Lainey Wilson didn’t know she was writing her sonic autobiography when she sat down with Trannie Anderson and Paul Sikes to pen her No. 1 song “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.”
The song wasn’t even her idea – that distinction goes to Anderson.
“I wrote the first two verses,” Anderson said. “I knew I loved the melody and loved the space in it. Modern music is so word-heavy all the time, and it just felt special to have that space. And, the story was about to unfold.”
Wilson, Anderson, and Sikes recently celebrated the chart-topping success of “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” with a No. 1 party at famed music studio Bradley’s Barn near Nashville. Their friends, family, fellow songwriters, and music industry executives filled the space for a Mexican food feast, open bar, and to applaud the writers’ accomplishments.
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Anderson called Sikes one of the best guitarists in Nashville. He started playing a bluegrass riff, and with that, their song transformed from music and lyrics into Wilson’s family’s story.
“There are five generations (represented in this song),” Anderson said. “A lot of those lyrics are very true to her story.”
Wilson jumped in: “We were speaking truth to my story without even knowing it,” she said.
Wilson sent “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” to her mother, who told her it was her favorite song she’d ever written.
“She said, ‘It reminds me of my family,’” Wilson said, quoting her mom. “She ended up telling me, which is a fact that I did not know. Her grandfather, my great-grandfather, caught one of the very last wild horses in Louisiana and farmed with it for years. He also met my grandma while riding his horse on the trail, put her on the back, and they rode off into the sunset. I didn’t even know it.”
Because the song’s lyrics are so colorful, Anderson said it’s one of her most favorite songs she’s had a hand in writing. She particularly loved the song’s second verse.
Trannie Anderson Loves They “Got Biblical”
Lyrics include: It’s in the water, in my veins| That bread of Heaven falls like rain| So I’m taken care of either way| Make somethin’ outta how I’m made| Until I hitch a ride on Glory’s train
“I love that we got biblical with mana,” she said.
Another of Anderson’s favorite lines is: I push like a daisy through old sidewalk cracks.
The songwriter said a woman approached her at a show and told her she was decorating her nursery in a “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” theme because of the daisy lyric.
Sikes explained that the trio wrote “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” in November of 2020. And while he and Anderson had written together before, that writing session was the first time the two of them had written with Wilson.
“It’s just fun to do this with your friends and people that you care about,” he said. “Really, the more I do this, the more important that is to me. It was fun to have written this in a weird year and have a bright start.”
(Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
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