The Relatable Memory Behind Lainey Wilson’s Big Hit, “Somewhere Over Laredo”

Lainey Wilson has another big hit on her hands. The Grand Ole Opry member released “Somewhere Over Laredo” in May, from her latest Whirlwind Deluxe album, out in August.

Wilson wrote “Somewhere Over Laredo” with Andy Albert, Trannie Anderson, and Dallas Wilson. The song was inspired by Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, from the classic film The Wizard of Oz.

“If you say ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ fast 10 times, it kind of sounds like ‘somewhere over Laredo,’” Wilson tells Billboard. “That struck me as a perfect fit.”

The Louisiana native chose Laredo for another reason, besides just its ability to rhyme with rainbow.

“Laredo isn’t just a place — it is a feeling,” Wilson says. “It speaks to anyone who has ever looked back or remembered something and let that memory shape who they are. It also connects to all of those [small American] towns and people who are just trying to find their way home.”

The Iconic Video for Lainey Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo”

Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo” video is the brainchild of Wilson and renowned director TK McKamy. The video shows Wilson flying through the sky, on her bed, and in a truck, with her real-life French bulldog, Hippie, along for the ride.

“I had the time of my life doing it,” Wilson boasts to People. “I was doing all kinds of things, pretending to be falling through the air, the sky, and all of these crazy things that I had never done before.”

Much like with the song, Wilson used The Wizard of Oz as inspiration in dreaming up the video for “Somewhere Over Laredo.”

“I had not had the opportunity to make a video that I felt like deserved that kind of trippiness,” Wilson explains. “When you think about The Wizard of Oz, and you think about the ‘Yellow Brick Road’, of course, you think of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. And this [song] is an interpolation of that. It’s a way for us to tip our hat to that and acknowledge how timeless of a song that is. It was important for me to kind of draw the parallel between the songs.”

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” became Wilson’s biggest streaming song so far. Not that the success of the song is surprising to her.

“Honestly, I am proud of the song. And I felt like it was special the moment we finished it,” Wilson says. “I felt it in my spirit that the songwriter was going to take people to a nostalgic place. And I’m so glad that my gut was right because it seems like people are latching onto it and connecting to it. It’s crazy to see the reaction.”

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images