Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
But when I call her the day after, her spirits are lower.
Its a big change for the 38-year-old star, whos used to touring arenas around the world.
So Im a little sad right now, but Im also excited because its a new chapter.
And Im also a little bit tired of sleeping [while] moving after all these years.
But dont confuse Lamberts residency for settling down.
At some point you have to do something different, she says.
Thats whats kept Lamberts career exciting more than 20 years in, both for fans and herself.
Its a surprising trajectory, even to her.
says Lambert, who earned her first award forEntertainer of the Yearfrom the Academy of Country Music in May.
Of course, Lamberts already looking ahead to the next thing: returning to the road post-Vegas next year.
Elviras fine, she assures me at the end of our call.
I went and did a recon trip, I call it.
We went to Vegas to see three shows.
I was just wanting to get a feel.
One thing I really took away from that was they played all the songs I wanted to hear.
In fact, they couldnt get them all in because theres so many hits.
I know that theres songs that Im tired of that have to be in the set.
I wasnt disappointed when I heard every B&D song I wanted them to play.
Favorite new song to play live
I love Actin Up.
Ive had a great time with that one.
Im always testing the waters.
Im like,Are there too many new ones?
Thats one of those songs that people were singing before they knew it.
Sometimes songs on the records just pop out on their own, without being a single or whatever.
Dead Flowers is an example.
It was a single, and I wrote it by myself.
I did a video.
My band, every tour theyre like, Can we do Dead Flowers?
Then some, like Tequila Does that song just did its own damn thing.
It wasnt a single.
We did it twice, and the second take was it.
Its so much fun, because its a huge song in my set.
I have one of those careers that some songs just pick themselves to stand out.
I like to watch that happen.
Kind of like Actin Up is now.
Strange is my radio single, but all the streaming services prefer Actin Up.
The more the merrier to me.
I dont care anymore.
I just have had such a weird relationship with radio this whole time anyway.
Then the streaming services pick their own thing.
I would like for as many of these songs to be heard, whatever way they can be.
Nowadays, too, the singles on the country radio take so long.
Song thats changed in meaning
I think a lot of my ballads have evolved for me.
I was thinking aboutTo Learn Herand how when you write a song, thats where you arein your life.
But then, in a happier place right now, I think about it from other peoples perspective.
Ive learned to do that with my own songs recently.
I think Bob Seger is who taught me.
I hear some of the Fogerty stuff differently, I hear some of the Haggard stuff differently.
My husbands like, Do you ever journal?
I was like, Yeah, its my records.
That is my journal.
I was 18 when I wroteKerosene.
That whole record was the snapshot of where I was as a human.
I consider all of these records and songs as documenting my life.
Album that has to be heard front to back
Thats a hard one.
I truly thinkRevolution, becauseRevolutionset me upfor a different journey.
I needed to step it up a level, and I didnt know how to do that.
It was every article and every interview.
It really kicked my career into gear.
Im still a hopeless romantic about making albums and wanting people to listen in sequence and all that stuff.
I think all of us that are old-school like that are still fighting that fight.
Especially withPalomino: Its this road trip with these characters, and its a whole map.
That ones just a gut-wrencher.
But if youre pissed, then theres a lot.
Best drinking song
I have so many.
Thats what country music is, heartbroken drinking.
A lot of times people throw little airplane bottles of tequila up onstage; I always like that.
Its one of those good ol honky-tonkers to me.
I revisited some of those onPalomino.
Wed heard In His Arms so many times, just around the fire.
So figuring out the key and the tempo and everything was a process.
Sometimes theres a phrase people use: People get demo ears.
WithMarfa Tapes, I think we changed them so much that they have two different lives.
I love anything Ashley sings at any time, but when she sings Beige.
I remember me and her wrote that on an Airstream trip.
That was one of the first songs where we were like, This is a band.
This isnt for me or you.
I hadnt even met Angaleena yet, but Annies was sort of in motion before we even knew it.
Ashleys one of those artists that you feel every word she sings.
She can really get you.
I think my favorite Ang is Lemon Drop.
Thats a solo rap for Angaleena, and its such a stunning song, and its her real story.
Just hearing her sing it, at the very end and she says, Thank God.
I just believe every word of what shes saying.
Those girls are so talented.
Im lucky that I get to make art with them.
Song of yours that you wish you wrote
A hundred percent House That Built Me.
It was a piano demo with Tom Douglas singing it, just piano and a male voice.
I was like,How do they know?Thats my story.
They knew because its everybodys story, and thats why that song is what it is.
Im so glad they did, because its actually perfect.
Im so thankful for that song.
I sing it every night and I watch people cry.
I cry once a tour, at least especially if Im playing in Dallas, because my familys there.
Its just so vivid, and parts of it are part of all of our childhood.
He goes, No.
I wish I had that house.
I wish that was my story.
Id never thought about it like that.
Theres a whole different meaning when you listen to it from someone that didnt have that.
It made me cry when he said that.
I think thats the power of The House That Built Me.
It brings out so much emotion.
There is nobody to blame it on.
Theres nowhere to run.
I havent recorded it.
I justput outan acoustic version of it.
I was writing it in the middle of the lockdown.
I cleaned off my tour bus.
That was the only other time Ive ever cleaned off my tour bus besides today.
It was very real.
So writing that song, I was thinking of all my friends.
It was just a reality I never thought I would be living in.
It wasnt about heartbreak from a man or my fiery stuff.
It was like,I dont have a gig anymore.
This is crazy.In what world would you ever dream that up?
I hadnt written at all during the pandemic until that song.
It was one of the things where Im having a standoff with my guitar.
Im like, Are we going to do this again, or whats happening?
But I went in the bathroom.
I was like, Dont come in here.
Im going to go have a fight with myself and see if I can write this song.
It went down pretty fast because I was living in it.
He was like, Damn.
Well, you said you hadnt written in a while, but lets say you just did it.
You did it, babe.
Yeah, that one was a hard one.
Her husband Brendans favorite song
I dont know.
Im going to walk here and ask him right now, because I want to know now.
[Puts phone on speaker.]
Brendan McLoughlin:Yeah.
Miranda Lambert:Question.
ML:What is your favorite song of mine?
BM:Probably the one that you showed me that was a deep cut of yours.
ML:Well, lookee there.
We have another Dead Flowers fan.
We just talked about Dead Flowers.
Thats why its funny that you said that.
The one that got away.
[Takes phone off speaker.]
Hes always like, I like the ones you write by yourself.
Im like, Of course you do, because its hard for me.
I have two answers.
That moment is burned in my brain: what I was wearing, how I felt.
I was just so wide-eyed.
I could not believe it was happening that way.
That moment will forever stick out as a really important one for me.
Entertainer of the Year this year was something I kind of gave up on.
Not in a bad way; I just didnt think it was going to happen.
That encapsulates my whole career.
So I was like,Its fine.
I dont have to have Entertainer.
But I take that very seriously.
I want to work harder.
Biggest risk
Maybe Gunpowder & Lead.
Thats what came to mind first, because abuse is not something everyone talks about.
I think I learned that from Loretta.
I mean, she wrote The Pill when you werent supposed to be talking about that stuff.
AndThe Marfa Tapeswas something completely different: nowhere to hide, raw and real.
But I think after all of this time, reinventing is the way to keep going.
You cant just keep doing Mamas Broken Heart and Little Red Wagon.
I want to keep growing and keep evolving.
Having such a long career, thats what I set out to do.
My parents, they were like, Whats your goal?
