Lainey Wilson says Miley Cyrus already knows the story of how a teenage Wilson built early confidence by impersonating Hannah Montana, singing at birthday parties and hauling herself across the South to chase shows before she was even old enough to drive.
Wilson revisited that stretch of her life in an April 16, 2026 interview with PEOPLE while talking about the upcoming documentary Keepin’ Country Cool, which is set to arrive on Netflix on April 22, 2026. She said the impression taught her that if she wanted to succeed as herself, she would have to go after it, not wait for it to come to her.
“I told her impersonating Hannah really showed me, like, ‘Okay, if you want this, if you want to do this not as Hannah Montana but as yourself, you’re going to have to go get it,’” Wilson said. “I wasn’t really even old enough to be driving, but I was going to Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana trying to play in front of whoever I possibly could.”
That memory carries extra weight because Wilson is no longer the kid trying to get a spot at any stage she could find. Since releasing her self-titled debut album in 2014, she has put out five albums in all, and her profile has widened further with acting work in Reminders of Him and as Abby in the fifth season of Yellowstone. Keepin’ Country Cool is expected to fold some of that rise into a broader look at her path, including the Hannah Montana impersonation that helped start it.
Wilson also said she ran into Cyrus at the March 2026 premiere of Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special in Los Angeles, where the two spoke about the old impersonation days. She later appeared at a Q&A session during the Nashville premiere of the documentary, turning a childhood tribute into part of the story now being told about her career.
The unresolved piece is not whether the imitation mattered — Wilson answered that herself. The real question is how much of that scrappy, pre-fame hunger still drives her now, when she says she has fans counting on her and wants to keep them happy.
