For a People StyleWatch cover story, Lainey Wilson credited her partner, former NFL quarterback Devlin "Duck" Hodges, for inspiring new songs and being "one of my biggest cheerleaders and champions."
"We went to this old place called Silverados, and it had free beer and wine from 5- 10 p.m.," Wilson said. "I was like, 'This boy likes to ball on a budget too. This is going to work out.' "
Wilson joked during the interview that she's a "tightwad" whose only major purchase since achieving country music acclaim has been her 30-acre farm.
Hodges met Wilson through mutual friends. Since then, he's fit right in with several of Wilson's fellow country stars.
"I said, 'We going to see if you're in it for the right reasons.' Turns out, he is," she shared. "Somebody said how funny it was watching him high-five all of my artist friends at the ACMs, and I said, 'Those are his friends!' He'll FaceTime me, and he'll be with Hardy and Morgan [Wallen] and Luke [Combs], and I'm like, 'Stop stealing all my buddies.' They'll always be out golfing and drinking a beer. I don't have to convince anybody to like him. He's a very lovable person."
"Duck is the kind of dude who high-fives me on the way in the door and on the way out and says, 'Go get it'," she said. "He knows how important this dream is to me. I was never really able to write love songs, because I don't know if I had actually felt it, but I'm writing me some love songs now. I'm grateful for him."
Hodges made history in 2018 for Samford University, which is located in his home state of Alabama. He broke career NCAA records for passing completions (1,310) and attempts (1,896). The previous record-holder was a Nashville legend: former Alcorn State and Tennessee Titans signal-caller Steve McNair.
