Lainey Wilson had a hit song on the radio, but she was still asking her sister to send her money. The country singer admits she was broke as recently as five years ago.
A new trailer for her upcoming Netflix documentary finds Wilson recalling her first date with Devlin “Duck” Hodges. That was in 2021.
- The Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool documentary arrives at Netflix on April 22.
- The movie promises to chronicle pivotal moments in her career, recent triumphs and struggles as she learned to handle success.
- The title of this new documentary comes from a song called “Country’s Cool Again” on her 2024 Whirlwind album.
Related: Lainey Wilson and Duck Hodges Relationship Timeline
The documentary zooms in on the writing of a song called “Yesterday, All Day, Every Day” from the deluxe version of her Whirlwind album. Lyrics to that song include, “Wandering on downtown to Silverado’s / Crowd was line dancing and we were clinking bottles / Damn, it kinda feel like we done and hit the lotto / Free beer from five to ten.”
Emma McIntyre, Getty Images
How Did Lainey Wilson Meet Duck Hodges?
Wilson and Hodges met through mutual friends and had their first date in 2021. He took her to a bar called Silverado’s.
“It had free beer and wine from 5 to 10PM,” Wilson later told People. “I was like, ‘This boy likes to ball on a budget, too. This is gonna work out!’”
Fans wouldn’t learn of the romance for several years and by the time they did, Wilson did have a bit of money in her bank account. That first date, however?
RELATED: Everything We Know About Lainey Wilson’s Netflix Documentary
“I was broke. I was so broke when we met,” she shares. “And he thought I was doing a little bit better than I was, but a few weeks after we met, my sister had to Venmo me a couple hundred bucks.”
The wild part is that at this time, Wilson had a hit song on the radio.
“Things a Man Oughta Know” was released to radio in August of 2020, but it did not race up the charts. In fact, it was a slow few months before her power ballad caught on with radio and streamers.
In September of 2021, the song hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, but a songwriter (Wilson wrote it with Jason Nix and Jonathon Singleton) typically doesn’t see royalties for many months after.
Lainey Wilson Net Worth Today
It’s not clear when in 2021 Wilson and Hodges had that first date. You’d think she’d have earned some money from this song or previous releases (she signed with BBR in 2019), but it sounds like she was working for no paycheck for quite a while.
Hodges wasn’t exactly loaded, either. He was on several NFL rosters between 2019 and 2021 but (per Over the Cap) was only paid about $600,000 total).
With several Entertainer of the Year trophies, headline tours and hit songs behind her, Wilson is likely the one being asked to loan money in 2026. Several unreliable celebrity net worth websites have estimated she’s worth as much as $6 million today, but there’s no evidence to support that claim.
Should we verify her net worth, we’ll be sure to add it to this list:
Lainey Wilson Facts: 13 Things Country Fans Need to Know
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
The 20 Best Lainey Wilson Songs
Lainey Wilson’s best songs are the ones that show exactly who she is: A sharp songwriter with a stubborn streak, a tender heart and a flair for ’70s rock and roll.
Some of that might seem like a contradiction, but it’s always made perfect sense to Wilson, who debuted on the country scene with a never-ending closet full of bell-bottoms and an unapologetically thick Louisiana drawl. Even if you flip back to some of her earliest releases, this singer-songwriter has always known who she is, and been laser-focused on her country music goals.
That self-confidence and willingness to work hard has paid off for Wilson, who has climbed the country music ladder by leaps and bounds since she released her breakout hit, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” in 2021. Keep reading for a look at Wilson’s catalogue, and our roundup of the 20 best country songs she has released to date.
Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak
