miranda lambert

Did you see her last night on the CMA Awards? I really like the new album, but I thought her performance was off last night.

nope i don't believe they were broadcast in england

Oops, yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Forgot where you were. She sang that song last night.

I only recently noticed that little bit of tape-looped high-pitched something or other (flute) at the beginning and end of "Down." Nicely done.

It's half past ten, another six pack in

just kills me, it's rap-like in its internal rhyme and bluntness, it sounds like fat joe could say it

I need to hear this album. I was thinking of going to the record store and buying Britney Spears, Joni Mitchell, and Miranda Lambert.

put those women in a sack, throw them in the ocean, and see who survives.

also, you can sing these lyrics to the tune of "copperhead road"

also, you can sing these lyrics to the tune of "copperhead road"

which makes this at least the second time she's written a song threatening to commit violent revenge against her cheating man to the tune of a steve earle song. (and both of them are great.)

I love this album.

This album is great, especially any track where she goes all crazy vengeful fires-of-hell psychobitch.

Yeah, that's really novel.

those are my least favorite tracks!

(xpost) Boohoo. :_( Scary female country singers upset me.

Miranda Lamber is about as scary as a flannel shirt.

and as hot?

Initially disappointment that it wasn't a Stones covr, but it's pretty damn good.

disappointed

OFL the reliance on hot guitar riffs is a plus (not sure if the power chord-anchored John Prine cover is a minus though). Despite perfect lines like the one about the dog she buried in her backyard, "The House That Built Me" is a "Mama I'm Alright"-"Me and Charlie Talking" retread (I'd rather hear flinty-eyed autobiography from her than any other singer-songwriter her age though). I've warmed a little to "Dead Flowers."

The opening riff on "Maintain the Pain" (clunky title) is straight outta Rush, to these ears.

this rules, her best album by far

Yeah? Another one I plan on picking up tonight.

need to get this. i see she's covering one of my favorite fred eaglesmith tunes.

Better than Kerosene, almost as good as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I'm shocked, considering how lukewarm I initially responded to the singles.

Brilliant album, sceptical after singles as well. She's just doing the right thing here -- she couldn't possibly top Crazy-Ex on its own terms and seems to just play around here, vary her vocals, have a good time. Three superb albums in a row, where will it end?

I like it fine, but not nearly as much as the other two albums. (And "Maintain The Pain" actually reminds me more of Hole than Rush!)

My Spin review:

http://spin.com/reviews/miranda-lambert-revolution-columbia-nashville

And I say more (as do other people) here:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1339

So chuck you'd rate them Crazy Ex-Girlfriend >>> Kerosene >>> Revolution ?

Probably. But really, the first two run about even for me; "Kerosene" itself is by far my favorite song by her, though the second album is slightly more consistent. Both made my top 10s the year they came out.

(Actually, Crazy Ex Girlfriend was my #7 album of 2007, and I'm pretty sure Kerosene was my #2 or 3 of 2005, though I'd have to dig out the list to make sure. It's possible 2007 had tougher competition though, who knows.)

After a couple of days spinning this it feels almost equal to the two others. I think 'Kerosene' is the prettiest and 'Ex-GF' the spiciest, and I take them both as different sides to her and wouldn't want to duel them. This is just so rich, though, I love the feel of her voice and the overall production.

Why was I crossing my fingers when I first put this on? Two excellent albums, can she keep it going? And she does. I feel the same with Brad Paisley's albums. This will end up in my Top 10 albums of the year, along with Paisley. It's funny, she's had only 1 Top 10 single on the Billboard Country charts (#7 "Gunpowder and Lead") but she's the most critically acclaimed female Country singer around.

My favorite tracks, fwiw (though definitely not in this order): "White Liar," "Only Prettier," "Me And Your Cigarettes," "The The Way The World Goes 'Round," "Time To Get A Gun." Pretty sure that none of these come anywhere near my favorite tracks on the first two albums, though.

I'm guessing the people who like the new album more than me also don't think it blands out toward the end (i.e., the last four tracks)? Curious what people hear in those, and in "Makin' Plans," which I also have basically no use for (at least not yet). Also think "Dead Flowers" is probably Miranda's worst (well, most mediocre) single ever.

I feel that way about "White Liar." It does tail off towards the end, but albums with more than twelve songs are, according to the Soto Book of Common Law, guilty until proven innocent. I'm also bored of her gun schtick.

To me, it's all about that middle part with the two-minute rockers: "Me and Your Cigarette," "Maintain the Pain," "Airstream Song."

"Maintain The Pain" is a little too grunge-draggy for me, I think, and "Airstream Song" a little too cutesy. Like them both okay, though, and I could change my mind. Do agree that the guns are getting old, but then again maybe she sticks with them because that's what she's good at.

I'm looking forward to hearing this.

Xgau in his new CG; I won't link to the MSN site, since whenever I go there I get virus alert messages:

Miranda Lambert: 'Revolution' (Columbia)
Grade: A MINUS

Of course she's quieting down as she grows up, plus covering her bases, so after half a dozen winners she levels off into a nine- song sequence that begins lame with "Makin' Plans," ends lame with "Virginia Bluebelle," and strides along quite nicely in between. And since growing up also means learning to hit your target without discharging your weapon, the grinning "Only Prettier" and the killer metaphor "Me and Your Cigarettes" establish a welcome lightness. In case you had any doubts, Lambert asserts her distance from Music Row by covering John Prine, Julie Miller, and Fred Eaglesmith, the last of whom buys her a gun. Which I guess is how it comes to pass that, in the one that she wrote with her squeeze, the girl catches the boy in bed with some other her and shoots that sinner dead.

Yeah, an A- is about right.

Yeah. Quite like this, although it does peter off towards the very end. The two minute blasts in the middle are the highlight (Me & Your Cigarettes and Airstream Song especially). Particularly like the Eaglesmith cover and Only Prettier for the ways they push my buttons and aggravate my oversensitive political dog whistle ears. Only Prettier is the first time I feel like the target of Miranda's evisceration and it stings.

This woman is a miracle of deliciousness!

Particularly like the Eaglesmith cover and Only Prettier for the ways they push my buttons

as an eaglesmith fan i think it'd be a mistake to hear that song as exactly pro-gun. it's really about a mostly futile reaction to powerlessness. "time to put something between me and the sun." (plus, it's funny.)

Her voice does a good job of mediating too.

Lambert asserts her distance from Music Row by covering John Prine, Julie Miller, and Fred Eaglesmith

Not sure I buy this, btw. Toby Keith's covered Eaglesmith and Paul Thorn before; Gary Allan's covered Todd Snider. And I'd be surprised if Miranda is the first person to cover Prine or Miller. So it's not as unheard-of a practice on Music Row as Xgau seems to imply. Nasvhille likes good songs, and singers often go outside the mainstream looking for them.

I do agree a lot of the album has a certain "alt-country" (whatever that means anymore) feel, though (and said so in my Spin review.)

George Strait had a country #1 with Prine's "I Just Want to Dance with You" in 1998.

btw I love Revolution but haven't yet gotten my thoughts in order about it.

Hell, didn't John Mellencamp in his Coog days co-write a song with Prine? (Coog's a roots-rocker too, but still, he was a pop star then)

Yeah, that sounds kinda familiar...

Anyway, it might be worth noting that, on her previous album, Miranda covered Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, and Carlene Carter, who all share her gender.

Oh, the co-write is "Jackie O" (presumably no relation to "Jackie Brown").

Frank Kogan ponders the new album here:

http://koganbot.livejournal.com/173421.html

I've never heard Fred Eaglesmith. Have heard <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ashleymonroemusic";>Ashley Monroe</a>, however (co-writer of "Me And Your Cigarettes"), whose one album I like more than this one.

Let's try that again:

I've never heard Fred Eaglesmith. Have heard Ashley Monroe, however (co-writer of "Me And Your Cigarettes"), whose one album I like more than this one.

after just two listens, i think i lurve this album! (it does kinda sag 'round the midriff tho, tru.)

The Eaglesmith version of "Time To Get A Gun" is up on this MySpace tribute site.

Toby Keith's covered Eaglesmith and Paul Thorn before; Gary Allan's covered Todd Snider.

Well, that doesn't mean that she's not distancing herself from Music Row by covering Prine, Miller, and Eaglesmith, but the way she makes those songs sound sure doesn't distance her from Music Row. This is another Miranda Lambert album, and she's a viable commodity sounding the way she does.

(I way prefer Miranda's "Gun" to Eaglesmith's, but that's on first listen, so this judgment might come from my prejudices rather than my ears. But my ears themselves have certain druthers and prejudices. Ruefully evocative blues mumbles don't evoke for me. But it's a fine song, and his version does have a kick.)

man, i'm a real sucker for songs like "The House That Built Me." loving this album so far.

LOVINg this album on one listen - though none of my immediate favourites have been mentioned: "heart like mine", "sin for a sin", "somewhere trouble don't go"

WKIW Miranda, totally. Not sure if this has the instant 'omg' factor of Crazy Ex Girlfriend but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

I like it (the new one)! Amazing. I guess I need to find a way to give more country a chance (at least country with this much rock and this much 70s top 40 in it).

"White Liar" and "Only Prettier": both freakin' strong songwriting. (I hear part of "Only Prettier" as something I'd expect from XTC, minus the lyrics.)

We don't have to like each other but it's sure fun too pretend

Can't relate to this at all, but I'm about as Southern as Lou Reed.

She just sang "White Liar" on the CMA Awards a few minutes ago. Decent enough, though not overwhelming.

has anyone seen her live? she's playing a big arena show here, considering going...

Thoughts on last night's victories?

She was in fine voice singing "Coal Miner's Daughter."

I forgot that was on. Wonder if I can find the performaces on youtube?

3 CMA's on her 27th birthday, and she had 2 of the nominations for song of the year. Her "House that Built Me" beat out Sugarland "Need me Now." Was that not country enough?

yay

i've been really, really feeling the first single from miranda lambert's girl group (!) pistol annies recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOKtbJfNLFk&ob=av2e

it's a slow burner but the lyrics are so great, and when miranda's voice comes in like paint stripper...yesssss!

Yeah, I heard that song last night and really liked it. Enough to click over to iTunes to purchase it right away. But then I balked when I saw it was $11.99 for barely half an hour of music. Really I know Miranda is getting popular, but no reason to price the entire album at hit single $1.29 pricing.

A friend sent this a couple of weeks ago; I may like it more than "Baggage Claim."

oh the whole album is out now? awesome. learned by chance that a whole sunny sweeney album has emerged too

awesome

that Sunny Sweeney album is like 1/2 her EP from last year, but at least there's some new songs too. Haven't listened to it yet, or the Pistol Annies record, but yeah "Hell on Heels" is a lot better than "Baggage Claim"

My girlfriend is all about this. (She was still surprised when I mentioned I had a copy of Revolution around, which I did.)

that Sunny Sweeney album is like 1/2 her EP from last year, but at least there's some new songs too

yeah i've just glanced at the track listing - this is okay, i can (probably) now vote for the album in EOY lists instead of dithering over what to count a 5-track EP as

at the very least that EP was totally great

"Hell on Heels" is a pretty good song, but I'm bored with the persona.

oh this album is fantastic

how great is the song where sucking away the outer sourness of a lemon drop to reach the sweet part is a metaphor for making your mortgage payments

(and then three tracks later the one that starts "i've been thinking about setting my house on fire")

Love that one. Also there's something Hemingway-esque about the "Trailer for Rent" chorus (Miranda Lambert is really good at making being pissed-off sound euphoric). And I'm partial to the sweet pandering of "Boys From The South" because I'm partial to boys from the South.

and then three tracks later the one that starts "i've been thinking about setting my house on fire")

― the-dream in the witch house (difficult listening hour), Saturday, September 10, 2011 10:19 AM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

"housewife's prayer"!!! i am obsessed with that one. i've listened to it a million times.

she's so controlled on stuff like trailer for rent: easing into the punch line, giving it just enough exasperation to be a lol.

other things on this album: the one about being glad your dead parents aren't around to watch you and your siblings fight over their possessions; the one about getting married because you're pregnant ("we didn't take no honeymoon / with what we got ourselves into / a quick i do / then back home again"); the line "i'm a third-generation bartender".

i like that "boys from the south" is the longest song on the album, like oh i'm poor and unhappily married and addicted to pills but here's a subject we should take our time on

haha

it's so long because Miranda lists every Southern state, so lazy and empty but I love it

"Beige" is really striking, because the lyric feels true and heartbreaking but the song itself is so reductive in its acceptance of conservative worldviews--this is country music so that's not a knock, it's a great situational rendering, but it just doesn't feel right coming so soon after the riotous amoral gold-diggin' of "Hell on Heels." I guess my only knock on this album is its sequencing. "Family Feud" is great but I don't like it as a closer. But I guess Miranda has never been a great sequencer (tho Crazy Ex-GF was pretty good in that regard)

"Baggage Claim" made me think Enough Already, Miranda, but I adore this album. Maybe it's the shared vocals, or maybe it's because the tough ass persona is still there, but you have to listen harder for it.

the album's so attentive to money stuff that "beige" comes across as being about the economic-necessity angle of the sad marriage rather than the should-have-waited angle: that is, the sadness in the song isn't because people are tsking about her getting pregnant before marrying this guy, it's because she's marrying this guy at all. she's so distant from him the chorus line is "daddy's pride and joy / is marrying some boy". of course there's another way out of the situation but it doesn't come up here, which i guess is conservative but as you say these are conservative characters.

revolution had sequencing problems yeah, and it was way too long; so is the new one, by the way (review stream). one of the other things i love about this one is it's thirty minutes.

maybe it's because the tough ass persona is still there, but you have to listen harder for it

it's just so much more shaded and contextualized and detailed and funny, which is hilarious considering it's on an album by PISTOL ANNIES called HELL ON HEELS

"Beige" is such an instant classic. What I would do to hear Dolly sing it.

yeah the tough-ass persona is so great here because it's treated as such, and it sounds fun and funny, whereas in her solo work it has to come across as Authentic and Real because Real Country people only care about Authentic Music. Even though I find something like "I put a bullet in my radio" to be hilarious, it isn't presented as such while something like "ol' what's-his-name I met in a bar" is taking such evident glee in playing a part. But of course I've heard "Baggage Claim" on the radio a bunch, and "Hell on Heels" not once.

really hate the title "Four The Record" btw, yeesh. I hope it follows Revolution's path of underwhelming lead single to secret bangers. DLH, anything as good as Revolution's stretch of two-minute songs? She should do more two-minute songs.

oh man "Beige" is totally a Dolly song

there's a great song on four the record called "mama's broken heart" about her mom calling her up to lecture her about how she's been behaving post-breakup ("word got around to the barflies and the baptists / my mama's phone started ringin off the hook") and there are some other good ones too but nah i didn't think there was anything "me and your cigarettes"-level. it also has way fewer songs with a miranda writing credit than any of her other albums; i think maybe she was concentrating on the pistol annies record? where she co-wrote everything.

Lop off the first and last tracks on that Pistol Annies and it's my record of the year. Honestly, though, I'm a little more impressed by Ashley Monroe on there, not to take anything away from the other two, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the success of this album means Ashley's next one actually gets released.

she sort of looks and sounds a little too much like Lee Ann Womack for me, but her writing is great

Yeah, Monroe and Presley have more to gain from the help.

Checking songs out via youtube and I'm impressed.

Housewife's Prayer is stunning.

"Lemon Drop" and "Trailer For Rent" are my favorites.

Listened to this for the first time over the weekend. Very nice.

I kinda like Ashley Monroe's Satisfied as well. I absolutely love "Hank's Cadillac", and I like her slightly different take on Chamber's "Pony". Kasey sounds a bit too precious when she sings it, but Ashley gives it a slightly sassy feel that really works.

I saw Ashley sing "Has Anybody Ever Told You" on the Ten Out of Tenn tour in 2009. Absolute showstopper. Blew the other 9 off the stage.

last stretch of posts = v good reading

in "housewife's prayer", what's the washing machine a reference to in the second verse? it feels really sinister, especially connected to "i've been thinking about going off the deep end". if the first verse is about arson, what the second verse brings to mind is murder, and she'd need the washing machine to wash away the evidence.

i didn't realise a solo lambert album was also on the way, like others i wasn't really grabbed by the last one, but hell on heels is pretty special imo.

Yeah I just saw that today and was surprised to see it so soon after the Pistol Annies album.

wow lex, I hadn't thought about it that way. To me it sounds like something about hands being faded, due to not having a washing machine, but your reading is certainly more intriguing

also that housewife trick of putting babby on top of washing machine to calm it down? I dunno

My review: http://thequietus.com/articles/07029-pistol-annies-hell-on-heels-review

What exactly does she say after "All I need is a washing machine because..." - something about hands.

She then circles around to all her pills (and alcohol - self destructive) and her sexual frustration. A murder fantasy seems out of place in the middle. Seems like she'd be much more likely to kill herself.

Oh - and nice review!

I knew someone would call me out for my purposely contracting the time b/w Tupelo and Wilco but whatever. Toby Keith >>> Wilco

eh Uncle Tupelo & Toby Keith are up to very different things & you're just buying into the dumb media narrative that UT were "country" & thus that TK is a reasonable comparison. UT were trying to sound like Neil Young circa 1969 with a midwestern leftist lyrical sensibility: would it be clarifying to compare NY with TK unfavorably for the relative lack of clarity in his narratives?

to my ears UT sounds more like Comes a Time-era Neil Young if Young should enter this conversation at all.

you must be listening to the wrong UT album (yeah yeah maybe you're thinking "all of them"). maaaaybe the acoustic record has that sound but the guitars on Anodyne, particularly on Farrar's songs, rage, whereas Comes A Time, no matter how much I like it, is a dinner party album.

Tweedy was mostly a dog in UT, I'll give you that (also think a Wilco / TK comparison misses the point, but I guess you're writing to your audience)

Love the Pistol Annies album.

Maybe that's why the tunes dependent on the aural equivalent of the woman parts in Judd Apatow films are the weakest, the worst of which is 'Takin' Pills', an infrequent example of striking poses instead of commenting on them.

Exactly. Well done, Alfred. "Takin' Pills" is the only one I don't care for, and you pretty much nailed why.

Surprised no mention of "Beige," though, which I think is the album's best tune.

Surprised no mention of "Beige," though, which I think is the album's best tune.

I think it is too. Was discussed earlier, though.

it's weird; at work I usually have to listen to country music radio approx 3 hours a day. I've heard "Baggage Claim" a WHOLE lot, but haven't heard any Pistol Annies songs yet; is the industry giving this a proper push?

It debuted at #1 on the country chart and in the regular top ten; don't know about promotional efforts.

then they should be playing it on the radio here; maybe i'm just not listening closely enough...?

I don't know Lambert's label, and if Pistol Annies are on it too. Could the company be saving its promotional money for Lambert's album?

I don't know what they're putting into the Annie's album, but Ashley Monroe deserves to get some attention out of this project. It feels like the album just snuck up on us.

xp from what I can see they are both released by Columbia Nashville, so that's a distinct possibility, Alfred.

Fully expecting this new album to be amazing, based on what I've been hearing of it.

Listening to the new Miranda Lambert - it's great. I was scared when I heard "Baggage Claim" about a month ago - I didn't expect there to be much versatility on this album, but she's pulled it off. And she covers "Look At Miss Ohio" which instantly won me over.

An improvement on the last one? I found Revolution to be a bit of a disappointment, but the Pistol Annies album has me really excited for this one.

I'm not convinced yet. "All Kinds of Kinds" mentions a congressman who wears dresses on Friday night, "Mama's Broken Heart" wishes her daughter lived a life less dramatic than when JFK's Camelot went down in flames, but the rest sounds tentative – so far.

Revolution disappointed me as well. I love the Pistol Annies album as well, but it's definitely not a continuation of their album. She's let a lot of other songwriters in on this one, and she chose well. I'd say (after one listen) that it's better than Revolution. It feels like the kind of album you slowly sink into.

Revolution's problem was zealous mixing and sequencing, not songs.

I'm going to re-listen to Revolution and see if I notice the same problem with the sequencing and mixing. To be honest, I didn't give the album that many plays - got lost in the shuffle.

I really like the way she doesn't overwhelm us with attitude on Four the Record but it's still very much there.

Decent feature.

Will be buying this tomorrow

I should note that Revolution defines "sleeper hit"; after a tentative start it's quietly become her most successful album -- the one that made her a star. Two #1 singles more than a year after its release, another pair of top fifteens....

i like miranda lambert

yay! I knew you would.

i'm glad you're pleased

I dunno, after two listens this definitely feels like her least successful. It all seems fairly unfocused, though there is a side benefit of it sounding a lot looser and warmer than her other records. I just think the words fail her, and seeing the writing credits is illuminating in that regard; it makes a lot of sense that the overblown and soggy one she does with her husband is partially written by the guy in Lady Antebellum (who also co-wrote my least favorite song on Revolution). But even the ones she has a hand in are mushy and toothless.

Also she's always been good with covers, but does she add anything to "Look At Miss Ohio"? The original sounds defiant, and this one just sounds pretty and aimless.

Regardless of its issues, I do like the way she seems to swing on here. "All Kinds of Kinds" is kind of the perfect opener in its sense of expansiveness and inclusivity, "Mama's Broken Heart" is a total killer, "Dear Diamond" has a nice stark uneasiness, "Same Old You" and "Easy Living" sound totally vintage (in an alternate universe, the latter is a Bessie Smith track). I might be overrating "Nobody's Fool" because of the two songs it follows.

it's sort of telling that "Fine Tune" is her first song that deals explicitly with sexuality as a source of pleasure (as opposed to the rape and murder and cheatin'), and it's pretty goofy. Kind of endearing, but also kind of limp. Much like the record as a whole, but then again Revolution didn't hit me till I played it in a car, so maybe I should get on that.

The first song sounds like a creative writing exercise.

Nothing here matches the brevity and concentration of her self-penned "Trailer For Rent," released two months ago.

otoh "Oklahoma Sky" has her trying a Patsy Cline-esque slow, sultry style, which suggests she's still figuring out her range as a singer.

mama's broken heart!!!!!!

I dunno, guys, I'm in love with approximately half this record. I think "Nobody's Fool," "All Kinds of Kinds," "Mama's Broken Heart," and "Same Ol You" are brilliant. I also think "Fine Tune" is terrific and answers the question "what if Mark Linkous had lived to produce Miranda Lambert?" It also reminds me of the title track of the most recent Truckers album, weirdly enough, with the bluesy slide guitar throughout. It may be my favorite on the album. That weird Kim Deal vocal effect, especially so early in the album, is a bold move.

My least favorites are the 'mersh' ones - "Baggage Claim" (still not a fan of that one), "Safe" (sounds like something Carrie Underwood passed on), and the abominable "Fastest Girl In Town" (is this fucking Skid Row?).

I'm probably in the minority here, but I so think the highs on this album are higher than on the Pistol Annies album, which I loved at first, but taken as a whole now feels insubstantial and decidedly less than the sum of its (admittedly outstanding) parts.

I don't have the liner notes so I don't know who wrote what, but there is some great writing here. "Easy Living" is like a lost Keith Whitley tune.

I didn't know "Look At Miss Ohio" was a cover - that one's great too - who wrote that?

Anyway, I'm a Miranda superfan and this is my favorite of her four albums, if only for the songs I mentioned. I'll be coming back to this a lot. I just wish I didn't feel like she's perpetually torn between the Nashville hit machine and some Jamey Johnson-esque stab at 'classic country' reclamation. I guess the lack of airplay for Pistol Annies makes a case for her erring on the side of the former, if only from a careerist standpoint.

The trilogy in the middle is the best: "Easy Living, "Dear Diamond," "Same Ol' You."

this is better paced than revolution, which seemed so confused in the order of songs. there's like a third of that record that i'll never recall because of it.

not sure what i think of four the record otherwise except that "fine tune" is a motherfucker of a song and her version of "look at miss ohio" made me feel a lot of things.

Heard the whole thing this morning and it instantly felt more exciting that Revolution did. There is still some awkward sequencing (too many slower songs near the end), but a handful of really great songs.

The trilogy in the middle is the best: "Easy Living, "Dear Diamond," "Same Ol' You."

definitely, and I'd add "Mama's Broken Heart" too.

I didn't know "Look At Miss Ohio" was a cover - that one's great too - who wrote that?

Gillian Welch, and yes, it's a fantastic song, but unlike her other covers I don't think she adds anything to it.

I understand Ben Ratliff's frustration at how insistently Lambert pushes her I'm a Bad Girl image, but the disdain in this review is hard to take:

She’s not a virtuoso: an adequate singer but not a great one and, at least on Saturday, an inaudible guitarist in her band’s live mix. But her collaborations have helped create both her persona and her sound, which in country music terms is something between the current mainstream and 1990s alternative.

He's a bit too hard on her choice of cover songs too.

The freelancer for the Washington Post who reviewed her Baltimore gig from 2 nights before had a slightly different take-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/in-concert-miranda-lambert-at-1st-mariner-arena/2012/01/27/gIQA5wmDWQ_blog.html

The redneck chanteuse: To some unknowable extent it’s pure shtick, but it matters not. She does it so well.

In fact, the flattest moment of Thursday’s 90-minute came as Lambert abandoned her persona and tried to go high-concept on the slow-jamming “Fine Tune.” With the video-screens having faded to black-and-white, Lambert picked up an antique microphone and retired to a fainting couch like some weary Hollywood goddess.

well, they both agree "Fine Tune" as a performance number sucked.

Whenever I listen to her music - all rock critic talk about "Bad Girl schtick" aside - I get a pretty solid suspicion that she has connections to the hillbilly underworld.

New Pistol Annies song coming out on the Hunger Games soundtrack: "Run Daddy Run".

oh awesome, who knew a t-bone burnett produced soundtrack would maybe be my album of the year

n/m, it purportedly also contains arcade fire and the decemberists

Oh, goody. Now I don't have to buy the fucking thing.

To Soulseek!!

"run daddy run" is kind of amazing. tense and terrified.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=its-921iBQs

billed as miranda lambert ft. pistol annies, it seems

LOVE THIS

but no @ the name change

not sure its a name change, its from the hunger games soundtrack and i'm guessing they did that just to draw in more people with the wide-reach approach

so great.

Last night's WMZQ radio fest at big outdoor shed Jiffy Lube Live, down the road from Washington DC featured Miranda as the headliner and the Pistol Annies on the bill. I wasn't able to make it, but my gf went and reported:

Miranda was great. She only played about 5 songs with her girl group and the rest were just her with male band members, including her cover of Rock and Roll Hootchie Coo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olk1dTcFP_U

station back home's playing "Over You" again & again still & it's caught me. She's singing differently on it than on the first records or the Pistol Annie's record (haven't listened to Revolution closely enough yet to compare since it sounds so gross & I completely missed the singles on the radio). (but compare the ACM take above.) The best part is how the song builds up for a massive climax & she pulls away: a sock right in the gut every time.

New material?

Miranda Lambert is certainly a tough woman, though, and Us Weekly, which features the two on its new cover, does hint at some trouble in paradise.

She’s so worried, allegedly, that flirty Blake Shelton may stray that she keeps a close eye on his texts and tweets! She has full access. All the time.

“[Miranda] knows [Blake] comes off as flirty. She questions him at times and asks about certain girls. The rumors are hard for her to hear,” a source said.

In June, Miranda, 29, told the magazine that she’s checked out some of the people that Blake, 36, follows on social media and “they’re all hot girls!”

No word if Cady Groves was/is one of the people in question.

Miranda, who is apparently quoted in the cover story, says she keeps her husband in line by demanding full-time access to his handheld technology.

“Either one of us can always look at each other’s phone, and we know each other’s passcode,” she adds. “I like to check his direct [Twitter] messages.”

pretty sure she tweeted that they are almost done with the new Pistols album

It's coming out in like2 weeks

"automatic" is a pretty awful song, huh

like, there's value in the familiar blah blah blah but not this kind of reactionary nostalgia

hardly an indelible hook, either

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=9751

I haven't hated this song the couple of times I've heard bits of it, but I was disappointed, hearing it from start to finish, that it wasn't an entire song dedicated to driving stick.

yeah i basically don't like "automatic" at all, i heard it on the radio and had to switch it off not even halfway through

Just listening to it today and I kinda like it, but I get why someone wouldn't. I just love the idea that there's a sequenced synth clicking along in the background like it's no big deal.

David Nail? (Ad.) There's a David Nail?

Was hoping I'd want to defend the song, but it's nothing special on first listen.

guys, do we like the new song, "Vice"?

i like it.

We discussed it some in the Rolling Country thread. I love its stately build.

I love it a lot

she is my favorite songwriter of self-destructive impulses

also i saw her in concert last night and relistened to the albums in preparation. a couple are a little baggy for my tastes, but she has just so many solid songs. impressive!

she performed "bathroom sink" last night btw <3 <3 <3

I like the frazzled guitar work in "Vice." This is kind of what I wished Elizabeth Cook's Exodus of Venus sounded like. But I think the record would've been better with a bridge.

xp uuuugghh i almost went to that show but talked myself out of driving to MD on a weekday. "bathroom" sink is my fave; didn't think it had been showing up on the setlist!

"vice" is great despite ending kinda anticlimactically. sometimes i find myself hitting repeat immediately after the last verse.

I talked myself out of driving up for the show too. Oh well.

Don't sleep on the Pistol Annies albums (Lambert recently told a concert audience that a new set's in the works), or Ashley Monroe's The Blade(her best) or Angaleena Presley's American Middle Class(her only, also pretty good).

Look for her Austin City Limits shows online: in the first, fairly early on, she and band left Gretchen Wilson's road-jaded/weary-sounding run-through in the dust; second was all-Lambert, I think, with her cranked-up combo now something of a guitar army, though her voice kept it country (also on ballads). And Pistol Annies did a mini-set in the middle, just gliding through. No idea what her presentation is like now, though she's got even more good songs now, and suspect she's still shifting gears often enough.

https://twitter.com/mirandalambert/status/775801099995455488

the weight of these wings, out november 18

BEEP

I really like Vice

Co-write and duet with Steve Earle ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNAAPOQ0Fkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnJ8b1iXyk

i really liked this song on that last green day album and miranda's harmonies are lovely here

I was gonna revive this thread on the anniversary of the release of her best album.

It's the anniversary of Kerosene? Cool

this article says she brought out Monroe and Presley and did some Pistol Annies stuff last night in Lexington:

http://www.kentucky.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article203288584.html

miss the pistol annies in my life!

She really is the best working American singer-songwriter.

What about 'What About Georgia?'?

Good one. Kerosene rarely gets cited as one of her best.

Her albums.

I love “The House That Built Me” so much

yeah it's tremendous

that album ranking is correct

Returning to Four the Record after TWOTW was a genuine shock. Too damn long, too goopy.

Alfred, your album-ranking blog entry misstates the "Kerosene" release date (it says "1995" instead of 2005).

oops. Got it, thanks!

the bass playing on TWOTW is so good

Me and Your Vinaigrettes:

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/miranda-lambert-dumps-salad-on-woman-during-argument-report

on brand

Was listening to Four the Record lately, and especially keep coming back to "Fine Tune." It occurred to me today that musically it's almost like a Built to Spill song.

That song kills. Best on Four the Record by a mile and would compete for my top 10 Lambert tracks. Drips with attitude and swagger. Love the garage band percussion, the dissonant guitar, and the filter they put on her voice - the way it squelches when she hits louder bits like "My pulse was nearly gone" is glorious. Her performance is absurdly good, too. Think it's awesome that they put it second on that album, because most of the rest can feel...safe - no pun intended.

She's got a new single imminent, "If I Was a Cowboy".

Thinking about my favorite records of the year and went back to The Marfa Tapes this morning. I’m fond of it - a modest little album that somehow maintains its charm the whole way through. Also realized all my favorites have Jack Ingram on lead vocal. Tried his solo albums and couldn’t hack it though.

Title track from Pistol Annies Xmass alb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV6ThqwkDdw

On Rolling Country, advance images etc compared to The Witches of Eastwick, but PA younger, eerier

Marfa Tapes is one of my favorites of the year. Agree with your sentiments, pgwp. Whole thing is a mood piece that manages to rise above its modesty to something really unique. That it comes from an artist of Lambert's stature makes it all the more special.

Xmas album didn't live up to expectations on first listen, but I'm willing to give it another go when I'm actually in the mood to listen to xmas music.

it will have been not quite like anybody else's Christmas album (although we'll see how it fares vs. my involuntary memories of holiday work in CD stores: Goth Christmas, Metal Christmas, Reggae Christmas, Jam Christmas, Christmastronica, too much Country and Jazz Christmas to count) Marfa Tapes will do well on Scene ballots, as well it might yay.

*Marfa*, also home of Giant the Rock Hudson x Elizabeth Taylor/James Dean x Dennis Hopper family saga!

I was listening to the first three albums for the umpteenth time and have always felt her quieter songs -- with the exception of "The House That Built Me" (which she coincidentally didn't write) -- were unfortunately overshadowed by the charged-up outlaw imagery she cultivated with early singles like "Kerosene," "Gunpowder & Lead," and "Crazy-Ex Girlfriend."

Specifically, her writing on these songs is as good as anything in her catalogue:

"Love is Looking for You" - A beautiful song that is both universal ("You can't love yourself/ at the expense of someone else") and distinctly western ("So you're running from the water, and the fire's getting hotter/ I think you better find some level ground"). I have always loved the way she sings this one and how she changes "Love is lookin for you" to "I've been lookin for you" in the outro. Country is not usually known as "headphones music," but the musicianship, production, and mixing on this song are really something else. There's an easy lilt created by the way the guitars, bass, and drums interplay.

"Love Your Memory" - Lambert is such a skilled closer; she often slows things down and ends on a simple, sweet note. The elementary structure -- chorus/verse/chorus/verse/chorus -- is sensibly pithy. "Love Your Memory" is 99% a break-up song whose 1%, the title line, makes it play as a touching love song. My favorite line is "You tried to make me something I wasn't/ Lord knows there ain't no future in all that."

"Desperation" - For a long time I thought this was her best song, and it's still up there for me. The highlight of a triptych of quieter solo writes at the center of Crazy-Ex Girlfriend that round out what remains imo her best album (I know others here have moved on, but it's the one I fell in love with first). With the chorus, she repeats the "Love Your Memory" trick with even greater success by following three jagged lines about a treacherous relationship with the cutting "I'm still desperate for you." The lead guitar part is uncharacteristically picked, the drums sound like they're brushed, and there are some light harmonica, mandolin, and organ touches -- the whole thing exudes an airiness and breeziness that she does so well and, again, seems to get lost in comments I have seen on her strengths as a singer-songwriter (see also: next song).

"Airstream Song" - The third of 3 songs cowritten with Natalie Hemby in the first 6 on Revolution, I've always loved this song for its brevity and again, lightness. The way the intro slowly unfurls into a spirited wanderlust road tune. It's way easier and more fun than a lot of the rest of Revolution (e.g. "Dead Flowers," "Maintain the Pain") but contains one of its more revealing lines ("Unanchored in a storm/ Or safety on the shore/ If this is all I need/ Why do I want more?).

great post! I would add "Greyhound Bound for Nowhere" to that list. i thought i was the only person that loved "Airstream Song"

yall otm, and all of that now seems to prefigure The Marfa Tapes: light but never lite touch, fleeting light of living/livin'

Thanks both and yes agree. Was listening to Wildcard yesterday and "Settling Down" (another Hemby cowrite) hits a lot of the same notes as "Airstream Song."

Great post.

New song “if I was a cowboy” is a out

Oh I guess it’s been out a few months

She writes so well about divorce.

I know you need me to need you
I tried to teach you to be tough
There'd be no such thing as leaving
If just loving somebody was enough
Run along, little daddy
Take the dog and the house and dang me
It ain't worth the time that it's gonna take
To change me
It's as deep as the holler
And clear as the water that stains me
I want whatever it is
I ain't gettin' from you

Who’s brave enough to take it down?

https://pitchfork.com/news/miranda-lambert-shares-new-queer-eye-song-yall-means-all-listen/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVW3ZXOrG4E

;_;

yeah no

oh i personally don't care how corny it is, love u miranda

<3

the queer eye song is actually awesome & much better than "if i was a cowboy"

you can be born in tyler, texas
raised with the bible belt
if you're torn between the y's and x's
you ain't gotta play with the hand you're dealt

i should've known this would be far wittier than it needed to be/the show itself and anyone involved w/ it

she's such a good singer

yeah i love it

the queer eye song is actually awesome & much better than "if i was a cowboy"

― J0rdan S., Thursday, January 6, 2022 4:28 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Totally agree.

glad j0rd is with me here

so did marfa tapes really not place in the ilm poll?

It was #44, I believe

Ah missed it somehow

Did we ever talk about the Marfa Tapes documentary that came out on one of the streaming services a few months back? It was OK. In some ways it made me like the album less* because it showed that everything was a lot more staged than it sounds. I had literally imagined these three people hanging around making songs together around a table or something, but the doc shows that every recording was set up for a unique shot.

*I still love this album

New Album ‘Palomino’ out April 29.
This record takes you on a journey through songs. I hope y’all are ready to travel with us wandering spirits and meet some cool characters with great stories.

"Strange" is out now. Preorder/presave/preadd the album here: https://t.co/J2QmJVikyN pic.twitter.com/yICm6J4Itm

— Miranda Lambert (@mirandalambert) March 10, 2022

YAS

song is excellent, production is perfect, cover art is horrible, i'm so ready

sorry my eyes finally got around to focusing on "(feat. the b-52's)" in that tracklisting

i missed that too! love the songs from marfa tapes she's taking on here

Fascinating: "Mama's Broken Heart" is Lambert's most streamed song on Spotify, followed by "Bluebird." The latter makes sense: her first single in a decade I heard on country radio.

Interesting and not a bad thing at all! Kacey Musgraves used to play Mama's Broken Heart live--not sure if that's helped its popularity--but I would have guessed "The House That Built Me" would be miles ahead of the rest.

The b-52's collab could be fun -- maybe a further push into 80s territory a la "Track Record"; though, "Smokin & Drinkin" aside, I generally think her collaborations tend to be the weaker album tracks.

A few of these songs are from The Marfa Tapes -- "Geraldine," "In His Arms," "Waxahachie." Two others ("Strange" and "If I Was a Cowboy") are out and solid. Really like the vibe of "Strange."

I read too far into this stuff sometimes but it's nice to see that songwriting partners/friends Randall, Luke Dick, and Lambert co-produced. Randall's songs on the Marfa Tapes were among the best, as were Dick's co-writes on Wildcard. Suggests this will have a looser, more country pop rock sound. Don't think she's ever been credited as a producer.

I don't think either new tune is so hot, but I am looking forward to hearing the new treatments of the Marfa songs.

she's firmly in the group of artists for me where i don't even care if the singles are good bcuz the albums always hit. i think "strange" is pretty great tho, song goes down really smooth and there's lots of cool texture to her voice throughout. lyrically it's not her most engaging but the last album had "it all comes out in the wash" as the big single so eh

She's often released disappointing first singles ("Dead Flowers ," "Automatic").

this is not one of them tho

it isn't, no

I'll take "Dead Flowers" and "Automatic" over "Baggage Claim" and "It All Comes Out in the Wash"

and to be fair "If I Was a Cowboy" was the lead single. Wouldn't be surprised if it's one of the weaker tracks on the album. Certainly the weakest song of the 5 we know.

yeah “dead flowers” and “automatic” are great

Random but in his interview with Rick Rubin Scarface said “house that built me” is one of his favorite songs

She nailed that performance. To think she's an even better singer now.

this lady i sso prolific

Oh shit Actin’ Up

^^^ so good

i love the Essex-ish “Rock On” vibe of the guitar

how is she such a badass HOW

cause I'm mmmmmm I'm acting up

Like how this marries classic western with country funk. Vibes.

The album's wonderful.

album is wonderful

the B-52's song probably ... *seemed* like a good idea at the time?

she sells/streams a lot of whatevers and wins a lot of awards and gets a lot of good reviews and yet i still think maybe she is under-appreciated

Surprised this song hasn't come up in the discussion (or maybe it did in the hidden messages). I fell in love with her for this one alone.

Tin Man

I'm getting awfully tired of Miranda Lambert releasing albums proving she's the best American pop musician and it's not even close.

Excited to hear this and catch up to you all! I would agree that she is still under-appreciated outside of country music where I think she's earned her stripes. Some critics (thanks, Alfred) have been waving her banner since the early 00s, but I don't feel that she's appreciated--or perhaps more accurately liked--by either the critical consensus or the popular masses anywhere near the level of say a Kacey Musgraves, let alone a Beyonce or Taylor Swift.

was she on that pitchfork best artist of the century so far list?

She's not even on this Friday's Pitchfork list of "8 albums you should listen to right now."

Will Hermes reviewed it over there.

goddamn i love this album
how is she the best?

i don't know but she might literally be the best rn

What do you folks think of this arrangement of “In His Arms“?

I love the whole fucking thing.

Prefer this version of “In His Arms”

But I like the Marfa version of “Gerladene” a lot more.

Still on my first listen, haven’t gotten to the other Marfa track yet.

I was on the verge of saying the B-52s track is not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Then Fred Schneider came in and turns out it was exactly what I expected. Too bad - it would be a great song without him.

The "Waxahatchee" version on this album is big and hook-filled. I've had it in my head for days.

haha I forgot about the B-52s track -- it's...fine? I don't need it.

speaking of the arrangement updates - I loved Waxahachie on The Marfa Tapes, but I think the version on Palomino is sorta breathtaking ... a consummate country radio single

oh, xpost ... and agree :)

I mean, who else can balance camp and empathy like Lambert on something like "Tourist"?

Yeah this is great. In general I've had a hard time loving her albums, they always have songs I love but tend to lose me. But this sustains straight through.

Also I like the B-52s track, I think it's funny.

I prefer the Marfa version of In His Arms - i dont have any problem w the new arrangement exactly, it’s just that I prefer her delivery in the Marfa version & i think the song overall works better being really spare & plaintive

That was my first reaction as well (I look forward to listening to the new album more)

I think it's a great song and works in both settings. I'm glad I heard the Marfa one first, but I like hearing it fleshed out too.

I've realized I admired the Marfa Tapes as gesture more than performance. She's made for big gestures imo.

i like the marfa versions better but im a recent miranda convert so this may change over time

God, "Scenes."

Geraldine sounds so great with the full production, such a killer

The new “Waxahachie” is indeed great; it makes the Marfa version function as a demo (whereas the Marfa “In His Arms” feels like a fully realized thing all its own).

WUX-AH-HATCH-EEE

yeah it’s gorgeous

God, "Scenes."

Also “that’s what makes the jukebox play” just bc I love Miranda musing on random barflies

i am in love w Carousel currently

Harlan Giovanni
What a sight to see
The way he earned her trust was on a 20-foot trapeze
She fell so hard because he always let her fly
Till he left her heart suspended
In a cotton candy sky
She still don't know why

god

We haven't mentioned the Jagger cover, and it's tight.

yes! i didnt even know it was a cover til mr veg pointed it out to me. i dont really know Jagger’s solo work, compelled to explore now.

she always does great covers though, love her material choices always.

You shouldn't. Wandering Spirit is terrific enough to fool you into thinking what preceded and followed it are worth a spin.

Yep, Fred from the B 52s hurts that track the group backs Miranda on

I don't know, hearing Fred pretty much always makes me happy, I don't mind him popping up. But for sure there are a lot better songs on the album. (Not that that one's bad.)

yeah i quite like it! no beef from me

i like this album, not sure i could picture her putting out an album i wouldn't like at this point. but i do think this one feels a bit one note to me from a production POV, it's all very like... jaunty band on the road together. which i get is basically what the album is about but i do miss the diversity in sound that you get on platinum, weight of these wings & wildcard. i think the new "waxahatachee" really stands out for that reason, it has some propulsion and a bit of that fleetwood mac-ness that she's flirted with before.

i actually like the new arrangement of "in his arms," there's a sort of spectral grandeur to it now that i think deepens the song in a different way, it sorta reminds me of "space cowboy" actually. the campfire recording of the original is great in its own way too of course, i really enjoy this take on it tho.

plz ignore my spelling of "waxahachie"

I'm glad you brought up "Space Cowboy" because to me, there are a whole bunch of songs on this album that remind me of Kacey and Golden Hour. Not that it sounds exactly like it or anything, and the two of them couldn't be farther apart in vocal style, but there is a resonant space in a lot of these songs created by the electric guitar that I didn't notice until I put it on headphones.

I hear more "Take It Easy" than Fleetwood Mac in the new "Waxahachie."

am i the only one in love with actin' up? the reverb and guitar tone has a nice baby did a bad bad thing vibe

then half stepping into that chorus

xxpost yes! i heard take it easy in there too! i started singing the opening line after the intro lol

actin' up rules so hard

Both the production and most of the songwriting strikes me as aiming for a dead centre middle ground between The Weight of These Wings and Wildcard. I suppose that could seem a bit unambitious given to date nearly every album has felt like it was reacting to or pushing beyond its predecessor, but it also feels like a really logical and attractive spot for her to occupy for a spell.

IMO the connection to those albums is less about the way the production sounds and more about the songwriting. Wings was the first album she worked with Luke Dick and Ingram/Randall on, but for only a few songs ("Highway Vagabond," "Pink Sunglasses," "Tin Man") and Frank Liddell was still producing.

For Wildcard, the Lambert/Dick/Hemby team wrote like half the album -- most of its best songs -- but it's lathered in Jay Joyce's radio-friendly country rock. On Palomino, she's again primarily writing with Dick/Hemby outside of the three Marfa Tapes re-records (all of which are superb) and the Jagger cover (sidebar: she is the queen of smart covers), but now she's got Dick and Randall producing, too.

What I hear in nearly all of Dick's stuff is loose, unserious country funk with a ton of swagger. A lot of it plays like summer boat music in the style of Little Big Town's "Pontoon."

What's really interesting to me is the marriage of Dick and Randall, because I think it may be Randall who adds this dusty southwestern border vibe to some of the tracks, especially the Marfa Tape tracks. Then on top of that, you've got that Golden Hour-esque open space that I mentioned yesterday. Lo and behold Ian Fitchuk plays keyboards/organ on this -- he co-wrote and produced that whole album; probably what I was hearing on headphones.

So you've got a really intentional group of artists that she's been building momentum with for a few years all bringing different perspectives to this, and it is in my view a huge success for Lambert's first album as producer. I traded tweets with Alfred on it, but think this is better end-to-end than Wildcard, Revolution, and Four the Record. Hard to rank it against the rest of her catalog, which I consider unimpeachable.

That's a smart summary of Dick-Randall's strengths

If I'm being honest, there's always a few duds on her albums that I skip or delete from a playlist. But that pales in comparison to the amount of absolutely stunning songs she has made in the last 20 years. I could literally listen to her for weeks straight and not get bored. Not sure I can say that about any other artist in that timespan.

killer post, Indexed

Great insight, thanks Indexed

lol on Huffpost I'm seeing one of clickbait articles with a pic Miranda Lambert: "She was a top Country singer; This is her now"

Well I’m no big fan of Golden Hour, I agree I can hear a similar psychedelic smear in the production here (the songs and vocals are in a whole other league, of course)

https://gardenandgun.com/articles/miranda-lamberts-texas-truth

What’s your top place to play in Texas?

Gruene Hall [in New Braunfels]. It’s the oldest dance hall in Texas, and it’s such a part of our history. You’ve gotta go see a show there and then float the Guadalupe River. I’ve been floating that river my whole life.

I'm in

OK I'm a fan but she deserves this dis.

yasss queen! congrats! cant wait to hear to hear what yall rhymed with nigger. 🥹🤩🥰💓 https://t.co/P4GS3nqIBQ

— adia victoria (@adiavictoria) February 28, 2023

Those who wish for Wallen and anyone who works with him in perpetuity to be cancelled are going to be sorely disappointed. He's one of the most popular musicians in the world, and I suspect that will be the case for some time.

Sure, of course. But there's a difference between knowing that and being big buds with him. I'm not surprised or anything, but it's fair grounds for a zing.

and that's a good zing. Miranda stan here, but good on Adia. that should get Miranda's attention.

Those who wish for Wallen and anyone who works with him in perpetuity to be cancelled are going to be sorely disappointed. He's one of the most popular musicians in the world, and I suspect that will be the case for some time.

― Indexed, Tuesday, February 28, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Miranda doesn't need to be canceled but she deserves to be censured. "He's popular" is not a good excuse.

Gawd. It's not like she has no power base of her own. Disgusting.

agree

For some reason her pride at being associated with that shitheel reminds me of this:
https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/memento.jpg

This is super disappointing to see, damn.

I could live without the parade of "I always knew she was terrible" reactions though. Saw one that said "this makes sense since Pistol Annies always gave white supremacist vibes" which.. just, not really.

Did Lil Durk get this treatment too

she’s always had a contrarian streak & this is the extreme version of that imo

xp or Eric Church?

Eric Church isn't as beloved by libs/critics as Lambert (he's beloved by me).

Oh shit, Adia Victoria just branded her Pistol Klannie.

she’s always had a contrarian streak & this is the extreme version of that imo

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, February 28, 2023 2:45 PM (one hour ago)

as far as nashville/the country world that miranda lives in goes, i don't think it's all that contrarian

he's about to release an album that has 50+ producers/writers on it... hard to call her a contrarian

Was going to say, given what regular people see, hear and experience on a daily basis, I can only imagine the stuff people hear and let slide in the overwhelmingly white, southern and conservative country world. Waller is an outlier, not for what he said but for getting caught on tape saying it.

let's also keep in mind she was married to an NYPD cop for the entirety of 2020... don't get your hopes up trying to find her saying anything about police brutality, george floyd etc. miranda is one of my fav artists & songwriters ever, but like........................ this morgan wallen thing can't have been surprising. lol

and yet then again, is it much different at all from rihanna re-platforming johnny depp? our famous heroes tend to find ways to disappoint all over again

or Loretta Lynn's support of Trump

I know during peak Covid, Isbell (who iirc donated the money made from Wallen's cover of his song to the NAACP) alluded to the countless closet covid deniers and reactionaries in Nashville. As well as the closet covid-cautious, afraid to out themselves to their conservative peers. I'm sure there is a similar don't ask/don't tell divide among many other issues and country artists, consistently outspoken asshats like Jason Aldean and John Rich aside.

I mean of course Nashville’s full of racists and right-wingers, it always has been. If anything it’s notable that there’s at least some space there for contrary voices like Maren Morris (and Taylor Swift!) but they’re obviously a minority in the industry.

also should be noted that nashville is not much different than any other sector of the music industry in terms of working w/ the once cancelled

the grammys just named a lifetime achievement award after dr. dre

Loretta Lynn's support of Trump

marissa r. moss on that:

She sang about the pill but didn’t take it herself. She performed for Richard Nixon but also became friends with Jimmy Carter (and supported Donald Trump in her later years). Some called her the liberal side of country for writing songs about contraception, while others saw her as emblematic of conservative stereotypes in her floor-length gowns and as a young mother of multiple children. Neither was exactly true: It is easy to simplify all this into contradictions, but it was only a contradiction if you thought you knew and understood women, specifically rural, Appalachian, or southern women. Lynn was complex, not a contradiction. And so are the women who love and are inspired by her songs.

didn't morgan wallen apologize? or has he doubled down / continued to say the n-word?

not my place to really tell anyone what to think about her working with wallen but there’s probably a more nuanced response to her working with a musician that lil durk says is a-ok than calling her pistol klannie and suggesting their collaboration is gonna be a racist song. I’m not saying Wallen is cool or anything, just it’s the type of response that isn’t gonna make Miranda pause and think things over. I realize I’m flailing against the Twitter dunking-on industrial complex of course.

Both tweets seem like good marketing, tbh

It's probably not hurting Adia Victoria's brand, but also as a Black artist in Nashville I'm sure her frustrations are real.

Yeah I’m sure it’s quite real, and idk maybe there’s something to Miranda’s politics that we don’t know about that is an open secret in country music. though iirc her Annies cohort angaleena presley is a bit on the left, so it’s hard to really say how much of a chud she could be.

didn't morgan wallen apologize? or has he doubled down / continued to say the n-word?

― c u (crüt), Tuesday, February 28, 2023 5:48 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

In April 2021, following the surge in album sales, Wallen donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition in the names of 20 people who had counseled him following the incident. Those individuals were given the option to funnel their respective $15,000 donations to a charity of their choice, or keep the money within the BMAC.[78] On July 23, 2021, Wallen publicly spoke of his comments on Good Morning America, where he said that "he was around some of his friends, and they say dumb stuff together" and said that "he was wrong" to express those words.

I should say as someone who's probably one of ILM's earliest supporters of Lambert -- whom I consider my favorite popular performer -- this doesn't shock me. What disappoints is she doesn't need him. So the alternative is she likes his voice and songs on 2023.

Her attitude and songwriting depends on an establishment against which she rebels, mind, so by implication she needs that Wallen establishment

her music might be leagues better, but I'm not sure what makes her less "establishment" than Warren at this point tbh

I think of this like pro athletes. Pro athletes don't really care if another guy is a locker room cancer, accused of domestic violence, a well-known diva, or busted doing 115 mph with a loaded gun in his car. Those guys only care about what you can do on the court/field, and if you can help them and/or the team.

This feels like that to me. She doesn't really care that much about a shitty thing Morgan Wallen did 2 years ago. As Alfred said, she probably likes his songs and his massive audience, and that's really all she's thinking about.

Par for the course to hold your nose and write with assholes in Nashville, I would guess.

"I only see one color ... green."

You know, I had only ever read about the Wallen incident, but the other day I actually listened to it, and man, that is a guy who has for sure said the n-word before.

As she noted in tweet, This is her first number 1 song as a writer, which also tells us a bit about Nashville and country music (unless one thinks the way this this song was written just happens to be more country chart friendly than anything else she has written; and I don't)

what does it tell us? "Vice" got to number 2 and she co-wrote that one. she's had plenty of number 1's as a performer.

yeah i think she means specifically that it's her first number 1 as a writer on which she also isn't a performer? bcuz she's def had number ones previously that she wrote on... "bluebird" most recently. i don't know how many songs she's written for other artists on which she also didn't sing, but i can't imagine it's that many. i don't think she was commenting on nashville or country radio, or that her tweet functions as such -- i think she was more alluding to the idea that it's a feather in a country songwriter's cap to have another artist take your song to no 1. or that's how i interpreted it anyway

i wouldn't assume that miranda's motivation here was purely cynical (just after money). like a true nashville lifer she loves having hits, which i'm sure was a motivating factor, but i don't think she needs money, tho i'm sure she likes that too. but i'd also point out the song is about reconciliation and redemption... it doesn't address the slur incident directly (or even indirectly) but like lots of wallen's music since then it feels like subtext that is clearly visible just beneath the surface. i think it's likely that this context -- a song addressed to mama from a wayward cowboy sung by someone who can very credibly assume the role of an unruly fuck up -- was some part of the appeal in either working w/ wallen or giving him this song. it hits themes and specific lyrical touchstones that are threaded thru her discography (references to parents, a specific a small town in the south, the narrator's childhood home) but it's also not a song that she would sing herself. the narrator in this song is really the type of guy who would typically be the subject of her songs... if the guy she sings about in "in these arms" wrote his own song it would prob be something like this one. which is all to say i think there were creative motivations here -- an opportunity for her to write from a different perspective than she does in her own music, and for the song to be loaded w/ a subtextual meaning that gives it added weight (if you're a listener willing to buy into the wallen redemption narrative... or the idea of redemption in a larger aka religious sense). so i think viewing this just thru financial (or political) lenses is a bit simplistic, if not off entirely.

For me the lack of cynicism is actually the worst part.

vomiting some thoughts sorry

part of me wonders i guess, without defending MW at all, at one point do we consider someone beyond the point of being redeemable for this kind of thing, going so far as to suggest those collaborating w/that person are themselves just like that person? i mean he had definitely said that word before! and who knows if getting caught using it was a splash of cold water that woke him up out of being an ignorant piece of shit, or if he's just going thru the motions to save his career and he secretly continues to harbor vile opinions.

but it seems like he has made some efforts. don't want to come off as railing against cancelling people (because plenty of people deserve it and then some) and i'm not privy to insider knowledge on either of these two, like i said, but it's possible to assume MW is maybe contrite, and ML is not actually in the klan.

HOWEVER! ML offering up a redemption arc song for MW could also be seen as a concerted effort to rescue a favored son while not herself doing much work to bridge any racial gaps in nashville (she's at absolute best stridently apolitical.)

going so far as to suggest those collaborating w/that person are themselves just like that person?

Can only speak for myself here obviously, but I'm not suggesting that in the least. I'm just disappointed because there are so many other performers out there she could have chosen to work with.

part of me wonders i guess, without defending MW at all, at one point do we consider someone beyond the point of being redeemable for this kind of thing, going so far as to suggest those collaborating w/that person are themselves just like that person?

He's irredeemable to critics and a subset of country listeners, but look at his streaming/sales figure. Dangerous didn't suffer a bit: it's been in the Billboard top ten for more than two years.

*figures

i mean i'm not buying any of his music, my suspicion being that while he's maybe not a literal card-carrying supremacist, he's contrite because he got caught, not because he said it. and miranda w/her clout and influence could do a lot more good than she chooses to do, something else than giving her imprimatur to MW.

HOWEVER! ML offering up a redemption arc song for MW could also be seen as a concerted effort to rescue a favored son while not herself doing much work to bridge any racial gaps in nashville (she's at absolute best stridently apolitical.)

― omar little, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 1:26 PM (six minutes ago)

she loves lgbts and is happy to talk about our rights and freedom! but that doesn't seem to be a third rail in country anymore certainly compared to issues of race or even gender. also her brother is gay

i'm assuming that the redemption arc aspect of this was absolutely part of the appeal -- again we're talking about people (generally speaking) where the idea of sinning, repenting, and being redeemed is foundational to how they view the world. but i also think that can be distinct from the more politicized contemporary idea of "let's take a bite out of cancel culture!" (and prob was in this case)

This was in a hit country song after all:

His old man was a rebel yeller
Bad boy to the bone
He'd say: "Can't trust that other fella."
He'd judge 'em by the tone of their skin
He was raised to think like his Dad
Narrow mind full of hate
On the road to nowhere fast
Till the grace of God got in the way
Then he saw the light an' hit his knees, an' cried, an' said a prayer
Rose up a brand new man
Left the old one right there

ftr I believe Morgan Wallen believes he has repented

i personally think wallen is redeemable. i also don't think his popularity in the face of the controversy is a huge outlier or says anything about country fans specifically. it's easy to believe that morgan wallen fans (or collaborators) are unrepentant culture warriors taking a stand against liberal values, and tho i'm sure those people do exist it's worth remembering that i.e. chris brown has had myriad huge hits in the last decade, that michael jackson's music still exists in the air around us the same way it did three decades ago, that lady gaga's queer liberal fanbase has forgiven her for doing a song w/ r kelly that went "do what you want w/ my body" a decade after he was indicted for having sex w/ a child on video, that kendrick has made it a clear point to speak up for and elevate artists like xxxtentacion & kodak black etc etc

whether he repented in a way that is satisfying to us or has had a legitimate change of heart or has suffered any consequences as a result is a different discussion. it seems like the answer to the first part is... probably no? but maybe it's yes. it's subjective at minimum. the second question is unknowable. the consequences aspect is slippery bcuz we're in an era of music consumption now where there's no barrier between artist & listener and every time we press play on a song or album it's recorded, tabulated & publicized. but certainly institutions did attempt to punish him, or did punish him. how pure those decisions were vs how cynical they were is also another discussion, but he was roundly censured by the country music community up to its highest levels. of course, they've all come back around, but again that's not unusual in the slightest when we're talking about an extremely popular musician w/ a hugely passionate active fanbase. that's the treatment they all get

within a few years there will probably be a country radio hit with lyrics tacitly implying that the gender-traitors are inviting the violence they're on the receiving end of so yeah i guess in that sense the lgbtqs aren't a third rail in country anymore

A little while ago I was trying to think of an R&B equivalent: SZA co-writing a song for Chris Brown, say.

i have nothing to say about this incident or miranda specifically except to add that the song that pop and adult contemporary stations quietly crossed over this past year (i'm guessing it's not a mistake that i never heard them back-announce his name while playing it) was so incredibly unremarkable and generic that it is funny to me that he is such a cause celebre among aggrieved right wingers

within a few years there will probably be a country radio hit with lyrics tacitly implying that the gender-traitors are inviting the violence they're on the receiving end of so yeah i guess in that sense the lgbtqs aren't a third rail in country anymore

― dyl, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 2:25 PM (five minutes ago)

weirdo post...

she loves lgbts and is happy to talk about our rights and freedom! but that doesn't seem to be a third rail in country anymore certainly compared to issues of race or even gender. also her brother is gay

lol I’m definitely not up on all this stuff so thanks for pointing it out!

I generally try to think the best of people I guess, playing a bit of devils advocate to an extent with my post or two up there when discussing possible worst case motives and what not. I think the R. Kelly is a decent comparison though I also think the total lack of apology and redemption and continued vile behavior on his part, coupled with most of the media and other artists completely ignoring it, makes it a lot worse. I do think MW was contrite because he got caught but I also think getting caught doing something can put things in new perspective for the person who is caught. And it can change them.

FWIW, I believe Gaga did address/apologize for the R. Kelly collab, and remove it from new versions of the album.

It’s all kind of unknowable but I do think one has to take him at his word and give him that chance, give him room to return and be a better person.

And that also means you know not turning Miranda Lambert into a grand wizard

If Wallen is turning up on right wing shows bitching about cancel culture then I'll assume his redemption is fake, but that isn't the case afaik

if i weren't a liberal i would think they were the biggest bunch of scolds. cut a guy a freakin' break.

Chlöe has a new single w/Chris Brown, btw... which isn't a Miranda analogy, but it's creating discussion (as you would expect)

I dunno, I think "irredeemable" is strong but I think it's the buoyant go-girl enthusiasm of the tweet that rankles. I didn't know she co-wrote a Wallen song, but I assume lots of people did and it's not like anyone made an issue of it. But the photo plus caption are pretty much social media shark chum, just seems very un-self-aware. Unwoke, you could say.

looool a little racism is cool "as a treat", lest we be considered scolds for saying otherwise

fwiw, I don't think he deserves to have his entire career blown out of existence or anything, it's just so funny to me that merely expressing disappointment in Lambert working with him is somehow being twisted into "turning Lambert into a grand wizard"

Nah I wasn’t referring to anyone here just referring to the tweet calling her pistol klannie which seemed a bit excessive maybe

She's a white lady from Texas, creepin' up on 40, married to a cop. Expectations heretofore may have been a touch unreasonable.

I was wondering if bringing up her marriage would be out of line or not

Well listen as someone with a cop in the family…I can’t dispute that point

J0rdan raised this point above, fwiw

Yeah and...

Her parents met while Bev was attending camp at Southern Methodist University and Rick was an on-campus undercover narcotics officer, and they got together a few years later. Rick is a former Dallas police officer who played in a country-rock group called Contraband in the 1970s. Rick and Bev later became private detectives and even worked on the high-profile case of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Took me 30 seconds to find a facebook post where she used #backtheblue.

is this country liberalism? or regular conservatism that liberal fans project their values onto? I ask because not knowing the culture it really doesn't seem to take much to be considered on the left in this genre (at least the kind that goes through nashville) so this stuff might be compatible with that for all I know

What do you mean by "this"?

the stuff under discussion

Redemption arcs are woven into country and R&B at the most quotidian level: raise hell on Saturday night, atone at Sunday service.

miranda is firmly part of the nucleus of nashville while also existing on the fringes of it, or in conflict w/ it at times. which is one of the reasons she's a great artist, imo. but that tension is more based on aesthetics, or bcuz of gender, than it is for any political reasons that don't directly affect her. i also think she's received a fair share of mainstream press that positions her as an outsider, or country music that you the reader who doesn't listen to country music might like. which i think is all projection & not a narrative she's actively tried to cultivate

part of me wonders i guess, without defending MW at all, at one point do we consider someone beyond the point of being redeemable for this kind of thing, going so far as to suggest those collaborating w/that person are themselves just like that person? i mean he had definitely said that word before! and who knows if getting caught using it was a splash of cold water that woke him up out of being an ignorant piece of shit, or if he's just going thru the motions to save his career and he secretly continues to harbor vile opinions.

The trick and the curse of celebrity is that your actions and your character can disassociate at any time and it's not yours to control. Morgan Wallen the person evolves day to day. It's very possible that he regrets his actions and has learned from them and is redeemable. If he weren't a celebrity then those who encounter him would only know the person he is today. Awareness of the heinous action would recede into the past and only those who were exposed to it at the time would be left to grapple with it, get over it (or not) and assess whether he's overcome his transgressions and is forgivable.

But since he's a celebrity that past action remains heightened. It doesn't get to fade because we can revisit it any time whether we knew it at the time or just heard about it this morning. The pain has the ability to be raw and harsh at any moment, to any person exposed to it. It can't recede so easily.

Like any painful interaction there is "what was intended" vs "what was received" and the former doesn't matter if the latter is acute. Morgan's action will be acute and fresh pain for a lot of people over and over for a long time and that's too bad for him. Oh well. He's hardly canceled - he's got a #1 song! - so he still gets to deal with the fallout from his actions for years to come and that's just the way it is for him.

It is totally disingenuous for another celeb to think they can only engage with the human-scale version of their peer and not need to consider the magnified transgressions of the past which are still front and center in a lot of folks' minds. Time doesn't work the same way here - it doesn't magically heal all wounds because time is loop. The wounds keep reopening and you can't control that. Therefore repentance, forgiveness, and the stink of association are all mixed up like a soup. It's probably not fair but you can't just brush off the past because your buddy has learned and moved on. His actions--and hers--impact so many people in ways they can't control. I can't believe she didn't think collaborating with him wouldn't cause anger and hurt amongst some of her peers and fans. It's callous.

To non-country fans, the n word incident is probably the only thing they know about MW, so it’s unlikely to fade soon. But to people in the country world there’s a whole lot more exposure to him that has nothing to do with the incident. It’s a little someone who only knows Elvis Costello for the Ray Charles thing getting mad at Glen Tilbrook for working with him.

The Costello incident is fascinating because what hurt him personally, according to the (in)famous Greil Marcus interview, is learning how he overheard Michael Jackson, when Costello was recording Imperial Bedroom in the same studio, whisper something like, "Oh! That guy. I don't wanna work near that guy." Costello's brand of music in 1982 was more R&B-adjacent than Morgan Wallen's. He'll never understand how words matter.

Miranda lambert is probably also only hearing one corner of the country music echo chamber and really has no sense of what his rep out there might still be. Maybe she only knows about his charitable efforts and lil durk collab and figured she could safely partner up with him without it being a thing but obv not, she read the situation more superficially than the reality of it might still be.

No offense, but I doubt she's unaware.

As far as Wallen I mean let’s be clear one may accidentally run a stop sign and hit another car but one does not accidentally let that word (hard r) slip out randomly, I mean I hate to even just hear it in any context.

No offense taken at all obv I mean I’m sure she’s aware but maybe not aware of how much it still stings, how the work MW did wasn’t enough. If she is and doesn’t care, well she has it coming and she’ll have to deal with it and learn from it, one hopes.

has what coming? what percentage of her fans are liberal critic types vs. your average country radio listener leaving vitriolic youtube comments about amber heard under mitchell tenpenny's "truth about you" video or who find the opening couplet to brett young's "lady" (i remember when i first heard your heartbeat / it had only been eight weeks) refreshing/moving rather than an instant station-changer

Tbh, I think it's quite possible that said average country music listener has no idea about the Morgan Wallen controversy, or most shit.

I think that description of “average country music listener” is weird.

My point I guess was based upon some notion that this guy is perceived as not having done enough work to redeem himself, and if that was the case and if she didn’t care, then maybe a little pushback would help her see things a little better. I guess where it’s a little murky for me is what the perception of him is within the country music industry, especially for the purposes of this conversation the liberal and/or nonwhite wing of the industry.

The liberal wing of the industry is like Brad Paisley and some songwriters

Luke Dick

you guys are coming up with all these theories to explain the pervasive cross demographic phenomenon that is overlooking problematic shit done by your favorite artists

J0rdan is like the only person making sense in the Morgan Wallen Erotic Racism Fan Fiction thread

Everytime someone gets "cancelled" and then just continues on to massive, arena-filling success — Wallen, R. Kelly, Morrissey, Louis, Chappelle — internet people imagine everyone in that arena is either going through some baroque mental contortions and ethical ROI assessments or they're just thousands of mouth-breathing CHUDs sticking a bayonet in the flesh of cancel culture, when the occams razor solution staring everyone in the face is "90% of people don't care about any of this shit"

^ correct, and that number's probably too low

Since no one's mentioned it, how many of you actually listened to Dangerous at the time? I thought about half the album was terrific; he's one of those country guys whose ballads are more convincing than his rockers even when he comes off as a self-pitying cipher.

and of the 10% who *do* care they don't like being treated as test subjects in someone else's schoolmarm-y performative scolding algorithm so they vote republican.

teacher teacher, morgan got drunk and said the n word! it's right here on my phone! and he's said it before!!!!

I feel like the call-out coming from one of the relatively few Black Nashville artists with any kind of public profile is being a little overlooked. Adia Victoria lives in a city and state where the Legislature spent literal years debating whether to remove a bust of Nathan fuckin Bedford Forrest from the hallway in the state Capitol, and where there’s currently a bill pending to rename a section of a street called John Lewis Way for Donald Trump. She’s not exactly doing performative scolding.

Since no one's mentioned it, how many of you actually listened to Dangerous at the time? I thought about half the album was terrific; he's one of those country guys whose ballads are more convincing than his rockers even when he comes off as a self-pitying cipher.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 2, 2023 4:22 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Tried it. He's got a bit of Church's swagger and similarly floats between classic and modern sounds, but is it me or does he have a smarm to him, whereas Church's schtick is authentic? Don't know if I got all the way through it, tbh. While we're on the music, Adia Victoria's A Southern Gothic is a captivating, haunting record. "Magnolia Blues" has a bit of "Strange Fruit" in it.

The smarm coats the garbage tracks, yeah.

Haven't heard the Adia Victoria record, but I'm already predisposed to appreciate her because her name does not start with the letter M.

Sam Sodomsky has some good thoughts on Wallen and his new album -- worth a read

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/morgan-wallen-one-thing-at-a-time/

Skimming that, kind of sums up how I feel about his kind of unambitious shit. It's just so lazy it's not worth the effort of redemption.

Agreed with most of that review.

Part of Wallen’s self-knowledge means understanding that nobody wants to hear him tackle institutional racism or Southern history and trauma in his music.

I think this applies to Lambert, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqgy4zx6yv4

ten years ago this season!

Agreed with most of that review.

well i guess i mean the second album

I think some Nashville country albums can be enjoyable yet the stars can remain moral/artistic black holes

how is that different than any other popular genre

I didn't say it was different, just that you could enjoy an album while also agreeing that it's a cynical production

Well, nothing's changed. I thought he was a dumb asshole in January 2021 too, and Sam limned that dumbness.

i see. so what parts don’t you agree with?

my motivation in asking these questions is that i’m most interested in conversing on this with someone who actually genuinely liked (or likes) his music (i haven’t had a chance to listen to the new record tho i like a number of the singles)

Sam listens to respectable country music and folkie types. This review might be the first he's written about cornpone, and I can see him holding his nose. Dangerous had garbage, just wretched stuff, alongside the good songs. He gets Wallen's approach but recoils from applying it to the material under review. Maybe this album has fewer good songs.

ftr the Lambert co-write is fine.

I imagine the importance of Wallen being true to only himself was a bolded instruction for all 49 co-writers on his latest album

Is this a troll?

All the songwriters from our upcoming album got together for a photo shoot it was so great to see everybody together pic.twitter.com/ztWh6xMCB3

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) March 3, 2023

lol yes

During a panel debate over Miranda Lambert scolding a group of concertgoers for taking photos during her Las Vegas residency show, cohost Sunny Hostin said that she's "going to take as many selfies as I want if I paid $757 for tickets," which prompted Goldberg to clap back."You know what? Stay home," the Oscar-winning Ghost actress said. "If you're going to spend $750 to come to my concert, then give me the respect of watching me while I do my thing, or don't come."

After Hostin said that she likes to keep memories from concerts on her phone to rewatch, Goldberg got up from her moderator seat and said, "Turn on the television, girl."

https://ew.com/tv/whoopi-goldberg-walks-off-the-view-table-photo-with-91-year-old-audience-member/?did=9738478-20230723&utm_campaign=ewk-nonewsubs_relationship-builder&utm_source=ewk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=072323&lctg=79cf74c66649f04efa0b3bb4a39c2b677c6d0ac6

https://ew.com/music/fan-scolded-miranda-lambert-taking-photos-responds/

Here’s the actual Lambert incident (which is several links deep in that piece).

Miranda charges $750 a ticket? Cheap!

there should be a thread of performer/audience spats. miranda seemed pretty chill compared to some interactions i've seen. jeff tweedy used to flip out on individual audience members all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgSeKpMYdHM

The police in Sacramento are investigating an allegation that the lead singer of the pop-punk band Social Distortion punched a fan who protested his diatribe against President Trump during a concert last month.

The fan, Tim Hildebrand, 30, said in an interview on Wednesday that the lead singer, Mike Ness, called the president a bigot and a racist during a concert on July 19 at the Ace of Spades. In response, Mr. Hildebrand said, he protested by holding up his middle finger. He kept it there for two to three songs and Mr. Ness eventually called him forward, Mr. Hildebrand said, adding that Mr. Ness punched him repeatedly in the head.

(From 2018, tbc)

Monica jumps into crowd after male fan "hits" woman at her show https://t.co/52WCdDsvQr pic.twitter.com/vmA34zra8W

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) July 23, 2023

Have some thoughts on this that aren't fully fleshed out...

In the footage, Lambert says "selfie" but has anyone seen anything that sheds more light on what the fans were doing? I've seen Lambert live 3 or 4 times and have seen tons of fans taking photos. Never seen her do anything but address fans in her audience positively.

The defenders of the fans suggested that it's entirely their right to document their experience. But what I've seen repeatedly at other shows in the last few years is fans continuously filming themselves for social media e.g., IG live, with the artist in the background. Sometimes this is paired with obnoxious behavior that almost seems to seek out the artist's attention. Aside from the fact that this is super disruptive to the other fans around those filming, this is not about "documenting" the experience. It's some perverse form of attention seeking -- both from others not at the show and from the artist.

Whatever they were doing, the fact that this was done during a piano ballad and in a more intimate setting than her typical stadium shows...maybe she just lost it on a bad night. But I don't think fans should have carte blanche to do whatever they like during shows since they paid for it. This is the same mentality that's leading to people throwing shit at artists.

I thought I saw that they were taking a picture with her behind them, like, look at us, look where we are.

it is weird how many people seem to be mad at Lambert about this. Granted, I've never been to a show where people are holding up their phones the whole time. I'd probably end up in jail.

At the last big concert I went to, the woman next to me was recording videos, uploading them to Instagram Stories, and then playing them back immediately – with the volume so loud that I could hear them over the music.

At the Metro for Yo La Tengo, there were these two dudes not too far away from me having a very loud conversation about bands they'd seen, which kept getting louder and louder and overpowering the more hushed songs YLT was playing. Multiple people, both kindly and very directly, asked them to shut up or move somewhere else, but each time one of the dudes launched into this "we paid for our ticket, we can do whatever the fuck we want" tirade. They never shut up for the rest of the show. A few people went to go alert venue staff, but none ever showed up to deal with them. It was obnoxious.

I just think there is a not insignificant percentage of people that think buying entry to an event allows them to do whatever the fuck they want while in attendance and it's not fair for entertainers to suggest or request otherwise.

there’s a tension at the heart of all these concerts now — & this was stated explicitly by the fans in question i believe — where the attitude easily becomes “well i spent the equivalent of a month’s rent/mortgage on these tickets (or flights and hotel and tickets) so i’m gonna do whatever i want.” just one more way ticketmaster is ruining the live experience!

i’m sure what these women were doing was far from egregious and they just happened to catch her wrath that night. i routinely see ppl facetiming friends during shows, live streaming themselves singing along on IG etc … there’s no rules out there anymore. miranda, as we’ve talked about recently in other contexts, is a traditionalist in many ways, especially when it comes to performing, touring etc and what that means to the identity of the musician. her support from radio, nashville et al has waxed and waned over time but she’s always had her shows — she says this either explicitly or in so many words on stage (or has when i’ve seen her) & i do think for an old school country person like her there is something sacrosanct about the idea of showing up in your tour bus with your band and putting on a great show. now, vegas is explicitly not that, in various ways, but that’s still the mentality she brings to her live shows, i imagine

one thing i’d say in defense of these women is that each artist has their own attitude towards phone behavior during concerts these days. some want to lock everyone’s phones away in pouches, others encourage facetiming a friend who can’t be there but loves xyz song. most artists are somewhere in between ofc… maybe there’s a point in the show where everyone is asked to take their phones out and take their selfies so as to not disrupt the rest of the concert. i personally think what the women were doing was annoying given the song, but based on what i’ve seen both from fans & artists at other shows it would be hard to say it was even out of the ordinary much less over the line

Agree that the context (artist, song, venue) is important, and to some degree, fans just need to be more self-aware and thoughtful; I take photos and short videos at every show I attend, but I always try to do so discreetly and at an appropriate moments. The loud assholes at quiet shows thing will likely always be a thing, unfortunately. I don't know to what extent policing obnoxious behavior is appropriate, but what morrisp shared would have set me off. There are obviously big generational shifts here, too, and Lambert is decidedly of the previous generation (and maybe even the one before it, at heart).

"Excuse me, Mr. MacKaye. I paid five dollars for this ticket. I should be allowed to dance as violently as I please."

I've actually noticed more people keeping their phones away lately, tbh.

Is Miranda OK with fans leaving to use the bathroom? To go to the bar?

I went to see Crowded House a few months back, and there was this one guy standing when other people were sitting (new song) and telling him to sit, too. He was pissed, kind of the opposite of that Yo La story: "I paid good money for my seat, because this is my favorite band, and if I want to stand and enjoy myself and show my appreciation, I am going to do it!"

Anyway, here's Harry Styes stopping a show for a pregnant fan to go use the bathroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDXpvoad6aA

Miranda demands everyone hold onto the their beer cups in case they need to pee.

i think what set her off here was the timing of the photo op with “tin man” which is one of the most personal and crushing songs in her discography. i think she took that as an affront, like either these ppl are not “real” fans or are at best not paying much attention to the show or connecting w it emotionally

I can't imagine someone doing this stuff at, say, a stand-up comedy gig and expect to not be called out

I should add that at the actual most recent concert I attended (a few weeks ago) – which was also a "big concert," in that it was at an outdoor theater – one of the performers saw someone FaceTiming from the front row, asked for the phone, and sung a few verses directly to the person at the other end, before carefully handing it back. So attitudes def. differ (this was a performer at a different level/point in her career than Miranda).

I've seen both Springsteen and St. Vincent down a fan's drink.

I went to see Crowded House a few months back, and there was this one guy standing when other people were sitting (new song) and telling him to sit, too. He was pissed, kind of the opposite of that Yo La story: "I paid good money for my seat, because this is my favorite band, and if I want to stand and enjoy myself and show my appreciation, I am going to do it!"

This is a tricky aspect of concert etiquette. I feel like it should be technically ok to stand if you want to stand... but at the same time, I'd feel hella self-conscious standing up if no one around me was doing it, and it's better if there's a critical mass of other standers.

I agree. But this was one of those crowds that stands for the old songs then sits for the new then stands then sits, back and forth, depending on the song, which I get but which is also kinda lame. It was starting to bug me, that's for sure. By the time they got this guy to sit down the song was over, and everyone stood up again for the next song, anyway.

Yeah that is lame

I mean, I don't blame that guy much. I get wanting to be excited, that said, his answer there was almost verbatim answer we got from the two spinners in the aisle behind us at Dead and Co. who kept smacking us in the back of the head while they danced and spun around.

For sure never be making contact with anyone unless it's a pit situation (even there, I accidentally elbowed the woman in front of me in the head at a Pavement show, and was absolutely mortified)

There are any number of things I'd expect to encounter at a Dead & Co (etc.) show that would drive me nuts, from the music on down.

i do think for an old school country person like her there is something sacrosanct about the idea of showing up in your tour bus with your band and putting on a great show.

It's a Vegas residency...

Does she have Willie Nelson's old tour bus parked outside of the MGM Grand to keep that authentic feeling?

Getting dressed down by the artist is hardly the worst thing that can happen to you at a Country show in Vegas.

There are any number of things I'd expect to encounter at a Dead & Co (etc.) show that would drive me nuts, from the music on down.

Yeah, I expected this, but it was a good example as to what we were talking about...

miranda hardly even dressed down those fans! she never raised her voice. she stopped the song, said she was a little pissed, motioned at the fans to please stop, said all she wanted to do was sing country music, basically remaining upbeat and respectful the entire time, and restarted the song. all in the course of 30 or 40 seconds. i can't imagine a fan being angry about that, no matter what they paid for a ticket.

cohost Sunny Hostin said that she's "going to take as many selfies as I want if I paid $757 for tickets,"

sunny hostin is a wealthy woman who lives in new york city. has she ever been to the theater? or the opera? 'cause you damn well can't take selfies there, and i'm going to take a wild guess that the average show on broadway or at the met costs more than miranda lambert in vegas.

fans who just want to stand up and dance, on the other hand, should be allowed, and encouraged, to do so at all times, unless they're being assholes.

At the theatre and stuff they generally do tell you to at least silence your phones, and often to turn them off entirely so they don't mess with mics (supposedly), but you're right, it would pretty funny to see someone stand up and take a selfie in the middle of a performance of "Hamilton" or something. When I saw Springsteen on Broadway they told everyone to just put their phones away or risk getting kicked out, but that at the end of the show Bruce would come back out and basically let people take as many photos as they wanted.

It's a Vegas residency...

― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, July 24, 2023 3:50 PM (two hours ago)

did the following six words in my post -- "now, vegas is explicitly not that" -- render in invisible ink on your screen, or did you purposefully leave them out of your quote in order to pick a fight about nothing? cuz it seems like the latter! the next question would be... why?

to be fair, there's a difference between attending a show where the crowd needs to remain quiet to allow for spoken words (like stand-up comedy or Broadway) vs. a country/rock concert, where the crowd can sing along, shout, buzz even during the quiet times, etc.

i love Miranda and think she should do what she wants, but i also think probably the best move here would've been to ignore them. the best move at a concert - *esp* a loud concert - is usually to ignore if at all possible.

with regard to what cuz said, she was polite enough about it, but still, i would feel humiliated and, later, angry, and i think this woman is reasonable to feel that way.

i say all this as an old man who definitely sees concert crowds going in a very bad, self-absorbed/entitled direction.

xp - I just thought you gotta understand, she's an old school road dawg country tradition blah blah blah was silly given the context. She's a pop country superstar two decades into her career playing a Vegas residency. She can have whatever standards she wants for her audience but traditionalism has nothing to do with those standards.

But stages (and audiences) as big as Vegas' have always been a part of the country tradition: they want big audiences and they don't mind being as cornball about wooing them as possible. This is a genre of rhinestones and teased-up hair, etc. as much as it is about smaller gestures.

At the Metro for Yo La Tengo, there were these two dudes not too far away from me having a very loud conversation about bands they'd seen, which kept getting louder and louder and overpowering the more hushed songs YLT was playing. Multiple people, both kindly and very directly, asked them to shut up or move somewhere else, but each time one of the dudes launched into this "we paid for our ticket, we can do whatever the fuck we want" tirade. They never shut up for the rest of the show. A few people went to go alert venue staff, but none ever showed up to deal with them. It was obnoxious.

At one YLT show I saw there — May 31, 1997 — it seemed like most of the audience was carrying on conversations among themselves, nearly drowning out the mostly-quiet set. More people were talking than were irritated by it, and while YLT were visibly frustrated, they didn’t address it (though they would’ve been justified in doing so).

When I saw Pete Townshend in 1997 the audience was similarly acting as if they were at a party where Townshend happened to be providing the background music…even though tickets were $95 (very expensive for the time). At one point, Townshend moved over to a keyboard and put on a headset mic. He was telling his soundperson that he couldn’t hear himself and then said, “Of course, it could be because of this fucking audience,” then immediately said, “Sorry.”

He’d mellowed a bit since the ‘70s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PixnWVee75Y

This is an interesting discussion that goes way beyond the Miranda Lambert incident and probably merits its own thread. Someone mentioned upthread that artists are actually interacting with fans who are facetiming their friends or doing IG live...that is super intriguing to me. Both the pros and cons, and how it impacts fan expectations at shows, etc. It is probably just an evolution to artists crowd surfing and going out into their audiences, which have generated some of my most memorable concert-going experiences (e.g., I once helped lift Tim Harrington into the air after he'd climbed into a garbage can at Pitchfork). But the old man in me thinks all of this needs to be artist-initiated and on their terms.

yeah, different acts are going to have different ideas about fan boundaries. Like when I saw a Soundgarden/Voivod show in 91, Chris Cornell walked across the crowd on our hands and shoulders, whereas when I saw Slayer in 1988 they would punch or kick anyone who tried to stage dive, including the singer from the opening act.

man jeff tweedy used to be super bitchy with fans. i saw a couple walk up in front of the stage at a theater show and try to take a selfie with him in the background and he tried to kick them and said he doesn't appreciate being treated like an animal at the zoo. at a different show some dude stood up and clapped along with a really quiet part and tweedy absolutely berated him after the song. i think he punched a dude who ran on stage one time

There was a clip of Steve Lacey stomping on a phone someone threw on stage

I mean anything thrown on stage / toward the artist is a different story

at a different show some dude stood up and clapped along with a really quiet part and tweedy absolutely berated him after the song.

I've never seen him berate an individual fan, but I've seen Tweedy/Wilco a couple of times and he definitely has a bug up his ass about people clapping along with his songs. It throws him off.

When I saw him live last month or so he told a funny story about playing a festival in Iceland recently and constantly getting recognized across the island. He said on his last day he went to the Blue Lagoon to relax and people kept coming up to him asking for selfies. He (half) joked that if he is in his bathing suit, that's a sign you really shouldn't ask him for a selfie.

I saw Tweedy get super pissy at a late '90s/early '00s show. The theater was only half full and he got in trouble with the venue management for smoking on stage.

ok enough of this jeff tweedy digression
you don’t gotta to go home but you can’t stay here etc

Relevant as to precedent, your honor.

But it does seem unfair to lump Lambert in with whiny guys like him. Apart from this I don't think I've ever heard drama about her audience relations.

if i didn’t say anything you nerds would drone on abt tweedy for a week so consider it precautionary <3

just me over here tapping the sign real friendly-like

ok enough of this jeff tweedy digression

thank you

Audience members have been throwing things on stages as long as there have been stages, and stage crashing is not a new phenomenon, but this recent cluster of incidents feels like a game of stuntlike one-upmanship, designed to go viral. Disrupting a celebrity — inserting yourself into their narrative — may now be the ultimate concert souvenir.

For fans whose primary engagement with culture is virtual — this feels particularly true post-pandemic, when polite concertgoing wasn’t an option — the sense of a performer as a human is less firm. And demonstrating this kind of proximity to a famous person is a logical next step of the evolution from autographs to selfies. The stars are no longer out of reach; they are backdrops. There was a flash of this in the recent kerfuffle at a Miranda Lambert concert, where the singer chided some women in the crowd for taking photos of themselves while she was singing. (At least those phones weren’t airborne.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/arts/music/crowds-throwing-objects-at-musicians.html

https://musicrow.com/2023/11/breaking-miranda-lambert-jon-randall-partner-with-big-loud-to-launch-big-loud-texas/

I'm not surprised by her politics, but ugh what a lousy bill to be on.

What the hell @mirandalambert ???

I thought you were one of the good ones. #hugedisappointment pic.twitter.com/pQDpNSIjFa

— Just Jeff (@AttorneyJeff) November 13, 2023

wasn't / isn't she romantically involved with a cop?

NARRATOR: She's never been one of the Good Ones.

Or, rather, it's foolish to expect political consistency from these people.

That Kid Rock/Aldean bill might as well be called the Double Down Picnic.

Nelly really sticking out there.

His first album is called "Country Grammar," that's probably good enough for the bill. But his most recent album was a country-collab called "Heartland:"
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7f/Nelly_-_Heartland.png

More importantly, with him on the bill assholes like Aldean can proclaim they're not racist.

lol at Big & Rich billing lower than Koe Wetzel, who is apparently "fusing country and grunge."

ugly politics aside, she should fire whoever got her third billing on a show w/kid rock and jason aldean.

Aldean is bigger than Lambert, but Kid Rock...

Hey now, Kid Rock was <this close> to getting a position in Trump's cabinet

Big & Rich ft. Gretchen Wilson, 2004 ILM country all in one pocket-sized slot for easy avoidance.

Horse of a Different Color forget it, just a White Horse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVkQl55Zro

“Wranglers” video about scorned woman with bombastic pop country rock music

Awful song:

https://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=31686

Co-sign

Co-co-sign:
https://www.countryuniverse.net/2024/05/08/single-review-roundup-vol-3-no-16/

Second pre-album track, "Dammit Randy," dropped yesterday and is also bad. "Smoking cigarettes like they're going out of style"-type writing from a generational talent is just such a bummer.

Third pre-release track is out now: Alimony

Best of the three by a significant margin and much more akin to her earlier output. New album, Postcards From Texas, is due on 09.13. Cover has her in a tee-shirt from Gilley's; not sure if that's an intentional throwback to the booklet from Kerosene, but here's hoping that's the case...

New profile: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/miranda-lambert-postcards-from-texas-album/

Written by Natalie W of "Don't Rock the Inbox." Delighted to see her byline on this.

Nice profile of her. I just saw Lambert live for the first time , at a Friday night of Labor Day weekend show near Rochester, NY. Pretty good show . I liked the older songs better than “Wranglers” which has that bombastic arena rock guitar solo on it . She did a duet on a Merle Haggard song with one of the opening acts who came back on stage to join her. Very friendly manner onstage. She talked about how long it had been since she last played there, but how nonetheless she felt like an honorary New Yorker because her husband was a NYC cop.

Uh I just barely skimmed through this on my phone but it’s potentially really good

“Santa Fe” and “Run” jumping out so far. I’m really liking this

This is actually killing me

That’s my summation of “I hate love songs”

Ok I love this whole thing

If you’re in San Antone
Remember the alimo…..ny

lmao so stupid i love it

If you’re in San Antone
Remember the alimo…..ny

haha i read that as "remember the alamo," a quote, with an "ny" (as in neil young) citation, as if she was quoting the lyrics from his "ride my llama." which made me really really wanna hear it!

it is stupid and i love it too

first time i heard it i was like why is she singing alimony so weird and by the fourth time i was like ohhhhhh remember the ALAMO ny

i am v slow

This is my least favorite since 2011.

Let me keep trying.

More or less in agreement w Alfred. It's pretty easily her second-weakest album to me after multiple listens... A few tracks are keepers, though, and Miranda's second-worst is still as good as or better than what a whole bunch of others could ever do.

It's shtickier than usual.

i enjoyed it first listen! looking forward to more spins!

i think alimony is my current favorite. i enjoy her in honkytonk mode

Loving all the pedal steel on this

Alimony is going right next to Johnnie Taylor’s “it’s cheaper to keep her” on my divorce playlist

lol nice

It's shtickier than usual.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

that's how i feel about Palomino in retrospect

anyway the new one got me in a miranda mood and i think i comfortable proclaiming her as my favorite artist of the 1st quarter of the century

Don't disagree with the takes here, this is definitely a lesser Lambert record, but I think it's pretty fun. Seems like she wanted a record that would be the soundtrack to the bachelorette parties in her Nashville bar, light and easygoing.

And with my last second, I don't mean that in a negative way at all. This is just a really light and more carefree record, can definitely hear it getting a lot of play in bars. But it does miss some of the heart and substance of her best albums.

"last sentence", that should be

No, it's not a bad record. My problem is with some of the shticky fastones.

Yeah the slower numbers on this are where it’s at

The last track, “livin on the run”, is a nicer uptempo one

I’m curious though, does anyone rate “Vice” in their top ten Miranda songs? It maybe top 5 for me. So many great lines

It's not top five but I like it.

"january heart" and "run" stick out to me as two where the lyrics are simple and direct and some of the emotional weight of the song is pushed onto the arrangements in a way that is really effective. "january heart" reminds me of some of the good album tracks on 'golden hour' but miranda teases it out into shimmery electric guitar land

i mean honestly "run" is a complete stunner to me, i think i would put that up there w/ some of the best of 'weight of these wings' ... it's definitely cut from the same cloth. i love the simplicity of the first verse ("you took too long to see i was unhappy / and i took too long to tell you that i was / gonna run") and the wordless emoting leading into the bridge/outro part really really hits for me

i mean that bridge/outro whatever is killer -- "oh this freedom i found baby sure wasn't free / i owe you a lifetime of apologies" ... i feel like she returns here to the end of "runnin just in case" -- "happiness ain't prison, but there's freedom in a broken heart." one of my all time fav lyrics and i like the different perspective on it in this song. she really summons the spirit of the great moments in her discography at that point in the song imo

i also really like "wildfire" as one of those back half of the album tracks of hers that locates christine mcvie in the sphere of influences

Yeah agree about “run”. It gets me every time.

“I hate love songs” suffers from a familiar, muted chorus but the verses are great and some of the darkest stuff she’s sung

"Run" is def one of the two or three best: a sequel to "Runnin' Just in Case." It makes sense that it's her first solo songwriting credit since 2016.

Keepers: "Armadillo," "Run," "No Man's Land," "Wildfire," "Dammit Randy," "January Heart."

If y'all want another album whose slow ones are in the same vein, Carly Pearce's latest is excellent.

XP I'd have "Vice" in my top 5 official singles for her, if I'm being pedantic about chart singles vs album tracks. It's a career song for damn near anybody else.

Agree w Alfred, again, that the album is *good*; will maintain that it's *her* second-weakest, but that's more of a statement on the quality of the rest of her catalogue than it is an indication that this is a poor effort on its own.

Started a new job so haven’t been able to read/post in a while but came by to see if my reservations were shared. I would agree with the sentiment that it is her second weakest album (after FTR). Like that one, it’s got a handful of songs I like and a common sound, but the songwriting doesn’t quite hold my ear, a shame given the credits. There are four songs I’d rank: Dammit Randy, Run, I Hate Love Songs, and Living on the Run (which continues her long history of knocking her covers out of the park). On the plus side the thing sounds great, as does she. I wish there were more risks; more Pink Sunglasses and Track Records and fewer Alimonys, which I don’t find particularly clever.

i could probably write a book about how miranda is (at least for me) some idealized version of cool southern woman, but really it's all there in her voice. the way she says "don't i look good?" in "pink sunglasses", her voice cracking slightly at the build up for "run"... melts me as a true admirer of cool southern women

like Brad Paisley she was good at writing Songs About Stuff.

was???

I don't anticipate future "Pink Sunglasses"s.

eh, i'm anticipating a cool late career of some fashion. not sure why i'd doubt her.

i think these last few records mirror a lot of bigtime county star's albums. a lot of good stuff that doesn't veer too far from their wheelhouse, some corny shit performed well, and always well produced

that is, bigtime country artist in their late 30s early 40s

Well, sure, this album augurs no decline, though I've colleagues who think it started in 2019.

i would agree with a slight decline in album material in that period, but her singing/performing is still top notch

for me, her being good at writing Songs About Stuff is less of a factor than being such a great performer

wildcard goes into the canon with the rest of her classics for me. it’s definitely not on the level of WoW, platinum, revolution but those are best albums
ever material and i honestly don’t think it’s too far off. the second half of that album from “bluebird” on hits as hard as any stretch from those other albums imo. the first half is slightly patchy comparatively but i have a hard time not seeing a half dozen classics on that album. i really enjoy putting that one on front to back

marfa tapes and on is where it enters different territory for me. start to get into concept-y albums, more hokey homages than usual, a little less turmoil in the lyrics etc

tbc I'm not part of the country crew consensus. I love Wildcard (wish she'd done more loud guitar things like "Locomotive"; and "Settling Down" gets stuck in my head often enough for me to consider perhaps all-time-best track)) and Palomino's a thrill too.

I took like three songs off wildcard that I should revisit bur I would agree with my edited version

I also admit that as a Miranda fan I’ve always preferred her softer side to the bangers. I’m a sentimental country fan at heart

Bluebird is a hell of a song

a deserved hit

god "Dark Bars" slays me

“Dark Bars” might be my favourite track of hers, though a top twenty would just be so uniformly strong

yeah Dark Bars is amazing

Ok so the four songs i removed from Wildcard are (Alfred’s fave) “locomotive”, “messin’ with my head”, “white trash” and “way too pretty for prison”

“fire escape” is the only one i’d for sure remove, i always skip that one

Agree with Heez's list and would add the one about the wash

i love “mess with my head” ... she should write more songs that sound like the cars!

yeah i love that one too

Yeah “mess with my head” is great

Ok readded

Living on the Run is such a great closer. Would gladly listen to an album of songs like it.

thank co-writer David Allan Coe

People you thought were...

Don't forget, as great as her strictly solo stuff has been, Marfa Tapes and the Pistol Annies records (especially #1 and #3) push her into the stratosphere.

Wildcard still sounds great to me. one of the highest ratio of hits in her catalogue. Jay Joyce was a good fit for that one and is no doubt a big reason Mess With My Head, Locomotive, and Track Record all pop.

xp I too really like the Marfa Tapes. "They Closed Down the Honky Tonks" is the only good song about covid lockdown that i can think of.

love the Marfa Tapes

I'm the only skeptic. I like Lambert with million-dollar production.

"Track Record" came up on shuffle yesterday. Are there other country songs that sound vaguely like the Cure?

Yeah it’s true. I know ppl that would kill to hear Robert Smith come in after that intro.

It really is an incredible album. The synths on “dark bars”, the cool little crazy horse solo on “fire escape”

Also “holy water” is so good.

Mmm, a sailin' snake, oh, from the bullpit
At the church on Maine
They're makin' deals with the Devil
In the good Lord's name
I'm stuck at home missin'
A dirty soul cleansin'
Ain't got a dime for the time
I believe in music
Personal communion
He'll lead you right to the light