Lainey Wilson Has a Cheeky Dolly Parton Mantra She Uses Daily: “Y’all See What I Did?”

Before Lainey Wilson was a country music icon in her own right — having her music featured in Yellowstone, performing at the Opry, and, serving as an Advisor on The Voice, to name just a few of her accomplishments — she was soaking up everything she could from her idols. Including Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country herself, who Wilson looks to for guidance through her clever and cheeky mantra.

Lainey Wilson has a clever Dolly Parton mantra she thinks about “daily”

Dolly Parton and Lainey Wilson posing and smiling together at Dolly Parton’s Rockstar VIP Album Release Party.
During a March 2024 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the country star opened up about her deep admiration for Parton. So much so that host Kelly Clarkson asked her about her Dolly-inspired mantra.

“You have a mantra you kind of live by, right?” Clarkson asked the “Heart Like a Truck” singer.

“I do, I have a few. But the one that I think about daily is WW Double D, and that is, ‘What Would Dolly Do?’” Wilson revealed, making Clarkson and former TODAY co-host Hoda Kotb burst out laughing.

“Y’all see what I did?” Wilson added with a smirk. “I love that woman.”

“She’s so kind, so cool, so genuine,” Clarkson said of Parton, who she’s collaborated with many times over the years. “Even better in person than on TV. Like she’s awesome on TV, but you meet her in person and you’re like, ‘How are you this nice?’”

“Well, that’s how I feel about y’all, too” Wilson told Kotb and Clarkson. “It’s really cool when you see that people are just as kind as they are talented.”

Wilson added that Parton has give her “so much advice” throughout her career. “Even before I knew her, before I’ve gotten to know her at all,” she said. “The amount that she taught from the way she carried herself. She’s not scared to go do it all, to straddle that line … She’s this little girl from this little town where probably nobody ever left. I just look up to her a whole lot, I think she’s the best.”

Clarkson then shared a fun fact about Parton’s old-school communication style that only further amplifies her icon status. “I knew I would love her when I found out she connects, like she contacts people via fax machine. I was like, ‘Come again?’” she shared on her talk show. “And they were like, ‘No she doesn’t have a phone number to go out, she has a fax machine.’ I was like, ‘Oh my, God, Miss 9 to 5!’

“I’m waiting on that fax from Dolly,” Wilson joked. “Guess I need to get me a fax machine.”

Reba McEntire invited Lainey Wilson to join the Grand Ole Opry on The Voice

Reba Mcentire hands Lainey Wilson a belt buckle on The Voice episode 2517B
Throughout her career, the “Watermelon Moonshine” singer has also looked up to another country icon — Reba McEntire. And McEntire was “thrilled” when she had the honor of inviting Wilson to join the Grand Ole Opry during The Voice Season 25 Finale.

“I have heard that I’ve inspired you and what you’ve done so far, and I am thrilled to death if I had anything to do with your career, ’cause you are blowing it up,” McEntire told Wilson on The Voice stage. “I couldn’t be more proud to be the one that helps you continue to bridge the gap between our generations, keep ’em all goin’. I’d like to be the person who invites you to be an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.”

“It is so crazy that you are asking me to be a member because I look up to you so much,” Wilson, tearing up, told The Voice Season 28 Coach and Happy’s Place star. “I’m not talking about just musically, but the way you carry yourself and your work ethic. You inspire me every day.”