Award-winning country star Lainey Wilson will be the subject of a documentary special being produced by Robin Roberts‘ production unit at ABC News Studios, to be seen on Hulu, with a premiere date set for May 29.
The Roberts-led division has several such projects in development. The host indicated that the doc-style specials will focus of telling the stories of empowered women. ““I look forward to telling stories about talented women who are strong and authentic,” Roberts said in a statement. “Lainey is definitely one of those women, and I can’t wait to share her uplifting story with audiences around the world.”
Wilson has been one of the big success stories of country music over the past two years, leading up to her becoming a surprise winner of the top award at last November’s CMA Awards, entertainer of the year, among five awards she won that night. This year, her awards streak has continued apace, with Wilson picking up the Grammy for best country album, a People’s Choice Award for favorite female artist, and just last week, favorite female video at the CMT Music Awards. This past week, it was also announced that she is nominated for five ACM Awards, including entertainer of the year.Wilson’s personal story — which has been far from an overnight-success saga — is a compelling one, and the Hulu special will include interviews with the Louisiana native’s family members as well as offering behind-the-scenes glimpses from her concerts.
“It’s such an honor to be a part of this project,” Wilson said. “Thank you to Robin and ABC News Studios for helping bring light to my story throughout the past year. I can’t wait for everyone to watch.”
Mike Kelley, head of ABC News Studios, extolled Roberts’ role in the project, saying, “Robin has a passion for telling stories about the human experience. This project gets to the heart of the triumphs and challenges in Lainey’s journey to the top of country music. We can’t wait to share it with the Hulu audience.”
The special has Jonathan Blakely as its executive producer and Katie Conway as senior producer.
ABC News Studios has already produced a special on the other big mainstream country breakout story of the last two years, Jelly Roll. Other projects to come out of the division recently include “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” “Sound of the Police,” “The Lady Bird Diaries” and “Aftershock,” plus Andrew McCarthy’s upcoming “Brats.”
Wilson is already familiar to a large segment of TV viewers who may not even count themselves as country fans, having established a presence as a cast member on the fifth season of “Yellowstone,” after in previous years having her original material highlighted on the show by fan Taylor Sheridan, when she was still a relative unknown.
The singer has several songs in play right now. Her “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” is currently in the country top 20, and she just released a new single, “Country’s Cool Again,” which had its live TV debut on the CMT Awards. But it was her prior No. 1 song, “Watermelon Moonshine,” that was triumphant at the CMT Awards.
Talking with Variety after the CMT Music Awards a week ago, Wilson explained the broad appeal of “Watermelon Moonshine.” “When I think back to the songs that touched me growing up, and especially as a teenager, it was songs like Deana Carter’s (1996) ‘Strawberry Wine.’ And when I was writing the song, I was definitely channeling ‘Strawberry Wine,’” she said. “There will never be another one, but this is kind of my version of that… I felt like I could just go back there in my mind and feel it. And I wanted to make sure that ‘Watermelon Moonshine’ did the same thing. I think songs like that, that are nostalgic like that, are just timeless. People can relate. They want to go back to that place; everybody wants to feel at home.”