For the last decade and change, fans of both country music and barbecue have made the pilgrimage to Chicago for the annual Windy City Smokeout, one of the country’s premiere barbecue festivals.
Last year brought “Choosing Texas” singer Ella Langley and Texas ‘cue experts Hurtado Barbecue and Panther City BBQ to the festival. This year, the two came together in a fun way, as a famed country star headlining at Windy City made sure to get her fill of smoked meat straight from the Lone Star State.
Louisiana-born Lainey Wilson topped the bill on Friday. But before she hit the stage, Wilson stopped by the barbecue tents, where she found Dave Bonner of Chicago’s Green Street Smoked Meats, who gave her a taste of sweet and tangy glazed pork belly. Wilson also ran into Terry Black’s Barbecue, one of the three Texas representatives at the festival (Hurtado and Panther City are back this year).
Wilson was handed a big ol’ eight-hour smoked jumbo beef rib, which Terry Black’s Barbecue was cooking at the festival. She danced a bit with the rib before taking a bite.
“This is … wow,” Wilson said. “Everybody needs to try this.”
Terry Black’s Barbecue was smoking about 250 ribs per day at the festival, which closed Sunday outside the United Center in Chicago.
“I’ll be soundin’ real good tonight,” Wilson said.
Later, Wilson shared snapshots from her day and evening at the Windy City Smokeout, including a photo of the pork belly dangling over her mouth.
“Phone. Keys. Wallet. BBQ,” Wilson wrote, a nod to her newest single, which was released on June 4.
Wilson certainly isn’t the first celebrity to bite into Terry Black’s Barbecue. The brand growing in popularity with new locations coming to Houston, San Antonio and Nashville, Tenn., has been visited in recent months by everyone from iShowSpeed to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As for the Smokeout, it’s produced by Lettuce Entertain You, which has operated restaurants and other hospitality businesses since 1971. It launched the Smokeout in 2013, and nearly 100,000 people attend the festival annually.