The new video from country superstar Lainey Wilson …

For Albany County rancher Kelly McGuire, it was just another quiet Sunday evening in late July when she got a call she never expected.

The caller was a location scout for country superstar Lainey Wilson.

The scout said, “I’m sitting here at the end of your driveway. Can I come down and look around?” McGuire told Cowboy State Daily.

As a fan of Wilson’s music, McGuire couldn’t refuse.

“I wasn’t sure if I would get the job”

The scout was looking for “a grassy area near some buildings” as a location for a video for Wilson’s new single, the title track from her fifth studio album “Whirlwind.”

McGuire is the owner of Oxford Wagyu and co-owner and manager of the Oxford Ranch on Highway 287, about 8 miles south of Laramie.

McGuire’s parents bought the property in 1992, but the ranch’s history goes back much further. It was established in 1887 and a horse barn is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

McGuire said her property would be suitable for a country music video, but the scout did not comment on whether it would be selected.

“I wasn’t sure if I would get the job because I knew they were scouting a few other locations around here,” McGuire said.

But the location director called that Tuesday – Oxford had been chosen as the filming location and the job could go ahead.

Some scenes were shot the next day with actors who play a young couple in love who come into conflict with the law.

At one point in the video, the unfaithful lovers are pursued on foot by police officers played by real-life Albany County Sheriff’s Office deputies Rebecka Lubbers, Damian Olaveson and Garrett Hodgden.

Other scenes in the video, which feature the couple but not Wilson, were filmed in Laramie, which features many well-known landmarks.

These include the Cowboy Saloon, J’s Prairie Rose Café and the Garfield Street pedestrian bridge over the Union Pacific tracks.

On Thursday of the same week, Wilson arrived to film her scenes at the ranch.

“I got the first call on Sunday completely out of the blue, and then everything happened very quickly this week. It was a quick gig,” McGuire said.

Under instructions from Wilson’s press agent, she was not allowed to speak openly about her experiences until the album and video were officially released, which was on Friday.

“I had to keep quiet about it for a month,” McGuire said. “It was really hard.”

A big deal in country music

Wilson is one of country music’s biggest stars and played at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 26.

Wilson was born in Baskin, Louisiana in 1992 and made her way to Nashville in 2011. Her music career began modestly, living in a trailer next to a music studio.

But it wasn’t until she released her eponymous debut album in 2014 that things started to move. In the 2020s, her career really took off, making her one of the biggest contemporary artists in country music.

In 2021, she won New Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Things A Man Oughta Know” at the Academy of County Music Awards.

She has won numerous other music awards, including a Grammy for her 2022 album “Bell Bottom County.”

Wilson made her acting debut in the fifth season of the hugely popular Paramount television series “Yellowstone,” about a ranching family in Montana.

Wilson played the role of a musician named Abby and performed her original song “Smell Like Smoke” in the series.

Wyoming fans meet a superstar

Her 2022 duet with fellow country star Hardy, “Wait in the Truck,” was a huge hit for both of them.

McGuire said that was the song that drew her to Wilson’s music.

“The first song of hers that I discovered was ‘Wait in the Truck,'” McGuire said. “The vocals in that song really captured me. I thought, ‘Who is the woman singing in that song?'”

She said she was still amazed that Wilson was on her property and that she was able to meet the superstar in person.

Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans told Cowboy State Daily that his department was first asked to work with Wilson on the video during Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Appelhans said he was also a fan of Wilson’s music and it was great working with her and her crew.

“Everyone was happy to be there,” he said. “It was a good opportunity for both Lainey and her people and for the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.”

Even though the couple, who were in a love conflict, sent the officers on a short chase in the video before escaping.

McGuire said Wilson was incredibly busy the day she shot her scenes, but she was still able to meet the star, albeit briefly.

“I mostly tried to avoid her, she was very nice,” McGuire said. “She was a great girl and it was just fascinating to watch her work and see everything that went on behind the scenes.”

Wilson’s parents were also there.

“Her parents were a real hoot. Very nice people, down to earth, very easy to deal with,” McGuire said.

High altitude shots from an excavator

At various points in the video, the young lovers can be seen in an old pickup truck, which McGuire says is a Ford F-250 that belongs to a good friend of hers.

Some of the bird’s-eye shots of the ranch scenes were filmed “from the bucket of my excavator,” she said.

McGuire said he also helped build the clothesline that is prominently featured in the video and also used an old trailer on the property.

For most of the video shoot, people were told not to take their own photos or videos, but once the shoot was over, the rules were relaxed and cell phones came into play, McGuire said.

She is thrilled that she and her son William were able to pose for a personal photo with Wilson.

“I asked her for a little photo at the end,” McGuire said.

Contact Mark Heinz at [email protected]

Mark Heinz can be reached at [email protected].