Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - Anne Wilson on Rebel, Faith, Country Music & Standing for Jesus ｜ The Riley Gaines Show

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00:00:27.920 i'll never forget calling them and being like i'm gonna post about trump and their reactions like

00:00:33.780 okay you know what you're doing here like do you know what you're getting yourself into and i was

00:00:37.480 like yeah i do but i feel called like i truly feel called to take a stand

00:00:42.260 well ann thank you for joining the riley gain show uh this is super exciting for me because

00:00:51.880 i have been a fan of you of course your music your background for many many years now actually

00:00:57.680 going back to my time at university of kentucky i'm a lexington girl i feel like at least an

00:01:02.820 honorary lexington girl of course you are a kentucky girl give us a little background on

00:01:07.260 your roots and your family and i think how that influenced you to where you are now

00:01:12.500 yeah well thanks for having me it's so awesome to be here um grew up in lexington and loved like

00:01:18.620 growing up in the suburbs of lexington beautiful city um but grew up in like we have a small um

00:01:24.900 there's like a super tiny little small town in South Kentucky that we have a farm. And so I grew

00:01:29.680 up going to the farm every weekend and shooting guns and fishing and hunting and all that. So I

00:01:33.860 was raised in the country and grew up loving all that. Isn't it the best? That's the kind of

00:01:39.320 lifestyle now that we're really trying hard to implement for our daughter. Yeah. We were just

00:01:44.320 talking, she's seven months now, but we have cows and donkeys and alpacas and I make it a priority

00:01:48.680 to, it is, I make it a priority to every single day. And obviously, you know, she's seven months,

00:01:53.700 So it's not like she's necessarily retaining what's going on or really even understanding.

00:01:57.700 But I make it a priority to take her out with me, to do the farm chores, because I feel

00:02:01.640 like it almost instills that sense of responsibility in you.

00:02:04.900 And if you got to witness it from a young age, a big part, I would imagine, of who you are

00:02:09.980 and how hard you work at what you do.

00:02:13.320 You have this new book out now, which I'm very excited to get into the content of.

00:02:16.600 But one more thing I want to touch on about your family that I didn't realize until reading

00:02:19.800 this was that you lost a brother.

00:02:22.120 can you just like provide a little context into this because the premise of this book is following

00:02:28.800 jesus when the world walks the other way i would imagine there were times throughout this process

00:02:34.820 of losing your brother where you have immense grief and i would imagine anger i can only put

00:02:39.720 myself in your shoes uh were there times where you were angry with god during this um i know that

00:02:46.220 sounds crazy to to like think about and to say no but i really wasn't um there was like an un

00:02:52.560 unexplainable peace i had during that time in my life where i felt like god was so with me and like

00:02:57.800 i knew he was going to give me what i needed and even though it was really painful and really hard

00:03:02.080 there was a moment like probably an hour after the cops left our house and told us the news where

00:03:06.880 um i really felt god say like are you going to trust me or are you not and i i just chose like

00:03:13.720 God, I'm going to trust you.

00:03:14.580 And it was evident though,

00:03:15.940 like God was so intricate looking back in that time.

00:03:19.320 Like he was so evidently going to use this tragedy for good.

00:03:23.100 And we just had this like peace about it.

00:03:25.260 There were, I mean,

00:03:25.900 there were days where I didn't think

00:03:28.840 and want to live through the day.

00:03:30.740 You know, like there was a lot of hard,

00:03:32.200 like I'm not saying there wasn't hard,

00:03:33.460 but there was like this peace throughout the whole time

00:03:35.820 where I just knew that God was in it

00:03:37.400 and that it was going to be okay.

00:03:39.540 So I always wonder how people

00:03:41.280 who don't cling to their faith how they do it uh because again not to compare it because it's

00:03:47.720 totally different but in what i would deem unfortunate circumstances in my life i describe

00:03:53.100 it very much the same where there's almost this level of serenity or calmness throughout the chaos

00:03:58.780 kind of like psalm 23 like he leads us beside still waters like i very much feel like that

00:04:02.560 verse resonates with me but only when i really leaned in and prayed and asked god to reveal and

00:04:09.580 analyze my heart reveal my intentions to me reveal it to him uh and in that i of course he does those

00:04:14.880 things um and there is there's a level of of calmness to it okay talk about again here to talk

00:04:21.940 about this book but we're just talking off air before clicking record about what you've been

00:04:26.420 doing the past few months fill us in on that because it seems like crazy whirlwind yeah it's

00:04:31.940 i've been on tour on the stars tour we just finished it up in canada and uh it was incredible

00:04:36.840 it was like 20 shows and we had a bunch of other shows in the middle of it for different things but

00:04:40.960 it was it's been a great spring we've been touring and i love getting to tour because it's like as a

00:04:46.000 songwriter you know you put out songs you write a record but then to be able to meet the people

00:04:50.400 that listen to your music and like have tears streaming down their face because they're

00:04:53.900 impacted by it it's always really special so yeah it was a really incredible tour and uh it was

00:04:59.040 really fun it's um i would imagine really draining um as someone who travels a lot myself i know the

00:05:04.940 toll that, that literally just going to the airport, getting on a plane takes on you traveling

00:05:08.420 time zones. Yeah. Um, it's a lot, nevermind the performing aspect of it. So I'm glad you're back

00:05:13.320 home in Nashville. Uh, you talk about in this book, stopping playing it safe, uh, and chasing

00:05:21.240 bolder adventures with Christ. What's one area of your own life where maybe recently gods called

00:05:28.240 you to stand out instead of really fit in um I mean I would say in my career I mean personal life

00:05:36.760 I could give examples but career life would be in my music um I think this the choice I I had a

00:05:44.380 couple years ago when I signed with a country record label for for one record my record rebel

00:05:49.340 it was like I had a choice was I gonna go along with the crowd and change who I am to fit country

00:05:54.840 music or was i going to like stay true to who i am and that was one of those days that i

00:05:58.220 remember like having this moment of going like i'm gonna choose to stand out against the crowd

00:06:03.480 and how old were you then um i think i signed when i was 21 with them gosh it's so young when

00:06:11.100 you get involved in the music industry whether country christian i would imagine regardless of

00:06:17.160 of what the the genre is it seems as if again outside looking at it seems as if it's an industry

00:06:22.880 designed to really chew you up and spit you out do you feel like you had good guidance and people

00:06:27.640 kind of looking out for you and who could show you the ropes who were helpful in the process of

00:06:31.900 allowing you to stay true to yourself for sure yeah I don't think I would be here if I didn't

00:06:36.540 like my team is incredible my manager who has come alongside me and like really just like

00:06:41.640 discipled me and showed me like where to go and what to do he's amazing um I think that that is

00:06:47.240 still true though in the midst of having incredible people around you um and i mean maybe less in

00:06:52.980 christian music and in the genre that i'm mostly in but i definitely think that that is still

00:06:57.900 something that it's just it's a hard life and it's a hard journey and i think that that is so

00:07:03.320 true like everything you hear about the industry is is true you know unfortunately what about the

00:07:07.480 crossover between country music and christian music do you feel like maybe you fit one side

00:07:16.360 of the aisle more do you feel like you're accepted in both spaces or or maybe neither space entirely

00:07:23.180 I think um I think the whole you know premise of the record rebel in this book a lot of it has to

00:07:28.840 do with that like of me choosing to be authentically myself which is I love country music

00:07:35.420 I love the sound of country music but I love Jesus and I love spreading the gospel and that's

00:07:40.140 my calling and so I really have combined them there are times when I mean I think I feel

00:07:45.180 accepted in both. But when I first put out Rebel, because Rebel was my debut country album. So when

00:07:50.380 I first put out the record, I had so many people from the Christian side of things, very judgmental, 0.77

00:07:55.120 you know, like, how could you put out a country record? Oh, you're leaving God behind, all that

00:07:58.740 that you get from that side. And then on the country side of things, it was like, maybe there's

00:08:03.380 a fear of too much faith, or maybe don't talk about God as much as you would normally talk

00:08:07.380 about him. And that's where my rebellious side comes out. And like, I don't care what people

00:08:11.300 say i just do it i'm like i do what i'm gonna do i've always been that way and so moments like that

00:08:15.900 i was like i'm not gonna fall into this i'm gonna do exactly what god has called me to do which is

00:08:19.980 to be myself in both spaces so when we're playing a country show we do the exact same set we would

00:08:24.820 do to christian show and we just let it whoever wants you know if it's accepted it's accepted and

00:08:29.140 if not it's not but we know we're spreading the gospel so see i love that and i think people

00:08:33.720 well actually i'm certain your numbers prove indicate that people are really drawn to that

00:08:38.040 that level of just authenticity and realness and rawness that helped me define the word rebel

00:08:45.020 because when i think of a rebel i don't think of you to be quite frankly because you're so

00:08:49.900 like cute and tiny i think of like you know like like outlaw wild wild west out here so help me

00:08:55.920 define this word rebel i think for me it was it was realizing like who jesus is and was and looking

00:09:01.880 back at scripture and seeing like jesus was an outcast and he was an outsider and he would go

00:09:07.080 against the grain and he would lead his own way and do his own thing um we we always think of

00:09:11.660 jesus as being like this peaceful sweet kind person and he was and he is but he also would

00:09:17.080 come in and turn tables and he would start fights you know and and and call out people's stuff that

00:09:22.800 they were struggling with or are doing wrong and but also on the other hand being loving going so

00:09:28.560 far to love people that all the religious leaders were like why are you loving people that shouldn't

00:09:32.080 be loved like this you know so i think that reading through scripture when i was writing

00:09:36.020 my record rebel on the music side, there was moments where I was realizing like, okay, there's

00:09:40.220 so much more here than just it being about country and Christian music and me taking a stand.

00:09:45.440 But being a follower of Jesus in today's world is literally like being a rebel against the world.

00:09:50.360 It's standing up and saying, I'm not going to follow the world. I'm going to follow Jesus.

00:09:54.020 And the Bible says that when you follow Jesus, the world will hate you and you will be an outsider

00:09:58.820 and you will go against the crowd. And I do think that that makes you a rebel. That makes you stand

00:10:03.820 out but it's also like a beautiful thing when you stand out for jesus there's a light to you that no

00:10:08.040 one else has you know that we as followers of jesus have and um and i think that there's a

00:10:13.180 freedom in that and saying i'm not going to worry about what people think about me but i'm going to

00:10:16.280 follow jesus and and just pursue him and obey him 100 what do you make of kind of the hyper

00:10:23.760 politicized overly divisive culture that we live in uh because it's hard i would imagine to be in

00:10:31.020 the position that you're in where oftentimes again i'll just speak from my own experience

00:10:35.860 for proclaiming the name of the lord for standing firm in what is biblically true you're called like 0.95

00:10:42.440 an array of horrible names i mean i don't even know if it's necessary to say but bigot and racist

00:10:48.440 and like things that of course aren't true but nonetheless they're hurled at you how is it that

00:10:54.200 you're able to stay kind of grounded through it all and amidst all of this? I would say like for

00:11:01.040 me, because I'm not fully into politics, I don't get a lot of those. Thank God. I don't get a lot

00:11:05.680 of those comments. I do get, you know, mean comments and really horrible things, but I think

00:11:10.320 that I've been very vocal about politics in my career and I've, I've taken a stand so many times

00:11:15.680 for, um, for truth and for what I think God would call right and wrong. And that has gotten me a lot

00:11:22.460 of pushback and hate but i think that it's also gotten me a lot of good and people saying you

00:11:27.680 know finally someone in your generation is speaking up for truth and taking a stand for

00:11:31.920 what's right um but i think that there's been a lot of days where it was hard and and hard for me

00:11:36.700 to to keep my eyes fixed on like what was coming ahead or like staying grounded like you said like

00:11:41.460 that was hard for me there were moments where i would read comments and get my feelings hurt you

00:11:46.080 know and be like should i really be doing this and moments where christians would you know just

00:11:51.380 attack me like how dare you speak on politics and how dare you get involved in this subject and

00:11:55.680 there were moments where i had to go i just had to seek god and every time i would he would give

00:12:00.180 me peace and like reminding me this is what i'm calling you to do is to take a stand did you ever

00:12:05.020 face any consequences from the industry per se for political stances or or defending yeah actions

00:12:13.240 what did the what did that kind of look like a lot of those missed opportunities for sure but i i knew

00:12:18.460 that going into it. You know, my team, I'll never forget calling them and being like, I'm going to

00:12:22.780 post about Trump and their reactions. Like, okay, do you know what you're doing here? Like, do you

00:12:27.200 know what you're getting yourself into? And I was like, yeah, I do. But I feel called, like, I truly

00:12:31.300 feel called to take a stand. And even with Charlie Kirk, like that alone, just posting about that,

00:12:37.480 just saying how heartbroken it was that someone got killed, you know, politics aside, just that

00:12:42.760 a man got shot. That alone was like, my team was like, do you know what you're getting yourself

00:12:46.260 into and it was like yeah i do because i know that by doing this i'm going to miss out some

00:12:51.360 opportunities and there's going to be people that look at me differently but if i feel in my gut

00:12:55.720 and in my spirit that god wants me to take a stand about something i'm going to what about

00:13:00.900 the response from the public when things like this happened did you find it to be overwhelming

00:13:06.260 and support yeah it's a crazy i mean my most liked instagram pictures and posts are all politics

00:13:12.920 it's insane it shows you how i think so manufactured oftentimes the outrage is and

00:13:20.500 how not reflective it is of real life especially when your audience is your audience and i think

00:13:27.440 that's oftentimes lost especially in the country music realm yeah we've seen a total shift there

00:13:32.100 even watching some of the cma awards and different things and it's actually one of the things you

00:13:35.960 talked about in this book which i found to be uh incredibly eye-opening as a young girl um who has

00:13:41.700 felt pressured in a way also that you describe and how you dress and how the music industry

00:13:48.580 women are often sexualized but you made a point pretty early on to not really want to go there

00:13:54.960 and to dress modestly and to to portray yourself in that light talk about that is that something

00:14:00.840 that I guess is more the hyper sexualization of women common than I think a lot of people

00:14:07.140 realize yeah I mean I think I when I speak about it I'm always careful because I don't want to

00:14:12.640 offend anyone um when it comes to that subject I think that's a like just a subject for women

00:14:17.880 that can be hard but I think for me there have been so many moments where I could have fallen

00:14:24.960 into that or shown more of my body and 100% would have gotten a thousand times more followers a

00:14:31.980 thousand times more likes a thousand times more success in the world's point of view um but i

00:14:37.600 didn't and so i think that it's it's like a choice that i've made for my own life is to go and i think

00:14:43.360 it was just the way i was raised like for me my identity does not come from my body or what i look

00:14:49.100 like you know it comes from that i'm a daughter of jesus and so if i can walk in to every room

00:14:54.520 with this god-given confidence knowing that like the way that i dress is so important um but it's

00:15:00.380 it's not, it's not even because of religion and like these rules. It's truly because

00:15:03.980 I have this confidence in God knowing, like I'm a daughter of Jesus. So I don't need to dress a

00:15:09.440 certain way to get people's attention. I don't need people's attention in that way. My attention

00:15:13.460 is, I know I get it from God, you know, and him being pleased with me. Um, so there's been a lot

00:15:19.660 of moments where like, I could have fallen into that moments. I was pressured to dress a certain

00:15:23.560 way. And again, I think that, you know, it's, it's one of the easiest ways as a, as a female

00:15:29.920 to gain followers. And I mean, obviously it's, it's dressing less and less, you know what I 0.94

00:15:34.780 mean? I mean, I think every girl knows that the less clothing you wear, the more followers you're

00:15:38.300 going to get. Um, and I talk a lot about it to my family moments of frustration where I'm like,

00:15:42.960 that is so frustrating, but that's the truth. And in today's world. So that does make me another,

00:15:48.900 another example of a rebel, like standing out and saying, I'm going to dress a certain way.

00:15:52.740 and it I love it because the moms that come up to me at my shows and these little girls that say

00:15:57.600 like thank you for being the only girl that does this and the only girl that stands up for modesty

00:16:02.500 like thank you for doing that and that always means so much to me because at the end of the day

00:16:06.340 like you know that's what why we're here on earth we're here to follow Jesus and to tell people about

00:16:11.580 him and to be a good example for others so I'm grateful well 100 it's definitely set you apart

00:16:17.560 one other thing you talked about in here which I found to be interesting and something that

00:16:21.600 I've tried to implement in my own life since reading this is you talk about rest as rebellion

00:16:26.480 and taking time to, to unplug and slow down and be intentional. Can you spend a second talking

00:16:32.920 about that too? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think rest is so important. When I first got into the music

00:16:38.920 industry, I was 17 when I signed a record deal. I had braces on, like I was a junior in high school.

00:16:43.820 So young. So young. And honestly, looking back, I cannot believe that I did that because

00:16:48.460 it was amazing. God worked it out, but it was really young. It was almost too young to where

00:16:53.280 my brain, I mean, my brain is still not even technically fully developed at 24. And so that

00:16:58.920 was just a lot on me. And then my song, Why Jesus came out and it was a massive number one song. And

00:17:04.420 my life changed overnight when I was 19. So for the first year or two of that, I didn't have off

00:17:11.240 days. I was working around the clock and I was having panic attacks and dealing with all these

00:17:14.720 mental health issues and burnout and all these things. And I got to the place where I started

00:17:18.640 really reading scripture, as it says, which one of the 10 commandments is to keep the Sabbath day

00:17:23.160 holy and to rest. And I didn't realize that I wasn't doing that at all, that I was pushing

00:17:28.240 myself to my max. I was working. I was trying to please people in what they wanted me to do. And

00:17:31.540 I was never even taking a day to rest. And so I realized that not only are we commanded to rest,

00:17:37.800 but like that is like the only way we can continue doing what we're doing is to take a day each week

00:17:43.200 to rest, to make yourself take vacations, to take time off, to get off your phone, to get off social

00:17:47.820 media, to like reset your nervous system and all the things that we don't even think about because

00:17:52.660 we're so used, especially in the United States, we're so used to just like working all the time

00:17:55.900 and success driven. But I think once I realized that like, that's not the way that we're designed

00:18:00.440 to live life, we're designed to live life the way that Jesus did, which was by pulling away from the

00:18:04.260 crowds and taking time to go pray to the father. That's when I feel like it freed me up to just

00:18:09.320 rest so i've i've tried to do it as much as i can and i've definitely made it like a priority in my

00:18:13.680 life yeah you're not the only one that has said that um of course understanding it biblically but

00:18:19.340 it's hard to implement in our lives yeah especially in the position that that both of us are in where

00:18:24.420 it's it feels like you have to be clocked in all the time you almost put like pressure on yourself

00:18:28.960 yeah to do that uh but it's this and charlie kirk actually had a book about honoring the sabbath

00:18:34.540 and stopping and, and kind of unplugging on the weekends. And ever since doing that, it has allowed

00:18:41.560 me to show up better, better as a wife, better as a friend, better even in my, in my career path

00:18:47.040 because of it during the week. So I think that's incredible. Now, a large part of your audience and

00:18:54.160 the people who look up to you and admire you and follow you are young women, people in our

00:18:58.880 generation gen z what do you think is the biggest lie that's being told to young women right now

00:19:05.180 i think it's it's not breaking news you know it's not a newsworthy headline that there are so many

00:19:10.920 young women who are struggling with their identity what do you think the biggest lie they're being

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00:19:44.800 visit connexontario.ca i mean it's hard to narrow it down to one i think that so much at least what

00:19:52.020 i've struggled with is the way that we look and the way that like our identity is in the way that

00:19:59.520 we look you know and then the things that we wear or the the attention that people give us or don't

00:20:04.040 give us and um i think there's so much pressure on our generation especially because of like social

00:20:10.020 media and phones and all the things where we're comparing ourselves to other girls all the time

00:20:14.820 and we have all of this pressure to look a certain way and i think that that is like when you don't

00:20:21.920 know your identity that's the first thing that will set you off on the wrong path and there's

00:20:26.300 I mean I've been really struggling with that the last few months internally in my life um I haven't

00:20:30.720 really spoken about it but I've been going through a lot it's been like some of the hardest three

00:20:34.320 months of my life recently in in my identity and just really struggling and I think it's reminded

00:20:38.080 me like when I believe that lie that I'm not enough or that I'm not a daughter of God or that

00:20:42.720 I believe this lie that I have to prove myself to be loved that's the that's like the first step of

00:20:48.500 me getting on the wrong track and getting off track and getting and being the worst version

00:20:53.400 of myself. But when I remind myself and I really fully believe like that I, that my identity is

00:20:57.640 in God, that he loves me. Um, then I think that helps me make all my decisions in life and gives

00:21:01.940 me the right path. And so I don't know, I think that's maybe one of them. Another one would

00:21:06.920 probably just be like, I think our generation feels like they can't stand up for what they

00:21:10.640 believe in. And that's a huge one as well. I think that when you feel like you can't take a stand for

00:21:15.520 the things that you believe in and that you don't feel like you can stand for truth or you're so

00:21:19.560 worried about what people are going to think about you um that's why we have what we have in today's

00:21:24.640 world like these people that don't speak up and they just sit back and hope someone else will do

00:21:29.440 it for them but i think my generation i hope our generation like get to the point where they can

00:21:33.840 get the boldness to stand up for what they believe in you know i think honestly contrary to popular

00:21:38.780 belief i actually think our generation is going to help save america i think oftentimes we're told 0.91

00:21:44.300 you know, these Gen Zers, uh, they're going to destroy this country. I actually don't agree

00:21:48.660 with that. I think it's the generation before us that ultimately failed us. Um, but I, I believe

00:21:54.780 people are desperate for spirituality and for truth. Um, is that kind of a shift that you feel

00:22:02.840 like you've seen maybe younger people beginning to ask questions again, you know, those like

00:22:08.220 existential questions, like what, what is my purpose? Why am I here on this earth? Have you

00:22:13.180 seen that shift or felt that I've seen it so much in my friends and family and people around me like

00:22:17.880 people just wanting to know like why am I here what's my purpose like there's got to be more

00:22:23.060 but also like I think everyone's just done with all of it like done with just everything that's

00:22:27.860 been going on exhausting yeah and and I also think our generation is vulnerable like they want to know

00:22:33.260 like how they can be the best virtues themselves like they want to go to counseling they want to

00:22:37.000 get advice on things they want to have careers they want to work hard like I do think that our

00:22:42.360 generation is is going to be i mean it's going to be life-changing and i just think once we get past

00:22:48.720 this you know slump that everyone's in i feel like with just identity and different things but i feel

00:22:55.020 like our generation is truly like realizing the generations before us and the mistakes they made

00:23:00.040 and we're learning from them and we're not going to repeat them i think so too did you um follow

00:23:04.860 american idol at all this season i did a little bit i saw that that sweet girl one i know i was

00:23:09.860 gonna ask you about that because as someone who has historically followed the show i love the show

00:23:15.780 i was so excited number one they had a night of faith where everyone got on stage the judges

00:23:20.280 carrie underwood like oh my gosh she's amazing she sat up there saying a beautiful tribute to

00:23:24.780 the lord they all did really um what do you make of someone like hannah harper who uh she kind of

00:23:31.660 i think was a fantastic job on national television instituting a return of christ on the stage what

00:23:39.140 do you make of this yeah i saw that last night that she sang a chris tomlin song to end it and

00:23:43.960 i remember like that is so incredible and i'm so so blown away by her boldness and her faith to

00:23:50.380 want to say like i want to take a stand for jesus and be bold i think that that i think the fact

00:23:55.160 that that's even allowed is actually like incredible you know i feel like the fact that

00:23:59.680 national tv would even allow that and and be able to say you can talk about this um when maybe they

00:24:05.180 haven't in the past i think that's incredible so i do think that there is this hunger for god in

00:24:11.560 our generation and in our generation is seeking jesus in a way that like has never happened before

00:24:16.000 and it's really incredible to watch for i guess listeners or viewers who are feeling pressure to

00:24:22.760 maybe water down their faith whatever the circumstance might be what's one message from

00:24:27.660 rebel your new book that you really want them to take there is so much freedom in like taking a

00:24:35.060 stand for Jesus. And I know that that sounds, I mean, it's, it's so counter-cultural because

00:24:39.220 when you say, I want to follow God and I want to stand in bold in my faith and, and, and stand for

00:24:45.120 truth, it immediately makes you an outsider. It immediately makes you go against the grain and

00:24:49.740 the crowd. Um, but there's freedom in that. Like there's so much freedom I found in my life and

00:24:53.920 just being confident in who I am and who God made me to be. And like, if I stand for this, yeah,

00:24:58.440 this might happen, but like how cool it is that I'm set apart enough to stand up for something,

00:25:02.560 you know, when everyone else doesn't. I think there's a confidence that our generation should

00:25:07.400 feel in standing for truth and standing for Jesus. So my goal for everyone reading this book is that

00:25:13.380 they will walk away with a boldness to want to go proclaim the gospel, a boldness to go into

00:25:18.400 their schools and their communities around them and tell people about Jesus, a boldness to stand

00:25:22.800 for truth and the gospel, and to not water it down, but to live a life of faith. And that doesn't

00:25:29.360 mean a legalistic like hitting the bible you know hitting people like in the head with the bible but

00:25:33.960 that means that you just live a life of loving people well and loving jesus and being a light

00:25:39.660 in in the lives around you and i think that i think maybe that's what's held a lot of people

00:25:44.520 back is that religious side of it but i remember when i accepted jesus in my life when i was in

00:25:48.900 seventh grade and i fully and finally realized like it's not about religion but it's about

00:25:53.260 relationship and once you know that that it's just about having a relationship with god like

00:25:58.520 all the pressure falls off and you can live in freedom through that it's so true um just the

00:26:04.180 feeling of liberation you feel like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders yeah when you

00:26:09.800 can so unashamedly and unapologetically and freely speak what the bible says is true not what the

00:26:16.620 world says is true yeah but what the bible says is true i'm i'm right there with you and you've

00:26:21.700 alluded to it a few times and it's something that um i've noticed as well where there are a faction

00:26:28.880 of people who are kind of turned off from the idea of going to church or uh i guess having a

00:26:34.360 personal relationship with jesus because of imperfect christians who have pushed them away 0.96

00:26:39.160 maybe the ones that are incredibly judgmental the ones who are live hypocritical lives i think we see

00:26:44.880 a lot of this honestly in the political realm where you have people with an r by their name

00:26:49.920 who kind of campaign on the tagline of faith family freedom yet they're having affairs on

00:26:54.740 their wives their their wives and kids are at home they're sleeping around with someone else

00:26:58.480 whatever the circumstance might be um but it's it's pushed a lot of people away yeah what's your

00:27:05.120 message to to those people or maybe to even those christians who engage in some of those acts who

00:27:10.460 are incredibly judgmental what's your message there well i would say like for me i think i've

00:27:16.060 learned by experiencing life and talking to different people like when you look at these

00:27:21.000 people as your god or your savior like that's that's just like where it starts in the wrong

00:27:26.100 like looking to even our president like you never look we're not supposed to look to the people in

00:27:32.360 leadership as our saviors as our even like as our leaders on any personal sense either i mean that's

00:27:37.980 out the that's so far out the window now in today's world um and i think the second that you start

00:27:43.020 putting these people on a pedestal of, oh, I'm going to listen to whatever they say or

00:27:47.040 like, yeah, moments like that. Affairs happen or whatever it is. And then your trust is broken.

00:27:52.100 It's like, that's not of God. We're all people. We're all sinners. We all make mistakes. But when

00:27:57.060 you keep your eyes on Jesus and you look to him for all the answers of life and to him for

00:28:02.460 everything, you're never going to feel that brokenness and that hurt because that is not

00:28:06.300 of him. He does not hurt. He does not cause pain. And I think when it comes to the way that

00:28:11.640 Christians live their lives in moments like that. I think all that is so heartbreaking because I

00:28:15.720 think at the end of the day, we're all the same. We're all sinners. We're all equally, we all

00:28:19.000 equally sin. And it's heartbreaking when the enemy gets ahold of someone's lives and takes

00:28:25.060 them down a path like that. I can say from experience in the industry, it is so hard when

00:28:30.720 you are in the spotlight to live a godly life. And I have lived that. It's hard. It's hard to

00:28:36.720 choose that over the other side. And I think that people that have these affairs and these horrible

00:28:41.940 things happen and, and they're living a life that is not of God. I think it's just getting caught up

00:28:48.020 in the lies of the enemy and, and not in following the world and what's around them, you know, and

00:28:53.640 it's, it's heartbreaking. But again, it's like, if you're looking to Jesus and not these other

00:28:57.640 people, you'll never have experiences of brokenness and pain, because if you're looking to him for all

00:29:02.360 the answers and for him for the guidance like it's gonna you're gonna turn out great um it's

00:29:07.200 just heartbreaking like it is like the religious side the judgmental christian side that that is

00:29:11.680 the one of the number one things that turns people away from the church and uh i wish more people

00:29:16.280 could understand that but it's exactly all my book talks a lot about this the pharisees and

00:29:20.280 they were the religious leaders and jesus wanted nothing to do with them they were the ones that

00:29:25.280 knew the bible like the back of their hand but they didn't have any relationship they didn't

00:29:29.220 have the love of God. And I think that Christians, we just need more of the love of Jesus and less 0.98

00:29:35.640 of the law and religion side of it. But when you are walking with Jesus, like you will walk on 0.74

00:29:40.360 the right path and it'll all work out. So. All right, pay attention. Your future self will thank

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00:30:51.660 okay i have a couple rapid fire questions for you more fun questions okay one beauty product

00:30:57.480 that you can't live without oh uh i would say probably mascara i know yeah some good i've been

00:31:05.740 using brow mascara recently i've been loving it oh i like that i bet with your blue eyes too well

00:31:10.160 i actually it would work with your eyes just thinking about the whole time oh my gosh that

00:31:14.180 is so sweet okay skincare routine or maybe just like self-care rituals that you yeah skincare

00:31:19.640 has been all over the place recently i've been trying new things um i have you tried this brand

00:31:24.220 it's like bio i know i know exactly what you're talking about yeah that brand i've been using

00:31:29.000 that recently and that's been amazing i've been doing less though like less skincare i've heard

00:31:32.780 is the better i don't know i can't keep up but i know well nowadays there's so many steps like

00:31:38.300 10 000 steps you have girls who are using like toner then moisturizer then cleanser then this

00:31:44.080 then this is too much it's too much right do you ever sleep in your makeup no i imagine on

00:31:49.620 tour though like when you're you finish a show you get done late you eat dinner whatever it is

00:31:55.540 yeah like you would want to just crawl right into bed yeah sometimes but it's like the adrenaline

00:32:00.940 that rushes through you after a show it's like we'll be up until two most nights and yeah i'm so

00:32:06.400 like i'm very ocd and i'm very like clean like cleanliness is like everything for me so if i go

00:32:11.480 to bed with makeup on like it just feels you're like itching all right yeah yeah what about are

00:32:15.820 there any other wellness trends that you partake in like any of the red light therapy oh yeah i

00:32:21.880 have a sauna i do the sauna at my house um red light um i take i feel like i actually do so many

00:32:28.740 of them have you done like the lemon water okay i've seen it on tiktok but i haven't done it but

00:32:34.640 i would i think it makes a difference you think so yeah what just with like hydration digestion

00:32:39.180 and like your gut yeah bloating and all that stuff the one that gets me though that i can't

00:32:44.300 It's like the caffeine, no caffeine before food.

00:32:47.160 Yeah, I would die.

00:32:47.660 That one has been so hard, but I do, I will say I tried it and it actually makes a difference.

00:32:53.340 What's your choice of caffeine?

00:32:54.680 Is it coffee?

00:32:55.360 For sure.

00:32:56.120 What's your coffee order?

00:32:57.640 I saute with oat milk, sometimes like a little honey and cinnamon.

00:33:00.960 Do you drink energy drinks?

00:33:02.620 Okay.

00:33:02.980 This is actually crazy.

00:33:04.000 I just started drinking them last week.

00:33:06.360 She's new.

00:33:07.200 Welcome. 0.95

00:33:07.740 Welcome to the addiction.

00:33:09.420 It's so bad.

00:33:10.180 Alani, I'm like dying.

00:33:12.020 Is that what you drink?

00:33:12.700 Yes.

00:33:13.140 Yeah.

00:33:13.260 which they're kentucky people too i don't know if you knew that yeah the people who owned i think

00:33:17.260 they sold it now to celsius but the people who owned alani i don't think they live far from

00:33:21.140 lexington okay so i've always interesting drink their drinks and now i'm yeah it's a problem

00:33:27.280 yeah it's an issue which one which flavor um i think i've tried them all i bought during halloween

00:33:32.960 which i guess if you're new to the alani club you don't even know the halloween flavor witch's brew

00:33:37.180 i bought maybe 130 cans at halloween because it's seasonal and it's my favorite and so i didn't want

00:33:44.340 it to i still have them in my fridge i'm like okay i need to like stock up for the rest of the year

00:33:48.340 so witch's brew is my favorite i need to try it this fall when it comes out on halloween time

00:33:52.960 um okay if you could do it with any artist dead or alive who would it be

00:34:00.840 probably either morgan wallen or johnny cash one of those two i love that um

00:34:06.780 did you see the michael jackson movie i literally was gonna go see it last night but it i didn't

00:34:13.000 end up getting it to go but i yeah you need to see it have you seen it it was so good okay i

00:34:17.360 know you need to see it um most memorable show you've done oh there's a lot but i would say by

00:34:23.700 far i got to play at the lexington opera house um in 2024 it was like one of the smallest shows

00:34:29.280 i've ever done 900 people but we recorded my album rebel live and it was i used to be a dancer i did

00:34:36.520 ballet for 13 years and every year we would perform at that opera house and it was such a

00:34:41.540 full circle moment to be back there and to be with my family and it was like one of the just

00:34:45.760 most like I've never felt more free in a show and more at peace and having fun than that day

00:34:51.220 what about I guess in terms of embarrassing moments have you ever had any of those at a show

00:34:58.680 I see videos like of I've seen I saw one the other day of Justin Bieber like falling on stage

00:35:03.100 yeah have you ever had a moment like i think i've definitely fallen maybe a couple times

00:35:07.040 tripped over things honestly for me it's this is like not even like this is just sad but it's like

00:35:13.920 when i lose my voice and i like last weekend i got so sick and there was like by the end of one

00:35:19.640 of the shows i had no voice left and i just let the crowd sing my jesus i mean it was great that

00:35:23.700 it was my jesus because it was like they knew that song but um yeah like that's always like

00:35:28.340 oh like so annoying when you what do you do like what if you're sick and you have a show you have

00:35:33.560 to cancel most of the time like if you really have no voice you just cancel which is so hard

00:35:38.200 is that like um do the people who bought tickets do they get like refunds do you promise another

00:35:43.340 show you do like a like another show you'll just reschedule it that's cool okay what about the

00:35:48.580 grand old opry have you performed oh my gosh performed there so many times that's my favorite

00:35:52.580 that is so cool next to the opera yeah it's it is truly like when i get when i get to go i'm so

00:35:58.740 excited and i've performed there probably almost 20 times now um i love it it's my favorite it's

00:36:04.200 so magical nothing will ever top it in my mind it's yeah it's just iconic yeah the visual of it

00:36:09.680 and and just being able to perform there yeah um okay most rebellious thing you did as a teenager

00:36:14.800 and talking about your new book rebel i will say when i my brother died when i was 15 so i'm i

00:36:21.980 kind of skipped over some of those rebellious years because i was like sophomore junior high

00:36:26.840 senior year of high school i was coming to nashville every week and writing songs and

00:36:30.200 pursuing my career so i feel like i skipped over that it came a little later on for me in my life

00:36:35.080 um once i moved out and got on my own but i would say in high school i mean i was just so sassy

00:36:39.960 i talked back to my mom i was so like i did what i wanted like i was so bratty and i would say like

00:36:46.680 there's no like specific thing looking back except for the fact that i just like went against

00:36:51.980 everything my parents would want me to do and did whatever i wanted yeah well seldom does a

00:36:56.320 well-behaved girl change the world yeah you know my little sister she's 17 so she's kind of in that

00:37:02.000 age now and me and my mom are like me and all my my whole family my siblings my my parents were

00:37:07.700 like this my grandma we like all went on a walk together we work out together every morning

00:37:11.880 um we did this morning but anyways my mom will call me and she's like your little sister riley 0.78

00:37:16.720 she is the biggest brat right now she's definitely in that era where it's talking back and all the

00:37:22.440 stuff um okay most overrated thing in nashville overrated yeah oh i know i don't know like all 0.98

00:37:31.820 the broadway stuff it is so really not that good at all it's awful actually i know it's like dirty

00:37:39.080 disgusting it's dangerous i don't know why anyone would want to we have found ourselves

00:37:43.660 like avoiding downtown yeah at all costs really i never come to nashville i know yeah i know what

00:37:50.480 about like all the bachelorette trips and yeah that's what i'm saying i can't like i can't even

00:37:56.180 come to nashville because it's like it doesn't even feel like my own city you know because it's

00:37:59.840 so full of these people now that it's like there's always something going on i think that like i get

00:38:06.060 why people love it and the music scene and it's fun and like the cowboy boots and stuff but it's

00:38:09.920 like it's it's such a it's all of it's so fake to me you know what i mean especially as a real

00:38:15.820 country girl it's like that's what i was gonna say is you kind of can pick out the ones who

00:38:19.480 are tourists for sure really easy in any city i guess you kind of can but in nashville

00:38:23.940 oh my gosh the ones who are wearing like the sequins cowboy hat and all the stuff the sashes

00:38:29.480 yeah you can pick them out easy okay last thing uh before i let you give a good plug for your book

00:38:35.600 uh most recent big purchase and your next big purchase anything like in the books things that

00:38:42.540 you're looking forward to buying splurging on it's a great question i actually just bought my

00:38:47.460 this ring last week um i've been trying to get like some really pretty just real gold jewelry

00:38:53.200 and i bought this ring and i because i finished my tour and i was like i was so sick last week

00:38:58.080 and i couldn't do anything i had to cancel everything so i went to the jewelry store and

00:39:01.560 it really is yeah yeah i mean i love like we have the same louis vuitton but like that's something

00:39:09.720 maybe maybe in the next few months i'll go get another louis i know it is um it is it's a good

00:39:14.540 way to like treat yourself for sure um and i'm the worst at um like i'll put stuff in my cart

00:39:20.940 i'm so bad at this it drives my husband crazy uh like whether it's amazon whatever it is i like

00:39:26.800 i'm a chronic add to my carter i love adding it to my car but i have such a hard time like really

00:39:32.020 pulling the trigger that's so easy for me i'll just pull it and then i'll regret it later yeah

00:39:36.220 right uh well okay tell us where we can find your book yeah um and one more final pitch for it

00:39:42.020 because again i will say having read it it's fantastic it's fantastic for all people um old

00:39:48.420 young man woman regardless of any identity factor but i will say especially for young women uh just

00:39:55.680 a really awesome way to feel confident in yourself thank you and being set apart because it's hard

00:40:01.040 it's not natural it's not easy and the bible tells us that yeah he tells us it's not going to be easy

00:40:05.560 but what he does say is it's worth it yeah um he doesn't promise comfort um so this is fantastic

00:40:11.120 where can people buy it yeah annwilsonofficial.com um and yeah it all the information there but it

00:40:18.020 comes out june 9th it's available for pre-order now so excited about it well i'm super excited

00:40:23.160 for you and thank you for being a light um i know it's not easy but i hope you feel the support and

00:40:28.780 i hope you know just how many people again especially young girls really look up to you

00:40:34.020 um and now being a mom being a role model for my little daughter one day when she's old enough to

00:40:39.860 comprehend the world yes we're playing ann wilson in the car and at our house so thank you sweet

00:40:45.660 thanks for having me yes of course thank you guys for watching the riley gain show you can

00:40:51.480 subscribe right here we have new episodes every single tuesday and friday at 10 a.m eastern time

00:40:56.860 and we are covering everything from pop culture to politics to deep dives to motherhood and sports

00:41:01.880 all of that and more we want to hear from you though what is it that you want to hear comment

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Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - June 09, 2026

Anne Wilson on Rebel, Faith, Country Music & Standing for Jesus ｜ The Riley Gaines Show

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