Lainey Wilson on the ‘Yellowstone’ Finale, Her Friendship with Taylor Sheridan and the Joy of Giant Bell-Bottom Jeans

In 2022, country musician Lainey Wilson showed up on set in Montana to film Yellowstone, the show about a farm family that became a surprise hit during the pandemic. Wilson was already rising as a Nashville star when she first took on the role of Abby, a soulful country singer and Dutton family friend, the character’s showrunner Taylor Sheridan wrote with her in mind. Still, it was Wilson’s first acting gig — if you don’t count her summer job back in high school.

“I guess I had to play a bit when I impersonated Hannah Montana at birthday parties!” she said. “But when it comes to learning lines, I had never done anything like this. It goes back to Taylor Sheridan believing in me and believing that I could and seeing something in me before I saw it in myself.”

When she returns for the season finale on Sunday—she has been mum about the scriptbut she reportedly filmed a big concert scene back in August– she returns as a much bigger star. In 2023, she became the first woman since Taylor Swift to win the coveted Entertainer of the Year Award at the CMAs, and in May 2024, Reba McEntire invited her to participate in the Grand Ole Opry alongside legends such as Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, and Keith Urban, in the country music pantheon.

“It means a lot to me that Reba would even accept the opportunity to do something like that for me. Her and I, we’ve formed a friendship since then, which is really weird for me too, to say that Reba is my friend, ” Wilson said. “If someone like Reba thinks I’ll stand the test of time, you’re damn right I will!”

By Eric Ryan Anderson.

Wilson, 32, is part of a wave of country musicians born in the early 1990s who take as much cues from previous generations of country stars as they do from the anti-establishment outlaw musicians of the 1970s and 1980s along with modern rock and pop. Wilson says she’s excited to be part of a larger movement brewing in Nashville’s historic Music Row district. “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t think it’s slowing down anytime soon,” she adds. “It’s steady, just driving trucks, and it’ll be cool to see where country music is in 10 years.”

Vanity Fair: How did you initially get involved in Yellowstone? Do you remember when you realized it was becoming a sensation?

Lainey Wilson: I guess I didn’t even realize how important it really was or how beneficial it was until a few of my songs ended up on the show. Then people came to the shows, even if it was a handful of them. They’d be like, “I found you through Yellowstone.” And I mean, okay, these rankings do something. Long story short, Taylor Sheridan and I just became friends. We met at horse harness competition like he does out in Vegas and we really bonded over horses. I grew up on the back of a horse and we had a lot in common and I think it was just a kind of mutual respect for each other. Two completely different worlds, but we were like, “Hey, I see you.”

He called me a few years later and said, “Hey, I’ve got this idea. I want to create a character just for you. We’re going to name her Abby. And you’re basically just going to be yourself. Maybe you say and do some things that you wouldn’t normally do, but you’ll be able to dress how you dress and sing your songs.” It was such a blessing because it really put a face to a name, especially at a time when people might know the song on the radio, but they just didn’t know who sang it or what they looked like Yellowstone did for me.

Were you surprised by the wider impact it had? Your song “Country’s Cool Again” from earlier this year talks about how everybody wants to be a cowboy now.