What Lainey Wilson Really Did For A Living Before Her Music Fame

There are plenty of celebs who have held regular jobs before finding success, even if it might be hard to think about now. Before Lainey Wilson was winning at the Grammys and performing on some of the biggest stages in the world, she held a somewhat typical job.

The "Watermelon Moonshine" singer grew up in a small town in Louisiana, where the population didn't even reach 300 people. But no matter the odds her hometown gave her, she was going to find her way on the stage one way or another. And the way she was able to start getting on stage involved her taking a gig as a Hannah Montana impersonator. 

When it comes to landing a job, sometimes you have to take what you can get, and Wilson seized the opportunity with how popular the show was. "Hannah Montana" ran from 2006 to 2011, and from the moment it aired, it was a huge success. Ironically, the Disney Channel show was about a musician, played by Miley Cyrus, who is trying to live as normal of a teenage life as possible. So, she creates a double identity for herself. At home, she's just Miley, but to the world, she is Hannah Montana. It's funny, considering Wilson's life at the time was a bit of the opposite. No one knew who she was, but she was desperate to become a famed musician, and her Hannah Montana gig helped her get a taste of fame.

Lainey Wilson got a taste of fame when she landed a job as a Hannah Montana impersonator. It's definitely not the most average job, but it got her on stage and paid well. The "Heart Like a Truck" singer would perform at birthday parties, nursing homes, and really anywhere they would let her.

Talking about her impersonating days, Wilson told American Songwriter, "I started impersonating 'Hannah Montana' in eighth grade through 12th grade, and I would open up for myself a lot of the time." As she impersonated Hannah Montana, a.k.a Miley Cyrus, Wilson was busy with gigs. She shared, "I would do three or four birthday parties a weekend. I've been booked, and actually, it was funny, because for five years of doing 'Hannah Montana,' I was booked and busy." 

Although things were going well, Wilson wanted more for her music career, and at 19 years old, not long after her high school graduation, she waved goodbye to her impersonating days and moved to Nashville to pursue her passion. But funnily enough, Wilson admitted she was busier with gigs as Hannah Montana than she was in her actual music career. She said, "Then when I got to Nashville, for the next 12 years, I wasn't booked and busy, so [it was] a lot of highs and lows, but I did that for a long time."

Now that Lainey Wilson is at the top of her career and mingling with some of the biggest musicians in the industry, she has the ability to cross paths with Miley Cyrus after years of impersonating her as Hannah Montana. In a 2021 interview with Taste of Country, she talked about the possibility of meeting the "Flowers" singer and how exciting it would be. She said, "It's going to be crazy when I meet Miley and be like, 'Hey, by the way, like, I just want to thank you, because girl, I was making some bank in high school. ... so I need to thank Hannah Montana."

Besides just thanking her, Wilson hopes something musical may come out of her meeting with Cyrus — if it ever happens. In January 2024, she told Glamour, "At some point in time, me and Miley Cyrus have to work together." The country music singer may have manifested the meeting because just weeks after saying she would love to work with the "Wrecking Ball" singer, the two attended the 2024 Grammys ceremony. Ironically, both Wilson and Cyrus won their first-ever Grammy that night, but it's unclear whether the two ran into each other. Until they do, we're holding our breath for a Wilson/Cyrus friendship to take off (and hopefully grace us with a collab).