Can’t beat that. Lainey Wilson gets a lot of unfair criticism for her seemingly-meteoric rise, but in reality most fans don’t realize just how much work she put into grinding it out in Nashville to get to the superstar she is today. When the Louisiana native first moved to Nashville, she spent three years living in a camper in her friend’s yard while finishing college and pursuing her career in the music industry. Along the way she struggled to pay her bills just like pretty much everybody, and in her new Netflix documentary Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool, she even revealed that she had to ask her sister for money a few weeks after she met her now-fiancé Duck Hodges: “I was broke. I was so broke when we met. And he thought I was doing a little bit better than I was. But a few weeks after we met, my sister had to Venmo me a couple hundred bucks.” As it turns out though, she wasn’t COMPLETELY broke. In fact, she had something that some would argue is more valuable than money: Free hot dogs for life. In the documentary, Lainey recalled one particular show she played at Daddy’s Dogs, a popular hot dog restaurant here in Nashville. This was back in 2020, when live music was largely shut down due to COVID and restaurants were struggling to stay in business. Daddy’s Dogs’ solution was a five night live concert series at their West Nashville location, with the restaurant bringing in a trailer to use as a stage and offering free tickets for fans to watch from their car. (Remember the days when all we had were drive-in concerts?) And apparently the artists weren’t paid for their appearances…at least not in money. Instead, Lainey revealed that she was given a card offering her free Daddy’s Dog hot dogs for life: “I played on top of an air conditioning unit at Daddy’s Dogs. And that was only in 2020. My payment was I got a gold card for free hot dogs the rest of my entire life, and that is one of the biggest flexes I will ever have.” @daddysdogsnash So the legends are true.. @Lainey Wilson @Netflix ♬ original sound – Daddy’s Dogs The concert series also featured artists like Cassadee Pope, Kris Allen and Adam Hambric, so presumably they have the same flex as Lainey with their lifetime hot dog pass. And Daddy’s Dogs confirmed by posting the clip from the documentary that Lainey’s prized card does, in fact, exist. Wonder if her and Duck ever used the card for date nights… Now, obviously Lainey can afford all the hot dogs she wants these days, but you’ve gotta look at the value of the hot dog card. If I had to guess, the performance would have probably paid $200, maybe $300 max if they were paying in cash. (I’m sure the going rate was a lot lower for artists back then when everybody was desperate for work and venues couldn’t afford to pay much because they weren’t doing any business). A hot dog at Daddy’s Dogs runs between $7 for a standard dog topped with mustard, ketchup and relish to $10 for some of their gourmet speciality dogs like the Mac Daddy, a hot dog topped with mac and cheese, or the Eloté Dog, which comes with bacon, grilled corn and cotija cheese. That means that Lainey probably comes out ahead if she uses the card somewhere between 20 and 40 times. And for someone who admits she was “broke” and had to borrow money from her sister the next year, you’ve gotta think she probably took advantage of the free meals pretty often during those times. Sounds like Lainey came out the winner on that gig.The post Lainey Wilson Was Once Paid For A Show With… Free Hot Dogs For Life first appeared on Whiskey Riff.