Lainey Wilson certainly got the last laugh.

The Louisiana native has obviously found her stride and been pretty much everywhere over the last couple years, and just put out her impressive fifth studio album Whirlwind this past Friday.

Her music gets better with every release, and I have loved watching her career grow over the years, because she has certainly earned it.

Lainey lived in a camper for several years when she first moved to Nashville, and she worked at realizing her dreams for over 10 years before she hit it big, so to speak, the way she is now. And let’s just say, there were plenty of people who tried to discourage her from continuing with music along the way…

On an episode of Tracy Lawrence’s TL’s Road House podcast from 2022, Lainey recalled a visit to a radio station with a country DJ that didn’t exactly go the way she’d hoped:

“We went to this one radio station, we walk in, you know, I’ve got my guitar on my back. We’re about to go in there, play him some music. And of course, you know, he made us wait in the foyer for about 45 minutes to show us who’s boss.

Then we go up to his room and he said, ‘You should’ve just left your guitar in the car. I don’t want you to play for me.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m gonna fight this man at some point. We gonna fight, we gonna wad up.’

He said, ‘I wanna hear what it sounds like through my computer speakers.’ And I said, ‘Okay, fair enough. That’s what’s gonna be played on the radio, that’s fine.’” 

Fine, except for the fact that he was using such outdated equipment that there was barely any sound quality whatsoever… and after he listened to her song “Dirty Looks” twice, he leaned over his desk, looked her dead in the eyes, and like a total a**, told her she was “just not good”:

“So he cranks it up, this is my first single, it was called ‘Dirty Looks,’ and he plays it through his like 1995 computer speaker. So it literally sounds like this… Like, you can’t understand a dang word.

He listens to it twice, and then he leans up out of his, you know, big ‘ol relaxing looking chair, he said ‘Lainey, you’re just not good.’ I knew you would be shocked! And he said, ‘I hope you don’t get real upset when you leave here and start crying and stuff.’ That’s what he told me.”

And Tracy is left in total shock at this point, with his jaw on the floor… though Lainey took it like a total boss, and didn’t even bat an eyelash while basically telling the DJ to shove it:

“And then I leaned across his desk and I said, ‘So and so, out of the 10 years I’ve been in Nashville, you telling me that ain’t sh*t. Period. If anything, it just makes me want it that much worse.’”

A QUEEN move, and that attitude and determination is exactly what I love about Lainey.

And like I said, she has the last laugh, because I’d bet $100, if that guy’s still on the radio, he’s certainly playing her music now because she has a whopping seven #1 hits to her name at this point.

You can watch the clip here, and I’d highly recommend doing so:

And also, “Dirty Looks” is an awesome song and that radio guy needs to get some taste:

Maybe Lainey should’ve played him this one too…

“Middle Finger”

And the full podcast episode with Tracy Lawrence: