She’s not the bashful type

Rising country artist Lainey Wilson is just ‘Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’’

Thinking before you speak may be good manners, but rising country singer Lainey Wilson disagrees. ¶ Not only did the Louisiana native title her 2021 major-label debut “Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’,” but it turns out that sentiment played a pivotal role in her overnight success. ¶ Specifically, we’re talking about her first No. 1 hit single, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” which wasn’t originally going to appear on the record. ¶ “The crazy thing is the day we wrote it, I was hungover — sorry, Mom and Daddy,” said Wilson, calling from Nashville. “I knew that we had written a good song, but I write 300, 400 songs a year. When you start to go through them and try to figure out exactly what you want to put on your record, it all starts bleeding together.”

“Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’” was literally the mantra Wilson used when picking songs for her debut. For whatever reason, “Things a Man Oughta Know” didn’t make the cut. That all changed two weeks before the album was locked and loaded for release.

“I called the label and my management and said, ‘I know we already have exactly what we said we’re going to put on this record, but we have to find a spot for “Things a Man Oughta Know,”’” Wilson said. “And

thank God we did.”

The mid-tempo song resonated with listeners, who apparently gravitated to its multi-layered message about life and relationships. In fact, Wilson said she’s received positive messages from single mothers and estranged dads, as well as from one woman who said the track saved her marriage after she played it for her husband.

“Right there is the power of country music,” Wilson said. “This song is not about whether you can

change a flat tire or start a fire or any of those things. You can YouTube all of that stuff.

“This song is about having good character. It’s about treating people the way you want to be treated. It’s about having the courage to do the right thing, which can be hard at times.”

These are fun times for Wilson, who is touring the country on Jason Aldean’s “Back In The Saddle Tour,” which also features Hardy. The fun bill (“three of the most redneck people I could think of”) comes through Northeast Ohio for a show Oct. 15 at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls.

Wilson wants concertgoers to know she’s not afraid to rock out, especially on her Dolly Parton-inspired new song “WWDD.”

“I like to say I have a little bit of an alter ego when it comes to playing live shows,” Wilson said. “I love that grit, that realness, that rawness. I feel like ‘WWDD’ has that

and so does ‘Things a Man Oughta Know’ but in a different kind of way.”

Speaking of looking at something in a different way, what’s something Wilson thinks a woman “oughta” know?

“Whoa, do you have

all day?” Wilson laughed. “First of all, when y’all ask us the first time where we want to eat, we ought to be able to tell you. What happens is y’all are like, ‘Hey, what do you want for supper?’

“And we’re like, ‘I don’t

care.’ And you’re like, ‘OK, what about Cracker Barrel?’ Then we’re like, ‘I don’t want that.’ I get it, we’re hard to deal with.”

That said, the good news is Wilson added it’s OK to occasionally eat at Cracker Barrel, y’all.

ALEX BERGER Louisiana native Lainey Wilson has a No. 1 hit single in “Things a Man Oughta Know.”