We’re glad to have another chance to chat with the 21st-century Queen of Outlaw Country.
No doubt about it: Miranda Lambert has a lot on her plate these days.
She has a critically acclaimed new album, Postcards from Texas, to promote. It’s one of her career-highlight LPs, one that has earned high praise from, among others, AP Music Writer Maria Sherman: “Across the 14-track release, Lambert aims to deliver sometimes-traditional country with a lot of heart. Throughout, Postcards From Texas is a sonic road trip across Lambert's home state — from the steel guitar-led ballad “Looking Back on Luckenbach" to the funny, trash-talking divorce anthem “Alimony,” with its not-so-thinly veiled lyrical geography.
“At this stage in her career,” Sherman concluded, “Lambert doesn’t have anything to prove — and that’s one of many reasons why “Postcards from Texas" is a ride that works.”
Loretta Lynn taught us that. She said, “Go live your life so you have something to sing about.” And that’s what I have done — good, bad, and ugly, you know? — Miranda Lambert
Miranda’s also looking forward to receiving the Country Icon Award during the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards, airing Sept. 26 on NBC.
As Jen Neal, Executive Vice President, Live Events and Specials for NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in a statement: “A tour de force in country music for more than 20 years, Miranda Lambert’s groundbreaking albums continue to capture the hearts of fans around the world. We’re so excited to celebrate her career, fierce individualism and innovation in the industry with the Country Icon Award.”
And on Oct. 5 at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater, the 21st-century Queen of Outlaw Country will be headlining Music for Mutts — a 15th anniversary concert for her favorite cause, MuttNation — where she’ll be joined by HARDY, Lukas Nelson, Jake Worthington and other surprise guests.
“This is a very special event for me,” Miranda says, “and I’m so honored that the artists I asked to join me, who are all such big animal lovers, agreed to help. What also makes it special is that there’s an open-to-the-public dog adoption event right before the concert – so if you’re thinking about adding a four-legged member to your family you need to be there from 4 to 6 p.m.
“And anyone who knows anything about me knows that helping shelter pets is what I use my voice for when I’m not singing, so you can bet I’ll be singing and talking all night long! Hope to see you there!”
Fortunately for us, even with all that going on, Miranda found time for another chat with us.
Cowboys & Indians: First and foremost, congratulations on a terrific album. How did you go about selecting these particular 14 songs? Are they mostly new compositions, or have some been filed in drawer somewhere until now, or…
Miranda Lambert: They’re a mix. Some are old songs I’ve written, some outside songs written by my friends, a cover, and some new songs.
C&I: If I had to pick a favorite — which, I admit, is pretty dang hard — it would be “January Heart.” It’s a lovely love song, and I can just imagine couples asking the band to play that for their first dance at their weddings, for years and years to come.
Miranda: Well, I’m so glad you're saying that, because I love that song so much And it is 100 percent a song that I couldn’t have written. I can tell you that, because I just not that good at love songs. And in fact, I have a song on the album called “I Hate Love Songs.”
C&I: Well, at least you’re honest about it.
Miranda: [Laughs.] And ‘January Heart” feels like a perfect segue from that song. Frank Liddell sent it to me out of the blue. Frank’s my long-time producer. We didn’t work together on this record — but, you know, he’s been in my life since I was 17. And one thing I just love about him is, he’s all about the song. He sent me [“January Heart”], and I saw it was co-written by Brent Cobb — who’s one of my favorite artists of all time. And I just thought, “Man, what a beautiful way to say this.” It was just stunning. And I’m so happy to have it.
C&I: Now don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed all the songs on Postcards from Texas. In fact, I noticed there was a touch of the brassy, sassy side you displayed as far back as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Kerosene. Maybe not quite as intense, but “Alimony” and “Wranglers” are definitely in that tradition.
Miranda: I think the goal of this record was to sort of reflect every influence I’ve ever had. And, you know, my bread and butter has been playing the woman scorned. And I know that. Because I’m the one that’s up on stage every night doing it. It’s like, “Wranglers” just came at a perfect time for me. And it’s appropriate for the timing in my career, and in my life, if that makes sense.
C&I: There are also some other interesting echoes in Postcards from Texas. Like, one of my favorites among your deep cuts is “Down” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The one where you boldly state that, because some guy broke your heart years ago, you were going to break a lot of other hearts in revenge. There’s a similar feel to “Run” on the new album. You sound much nicer here, but you do warn the guy that, look, I was always going to run. You know, no matter how much you love me, I was going to run.
Miranda: You know, I really have tried, on almost every record, to have a song I wrote by myself. I didn’t make it happen on every record, but almost every record. Because I think that’s where the real, true grit and honesty comes out the most. You know what I mean?
C&I: Definitely.
Miranda: So anyway, I’ve had that song — I think it’s about ten years old now. And I don’t know, I just felt like it wasn’t time, so it didn’t have a home before. It didn’t feel like it fit anywhere, until this record.
C&I: “Looking Back on Luckenbach” is a sweetly nostalgic song on one level — but it’s also kind of ambiguous. I mean, are you there to celebrate a cherished memory, or to muffle the pain of knowing the good times are never coming back? I mean, we don't even know, in the song, if the guy you’re singing about is still in your life.
Miranda: Thank you for saying that. I feel like that is exactly the sentiment. And you know, I’ve lived a lot of life already, and I draw from that. Loretta Lynn taught us that. She said, “Go live your life so you have something to sing about.” And that’s what I have done — good, bad, and ugly, you know? But I’m in this place now where I don’t have to live every sad song I ever write. I don’t want to. At some point, you’ve lived through enough sadness and pain to revisit that when you need to, to get where you need to go in the song.
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C&I: Well, we chatted about this years ago, the idea that, in a way, if you are a singer and songwriter, you're playing a role, just like a very well-cast actor. I mean, you don’t go around shooting ex-boyfriends. At least, none that I know of. You may have a good PR team that covered that up.
Miranda: [Laughs.] Not really.
C&I: But on the other hand, when you’re singing about young love, fresh love, for the very first time — that’s sort of a performance as well. And speaking of acting: I did see that episode of Law & Order: SVU, one of your favorite shows, where you actually did play a small role. You were good enough to make some of us wish you’d try that again.
Miranda: It's interesting. I feel like I’m terrible acting. That was my one and only acting gig I’ve ever had, so thank you for watching. But I don’t love cameras. They scare me to death. But you know, there is an element to this industry that — well, they call it recording artist for a reason. I guess that’s the best way I could say it. You know? Because you’ve got to go in there and sing “Armadillo,” and take a break, and then just go into “Run.” Like, it's a completely different emotion, a completely different sentiment. And to get that across in one set list, you do have to, like, put yourself in the character. Or even if it’s not a character, you have to put yourself back in that place where you were at the time with that emotion. So, yeah, I guess there is a performance element to it, of course.
C&I: Finally, what was the most difficult song on this album LP for you to sing? I mean, maybe not to write or co-write or whatever. But was there ever a situation where you felt, “Gosh, I’ve got to do take 24?”
Miranda: Yeah. Vocals are hard for me. It’s not my favorite part of the process, when you have to back and, you know, don’t get live tracking vocals, and you have to go back and feel that same emotion at two o'clock on a Tuesday three months later. It’s kind of weird. But I don’t know if I feel like there was one here that was particularly hard. I think maybe “January Heart” sticks out to me because I loved it so much, and I wanted the message to come across exactly how it was supposed to. I really wanted vulnerability and strength in that song. And it was challenging, vocally, at some points. But I hope we nailed it. I think we did pretty good.
