Lainey Wilson considers Ella Langley “like my little sister.”

Wilson recently shared a heartfelt moment with the rapidly-rising “weren’t for the wind” star, she recalled in an interview with iHeartCountry. Wilson said she connected with Langley after the milestone 60th Academy of Country Music Awards last month. Langley was a first-time nominee and the most-nominated artist this year with eight nods. She took the stage twice — performing “weren’t for the wind” and “Kerosene” with Miranda Lambert — and earned several awards, including New Female Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for “you look like you love me” with Riley Green.

“She’s kind of like my little sister, in a way, and I see a lot of myself in her,“ the Whirlwind artist said of Langley. “But she’s got this spunk to her that I’m like, ‘there ain’t no stoppin’ this chick,’ which I love to see. She is a go-getter, and she is one of the most talented people. She’s just got it going on. So, I FaceTimed her the morning of the ACMs and was just checking on her. I was like, ‘I know these are stressful days.’ It kind of feels like your wedding day, you know? And she was doing good. She was holding her own. So, I’m proud of her.”

Wilson earned several awards of her own that evening, including Entertainer of the Year for her second year in a row (“no pressure!”), and Artist-Songwriter of the Year, which she learned in a surprise moment with “Trailblazer” collaborators Reba McEntire and Lambert. Wilson previously credited McEntire, Lambert and other well-respected women in country music with choosing “to pour into me.” She said she hopes she can pay it forward to other female artists, including Langley.

“I’m buddies with Megan Moroney (and) Ella Langley, and to watch their stars just soaring, it’s really, really cool to see,” Wilson said. “And at times, I wanna just pour out as much as I possibly can to them and be like, ‘don’t you miss this moment,’ you know? ‘Be present. Do whatever you gotta do to soak it in and celebrate these times, and then get ready for the next one because it’s going to be right around the corner quicker than you can even realize it just happened.’ So, my advice to them is really just to keep your head down and work hard, but also…acknowledge that their hard work has gotten them to this point…and not letting the voices of the world get them down.”

Casey Carter