LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 26: EDITORIAL USE ONLY Lainey Wilson attends the 2025 American Music Awards … More
Country star Lainey Wilson is being honored with a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum announced Tuesday that it is honoring the hitmaking singer, songwriter and musician with the new exhibit Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails. In May, Wilson won her second consecutive Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year award. In total, Wilson has won 16 ACM Awards.
The exhibit will open at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on July 18 and run through June 30, 2026.
“It’s a dream come true to have my own exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and such an incredible honor to be included next to so many of my heroes and legendary artists,” Wilson said in a statement from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
“These past few years have been a complete whirlwind, and it’s going to be really amazing to see the whole journey captured in the exhibit, along with some special items from growing up in Louisiana,” Wilson added. “I can’t wait to see how it turned out and for my family, friends and fans to check it out.”
Wilson’s hits include Things a Man Oughta Know,” “Heart Like a Truck” and “Watermelon Moonshine.” In addtion to winning the Entertainer of the Year honor at the 2025 ACM Awards in May, Wilson won trophies for Female Artist of the Year, Artist-Songwriter of the Year and Album of the Year for Whirlwind.
On May 26, Wilson also performed at the American Music Awards in Las Vegas.
What Lainey Wilson Items Will Be Displayed At The Exhibit?
Several items from Lainey Wilson’s life and career will be on display at the exhibit honoring the country star at the Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails exhibit. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum said in the announcement that the exhibit will include:
- The first tooled leather saddle Wilson used as a child.
- The Montana Silversmiths custom-made silver and gold belt buckle — engraved with the brand of her family’s farm in Baskin, Louisiana, and ornamented with rhinestones — that Wilson wore to the Country Music Association Awards in 2022.
- Sixteen-year-old Wilson’s journal, where she wrote, “My dream is to become a country singer/songwriter. I know I can do it.”
- A program for Baskin School’s kindergarten graduation listing Wilson’s first public performance, when she sang “Butterfly Kisses.”
- One of Wilson’s first hats, given to her by a fellow musician who is also a hatmaker.
- A Go Vicki! fringed jacket belonging to Wilson’s mother, which Wilson wore when she performed at Saddlebags, a country music venue in Savannah, Georgia, on February 9, 2018.
- A Wrangler trench coat, denim vest and jeans — all embellished with rhinestones — and the Charlie 1 Horse by Lainey Wilson hat she wore during her halftime performance at the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2024.
- The sequined tank top Wilson wore while impersonating Hannah Montana in the late 2000s.
- The floral-pattern shirt, Cat O’ Nine studded bell bottoms and rhinestone-embellished Kippys belt Wilson wore during her debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry, Feb. 14, 2020.
- The rhinestone-embellished Wrangler vest; Wrangler jeans, accented with feathers and rhinestones; and Rotate metallic bustier Wilson wore at her “Country’s Cool Again” performance at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on June 1, 2024.
- The Wrangler denim vest and studded jeans Wilson wore in her role as Abby in the series finale of “Yellowstone,” when she performed “Hang Tight Honey” on location at Billy Bob’s Texas, a historic country music venue in Fort Worth.
- The Dolce & Gabbana rawhide leather shirt and Alice + Olivia suede bell bottoms Wilson wore during the photo shoot for her 2024 album, Whirlwind.
- The Norma Kamali-designed patchwork-pattern blazer and matching bell bottoms Wilson wore when she made her first appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” May 26, 2022.
- The Carolina Herrera-designed strapless satin bell-bottom jumpsuit with ruffled pant hems Wilson wore on the red carpet at the Country Music Association Awards in 2023.
In its summary of the hitmaker’s career, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum noted in a statement, “Wilson grew up in Baskin, Louisiana … riding horses and four-wheelers and swimming in nearby Big Creek with her older sister.
“Wilson envisioned a career as a country artist and started working to make it happen from a young age — singing publicly for the first time at her kindergarten graduation and writing songs for fun by the time she was 10. As a teenager, she learned how to handle herself in front of audiences through performances, pageants and local talent competitions.”
Information about the exhibit and how to get tickets to the museum are available on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum website.
