Hailey Whitters Says Lainey Wilson is 'Like a Sister' as She Celebrates National Bourbon Day with Dickel (Exclusive)

Hailey Whitters Says Lainey Wilson is 'Like a Sister' as She Celebrates National Bourbon Day with Dickel (Exclusive),Earlier this year, country singer Hailey Whitters took home the New Female Artist of the Year trophy and the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards. The big win came on the heels of her 2022 album, Raised, which features the hit single 'Everything She Ain't.' Now, Whitters has followed up her ACM [...]

Hailey Whitters Says Lainey Wilson is ‘Like a Sister’ as She Celebrates National Bourbon Day with Dickel (Exclusive)

Earlier this year, country singer Hailey Whitters took home the New Female Artist of the Year trophy and the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards. The big win came on the heels of her 2022 album, Raised, which features the hit single “Everything She Ain’t.” Now, Whitters has followed up her ACM achievement with a career-defining CMA Fest performance and a trip to the George Dickel distillery in Tullahoma, Tennessee to commemorate National Bourbon Day.

Coincidentally, while Whitters was winning big at the ACMs, Dickel Bourbon was celebrating their win of Double Gold at this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition. PopCulture.com had a chance to catch up with Whitter during her visit to the Cascade Hollow Distilling Co., where Dickel bourbon is bottled. “It’s a beautiful day. We had some clouds earlier, but it’s all cleared, so it’s like the perfect sunny day to hang out, sip some bourbon, and hear some good music,” Whitters told us from Tullahoma, via Zoom. “I got to thieve some whiskey. Which I had never done before. That was new for me, so that was very cool. Just straight from the barrel. It’s been really cool, really fun. Big fan of George Dickel and just everything they do here.”

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Whitters went on to share a little about her 2023 CMA Fest experience, revealing that, while she has attended many time, this “was a big one” because she played both the Downtown Nashville Riverfront stage and Nissan Stadium, where the Tennessee Titans football team plays. “I’ve never played a stadium before,” she confessed. “So it was massive, and especially like a stadium that’s in my freaking backyard, that’s just nuts. So it was a big CMA Fest for this gal.”

Reflecting on the “nerve-racking” experience, Whitters shared that she was able to get through the anxious feelings because her good friend Lainey Wilson was there performing as well. “I kind of had to just focus,” she explained. “You know, Lainey’s performing. They had us teed up right during as Lainey’s kind of rapping. We’re getting up on stage, getting all set, and I’m just like I just couldn’t let myself get super, like I couldn’t let my brain process too much what was happening because then I just start to freak out, you know?”

Whitters continued, “So it’s like, ‘OK, focus, focus. You’re singing. Imagine everyone in their underwear.’ It’s like the whole butterfly thing, you’re talking yourself off the ledge. I think it was really cool, though, to have Lainey be the one who went right before me, because I had done the Jon Pardi tour with her all of last year, and so that’s a comfort thing, you know, like getting to hear Lainey again. She’s a friend, a dear friend. It’s like having your sister around and you’re just like, ‘Okay, I can do this.’ You know? So I think it was just an awesome night. It was such a cool feeling.”Winning an ACM and performing at Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest are certainly signs that Whitters’ star is on the rise, but she is also quick to note that she has been working hard at her country music career for many years. “I mean, so many things, so many dreams are happening so quickly right now, and it’s insane. I’m smiling like a false tooth salesman,” she quipped, later adding, “But it hasn’t always been like that for me, and I think that’s what makes it even more sweet right now, is like I’ve been in town, I mean, this year marks 16 years for me, so it’s like my story hasn’t been all rainbows and butterflies. It’s been like getting kicked, having the door slammed in your face, wondering if you should quit, seriously like some really emotional moments of just feeling rejected, you know?”

Whitters elaborated, saying, “Dreams are hard, they’re not easy, and I think it’s like moments like this, the moment that I’m just having kind of right now, it’s not going to last forever, but I think it’s nice to get to really feel it right now and really appreciate it because I know it took a lot to get here and I know that goes for anyone who’s out there chasing a dream, like props, you know? Just props.”

Finally, before our time was up, we snuck in one more Dickel question, inquiring what is Whitters’ favorite cocktail to make with the award-winning bourbon. “I always love like an old-fashioned,” she replied. “You ain’t going to have to twist my arm, but I also just like drinking it straight. If I’m home, I’ll pour a little glass, I’ll maybe put a little bit of ice in it sometimes, but I just love to sip it, sit in the backyard, soak it up, enjoy it.”

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