy. It was like Halloween. I was, like, anybody giving them to neighbors, friends, family, anybody who would take it. My granny actually printed these little pictures out and put them on all of the CDs. -Come on, granny. Come on. -Yeah, it was a family affair. -Do you remember any of these songs? Do you remember "Country Girls Rule"? -I do, I do. You want me to do a little bit of it? -Could you? [ Cheers and applause ] -It's not good. Y'all are clapping right now, but you might not be clapping here in a minute. It's funny. Okay, so one of the verses, I think it says... ♪ We wear our jeans just a little too tight ♪ ♪ Tank tops, spaghetti straps, looking just right ♪ ♪ Long hair, take a dare anywhere ♪ ♪ Country girls rule ♪ ♪ Yeah, country girls rule ♪ -Oh my God! Come on. [ Cheers and applause ] That's actually great. -But my favorite line that I didn't sing for y'all, because I don't want nobody stealing this line, is... ♪ Pea-picking, finger-licking, butt-kicking ♪ -Oh, wow! That's some good lyrics right there. -That's some good stuff right there, right? -I found this online, and this has been out, but I just wanted to show everyone that you were a Hannah Montana impersonator. And -- [ Cheers and applause ] I love this. -He's not lying. -But this is you as Hannah Montana. -That's me as Hannah Montana. -And that's fantastic. -That's it. Check it out, y'all. I mean, the wig. -But how fun was this? Did you change, like, from Lainey Wilson to Hannah Montana or... -Well, a lot of the times, I would open the show as Lainey Wilson and then I would run behind a tree or whatever it was and put on my Hannah Montana get-up. So, I did this from 8th grade to 12th grade. I did like three or four birthday parties a weekend. -No way. -Oh, yeah. -That's what I'm talking about. -It's -- Yeah. -And then, full-circle moment, you get to meet Miley Cyrus and perform -- -I did, I did, I did. -Perform for her at the Disney Legends thing. What was it like -- Have you met Miley or -- -No, that was the very first time, very first time I had ever met her. And it was just really cool to be able to shake her hand and tell her how much Hannah Montana meant to me. I mean, truly, like, I think for a lot of little girls, but especially for what I wanted to do in the future, like, I mean, it put me through the wringer. Like, I've been touring since eighth grade, so it really, like -- it gave me an opportunity to see if this is actually something that I wanted to do. And I owe it to Hannah Montana. -Aww! That's a -- Thank you, Miley. Let's talk about your new album, "Whirlwind." Did you always know what the title would be? -No, but I knew what my life has been lately. -Yeah, Yeah, exactly, right? So it's perfect. It is a whirlwind. -It has been -- It's been crazy. But I will tell you, writing this record and recording this record, I got to record this record with my band, and I'm very, very proud of it. But making this music, it, like, brought me home during a time of my life that just felt like it was constantly changing. And even right now still, I feel like my life is a whirlwind, but I'm figuring out how to hold on a little bit more, you know? -Yeah, you are. -Yeah. -And you're performing for us tonight, which I appreciate. Thank you so much for doing that. Do you -- [ Cheers and applause ] Before you perform, do you have a pre-show ritual? -Well, you know I do. -Yeah, I do know. -Do you want to do one with me? -I do. But what is it called again? It's called the -- -Well, okay, so, most of the time, I do this thing called holler and swaller. But we're not doing that. -Okay. Alright. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. We're not doing -- -Instead, we're gonna do this new thing that we started doing called the squat and shot. Okay? So, we're gonna, like, drop it low, and then you're gonna take a shot. -Oh, really? -Yeah. And we're going to see if you can get back up. -Why do you squat? -I mean, just to see if -- you know, if your pants are good. And I'll tell you what -- these Wranglers -- which, by the way, I got a Wrangler collection. -Dude, I mean, come on. This is the Wrangler? It looks gorgeous. -It's going to be a part of my collection. -Isn't that crazy? -Yes. I have a lot to talk about. But, anyway, we're gonna do the squat and shot. -But, I mean, you think about that young girl that was doing that -- those in the Walmart aisles, and now you have, actually, your own aisle of Wrangler stuff. I mean, you actually -- You're living the dream, bud. -We're living it. -Alright, here's a shot. What have we got? Some whiskey here? -Alright. -Alright. Now, what do I do? -Come up here. -Okay. -Come on. -I'm gonna do a squat and shot. Let's do this. -Alright. Are you ready? -I don't know. -Are you gonna need, like, a Life Alert or something to get back up? -All I know is that I can't turn around once we play this game. These are real tight. This is from two seasons ago, yeah. -We're gonna -- Yeah, get it going, get it going. ♪♪ Unh, unh, unh, unh. Ready? You're gonna squat. -Yep. -Go. One, two, three, squat! Now get up. Shot! [ Cheers and applause ] -Yes! Come on, now! Who's better than you? Lainey Wilson, everybody! "Whirlwind" is out now. Lainey's performing when we come back. Stick around, everybody.