'You'd better hold my beer and watch this': Lainey Wilson owns the Country Thunder stage

Lainey Wilson doesn't have to be your favorite country singer to appreciate how nice it was to see a female artist top the bill at Country Thunder Arizona for the first time since 2014, when Miranda Lambert, Thompson Square and the Band Perry did the honors.

As a beaming Wilson told the crowd after thanking "y'all" for showing up tonight, "It's a big damn deal."

And Wilson rose to the occasion, rocking the stage in a feathered cowboy hat, gold denim vest and matching bell bottoms at the helm of a stellar backing band, setting the tone for performance with a rowdy “Hold My Halo” giving way to an equally raucous rendition of “Hillbilly Hippie.”

Lainey Wilson showed why she's CMA Entertainer of the Year

She was every bit the Entertainer of the Year the Country Music Association would have you believe, a magnetic presence blessed with an expressive twang that sounded great all night, especially on the ballads (not that there were many ballads).

Wilson had already powered through the first five songs before she eased up on the gas a bit for the wistful ballad "Watermelon Moonshine," seamlessly segueing into the bittersweet chorus of Deana Carter's "Strawberry Wine" at the song's conclusion.

After bringing the men and women in the audience together "like a redneck choir" on a spirited "Road Runner," her third song of the night, she posed a question.

Lainey Wilson: 'Heart Like a Truck' and every song she sang at Country Thunder Arizona 2024

'We got any Dolly Parton fans out here tonight, Arizona?'

After running down a laundry list of everything she loves about the woman ("her style, her sense of humor, her personality; she's a badass business woman, singer, songwriter, got a heart of gold"), Wilson said she had a chance to spend some time with Parton recently.

"They say never meet your heroes," Wilson cautioned. "But Dolly Parton don't count. I think if we were all a little bit more like Dolly Parton, the world would be a much better place, y'all."

When she's going through hell and wondering what to do, she said, "I ask myself one question."

And with that, the stage was set for "WWDD," which stands for "What Would Dolly Do?," a crowd-pleasing tribute to Parton that found Wilson rhyming "Like a country music modern-day apostle" with "Yeah, I leaned in like it was gospel."

Wilson worked the crowd like a modern-day Parton apostle, echoing her hero's Southern charm and fiery spirit. She talked about moving to Nashville in a little camper trailer in 2011.

"I didn't know what this journey was gonna look like," Wilson said. "And I'll tell you what. It looks a whole lot better than I ever could've imagined."

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'You'd better hold my beer and watch this,' Lainey Wilson says

Her favorite part of that journey, Wilson said, has "been seeing all these little girls in their bell bottoms and their hats.... Half the time, I do my meet and greets, I meet these little girls and it's like I'm looking in the mirror."

But with that comes a big responsibility.

"Girls, you better listen to me," Wilson said.

"It's something I'm in the process of learning right now and I feel like I'm getting better at it, but I get up every single day, look at myself in the mirror and say, 'I am beautiful and I'm smart and I'm talented. I'm godly and I'm fearless and if somebody tells me I can't do, you'd better hold my beer and watch this."

Then, she brought her mom on stage.

"I want to introduce y'all to my mama real quick," she said.

"This is my mama, Michelle Wilson. And she is responsible for the (expletive) show right here. This woman right here has taught me everything that I know. She has lifted me up and she has encouraged me every single step of the way. We've got to lift each other up.... So little girls, live like Michelle Wilson and you can't go wrong."

Then, it was back to the music with "Atta Girl," sent out to those little girls.

Wilson sang 'What's Up,' 'Save Me,' 'Things a Man Oughta Know'

Other highlights of Wilson's performance ranged from the epic guitar jam that broke out the end of "Rolling Stone" to a crowd-pleasing of "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes that may have spawned the most enthusiastic singalong of the night.

She started the encore with a solo acoustic performance of "Save Me," a Jelly Roll hit that features Wilson on the remix, before dusting off her latest single, "Country's Cool Again," which she was pleased to say she's found to be the case, and ending the night with her first chart-topping entry on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, the bluegrass-flavored "Things a Man Oughta Know."

The set drew heavily on "Bell Bottom Country," the 2022 release that picked up Album of the Year at the CMAs and the Academy of Country Music Awards along the way to winning Country Album of the Year at at this year's Grammys.

And the qualities that made that album such a hit on the award-show circuit were every bit as obvious in concert, if not more so.

Everything to know about Country Thunder Arizona 2024

Our complete Country Thunder Arizona 2024 coverage includes the festival's origin story dating back to the early 1990s, concert lineups and set times, traffic tips to get you there with less hassle, an interview with renegade headliner Koe Wetzel and a live blog updated through the weekend. Check out the highs and lows of Country Thunder, too.

Lainey Wilson 2024 setlist: All the songs she played at Country Thunder

Here's every song Lainey Wilson played at Country Thunder Arizona on Thursday, April 11.

• "Hold My Halo"

• "Hillbilly Hippie"

• "Road Runner"

• "WWDD"

• "Smell Like Smoke"

• "Watermelon Moonshine"

• "Strawberry Wine" (Deana Carter cover; just the chorus)

• "(Ghost) Riders In the Sky" (instrumental cover)

• "Wildflowers and Wild Horses"

• "Weak‐End"

• "Atta Girl"

• "Grease"

• "Rolling Stone"

• "What's Up?" (4 Non Blondes cover)

• "Wait in the Truck"/"Heart Like a Truck"

Encore:

• "Save Me" (Jelly Roll cover)

• "Never Say Never"

• "Country's Cool Again"

• "Things a Man Oughta Know"

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Lainey Wilson channels Dolly Parton at Country Thunder Arizona