Sitting across from Miranda Lambert, it’s hard not to be confronted by the strength, determination, and “fuck around and find out” attitude that defined one of country music’s most promising debut albums. Kerosene, Lambert’s first major label LP, turns 20 next year, and the Texas songwriter is reflecting on all that led to its 2005 release.
“When I first started, I wanted longevity, a long career and to have relevancy, and be able to play as long as I physically could play,” Lambert tells Rolling Stone. “Luckily, I have a better balance than the early days when you’re grinding your ass off doing 200 shows a year.”
On this July day, Lambert is gearing up to headline the Under the Big Sky music festival in Whitefish, Montana. Later that evening, the powerhouse singer and her airtight band will take the stage in front of over 20,000 country music fans. “I did start really young, playing bars in Texas at 17,” she says. “So, literally, my whole adult life has been country music — writing songs and playing shows.”
Now 40, Lambert is preparing to expand on Kerosene’s 20 years with a new project. “It feels like 20 days [ago], it feels like 200 years, you know?” she chuckles. “But this record I just made feels more like my original record.”
Titled Postcards From Texas, Lambert’s latest offering arrives Sept. 13. A collection of musical snapshots from sessions at Austin’s Arlyn Recording Studios, the album is an ode to her home state, and also to Lambert’s ability to evolve while not forgetting her past.
“I’m still making music that could’ve been on Kerosene,” Lambert says in reference to the bareknuckle grit and songbird grace at the heart of Postcards From Texas. “I’ve evolved as an artist, but that fiery girl is still here in the forefront.”
Before Carrie Underwood sang about digging her “key into the side of his pretty little souped up four-wheel drive” and Taylor Swift dismissed an ex as “just another picture to burn,” Lambert was igniting the torch of a new era of country vengeance with her 2005 hit “Kerosene.” “Light ’em up and watch them burn/teach them what they need to learn,” she taunted.
Earlier this spring, she fantasized about other fiery escapades, taking a match to her unfaithful cowboy’s jeans in “Wranglers,” the first single off Postcards From Texas. On Wednesday, she debuted “Alimony,” a song that celebrates ending up on the good side of a divorce.
Growing up in the Lone Star State, Lambert emerged from a household with a singer-songwriter father who played his daughter a murderer’s row selection of songs from Merle Haggard, John Prine, David Allen Coe, and the Eagles. Listening to those works of heartache and redemption, Lambert found inspiration and fuel for her dreams to someday become a performer herself.
“I love the song. That’s where it starts for me,” Lambert says of her quest to either scribble down or discover the next tune to add to her catalog. “Everything else doesn’t matter — a good song is a good song.”
Lambert is on the hunt for good songwriting with her latest venture, Big Loud Texas. A subsidiary of Big Loud Records, Lambert and Jon Randall, her co-producer on Postcards From Texas, launched the label last year in an effort to sign and develop up-and-coming acts. Their first is Austin songwriter Dylan Gossett.
“It’s opened up this new passion of being a mentor to other artists and to new artists,” Lamberts says. “And seeing the fire of these artists in their 20s, full of piss and vinegar, I love it ‘cause I was there, and I still am there.”
It’s getting near show time, and Lambert steps out of her dressing room trailer. It’s approaching the golden hour too, with Big Sky Country morphing into bright pink, purple, and orange hues high above. On the other side of the fence there’s thousands of folks eagerly waiting for her to sing hits like “White Liar,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” and the soon to be 20-year-old “Kerosene.”
“I feel like I still have so much more to give, so much more art, and so many more songs to write,” Lambert says. “I hope I could be an example to artists that really focus on be being who they are and sticking with it — ’cause it works out.”
Postcards From Texas tracklist:
- “Armadillo” (Aaron Raitiere, Jon Decious, Parker Twomey)
- “Dammit Randy” (Miranda Lambert, Brendan McLoughlin, Jon Randall)
- “Looking Back on Luckenbach” (Miranda Lambert, Shane McAnally, Natalie Hemby)
- “Santa Fe” feat. Parker McCollum (Miranda Lambert, Jesse Frasure, Jessie Jo Dillon, Dean Dillon)
- “January Heart” (Brent Cobb, Neil Medley)
- “Wranglers” (Audra Mae, Evan McKeever, Ryan Carpenter)
- “Run” (Miranda Lambert)
- “Alimony” (Miranda Lambert, Natalie Hemby, Shane McAnally)
- “I Hate Love Songs” (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
- “No Man’s Land” (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick)
- “Bitch on the Sauce” (Miranda Lambert, Jaren Johnston)
- “Way Too Good at Breaking My Heart” (Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall, Jesse Frasure, Jenee Fleenor)
- “Wildfire” (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
- “Living on the Run” (David Allan Coe, Jimmy L. Howard)
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