come anticipate Miranda Lambert's new double album The Weight of These Wings

24 songs!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ZnkNAbm6L._SL1500_.jpg

i didn't know it was a double until a minute ago. *anticipates eagerly*

It's good to excellent.

She put most of the good ones on the first disc though.

this is her first one to be released on vinyl i think?

She put most of the good ones on the first disc though.

so all of the excellent ones are on disc two?

lol – good catch

reminds me of Iris DeMent's Lifeline.

gross font.

of the songs released so far i like how weird and understated the sound of "highway vagabond" is

feel like i'm gonna miss the overdriven guitar tone on platinum which imo is how guitars should always sound

'platinum' is just the greatest, one of my frequent rotation albums of the past decade.

For the first time she sounds like she has a band: a group she's playing with who understand her material and to whom she's giving orders or sugestions, i.e. "Miranda Lambert and the..."

There's a track called "Things That Break” whose guitars glisten like '88-era Lucinda Williams and is among the best hooks she's ever sung.

yeah that's what i noticed about "keeper of the flame," it's a straightforward song with a v sensitive band-oriented arrangement

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/14/miranda-lamberts-power-play?mbid=social_twitter

this album

She's the moment's premier pop musician imo.

Seems like a treasure trove on first listen

well goddamn

i wasn't ready for this record and i wasn't ready at all for how awesome is 'smoking jacket'.

this album

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, November 16, 2016 9:41 AM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^

i really like platinum (& crazy ex-girlfriend, & on & on), but this album is my favourite vs. the others already after 2 days. Maybe this album has just hit me at the right time and I am sure i will regret saying this later when i get tired of it, but god damn.

PINK SUNGLASSES

PINK SUNGLASSES

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, November 18, 2016 12:39 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, i don't know what it is exactly but pink sunglasses is a great example of writing what should be a novelty tune based on the idea of it, but just isn't when you actually listen to it, yet if you listen closer it is, and if you listen closer than that it isn't, i don't know, but i don't know how it works.

for the birds sounds vaguely like gordon lightfoot and for that i love it.

you mentioned things that break upthread, the first 15 seconds should be how every country song starts from now on

i thought pushin time would be horrible just based on the idea of it, i even considered just skipping it the first time thru, but its also brilliant.

also tin-man, again, how does this song pull it off? awesome.

i hate how that (fine) new yorker review's print headline was "pink lemonade"

legit lol at the intro to "Bad Boy"

i also really love how you could tack i've got wheels onto the end of Honky Tonk Heroes and The Woman in Me and it wouldn't feel out of place. I listened to it between The Woman in Me & Lubbock (On Everything) last night while i cleaned the house and it fight right in.

trying hard not to say a brand new album feels timeless cause i hate that, but what the hell

This is one of the better anythings I've heard in a while. Sort of the album several of her genre contemporaries have come close to making but just fallen short of, imo. Aesthetically it's often got as much if not more in common with indie singer-songwriter as it does country, mainstream or otherwise. From song one it feels pretty major, and like the best double (or more) albums the minor songs make it even better. Love it.

this is gonna be a nightmare to poll

Indie singer-songwriters would amputate a limb for her humor and vivacity though.

There are indie songwriters I find superior in one way or another but yeah, that's a tough combo to come by, and is especially refreshing with such rich accompaniment.

I would ditch a couple songs here, though, which is an inevitability given the bounty. I'd start with "For the Birds."

idk if i'd cut any songs

the overall weatherbeaten but still glimmering through the layer of dust sound of this thing

also feel like it's her most low-key album since revolution

Still absorbing this record. Doesn't seem as hooky as her previous albums, but it feels like her most personal. Nearly every song was written or co-written by Lambert, with a bunch of co-writes from longtime collaborator Natalie Hemby. Nice to see Liz Rose's name pop up, too.

Agree with Alfred that the "band" has never sounded more integrated. Some interesting choices made with vocal recordings here that I'm still digesting. "Highway Vagabond" reminds me so much of "Fine Tune"--second song on the album, rough and ragged vocal, and the overall swagger of the thing.

"Smoking Jacket" is an early favorite. That line "I want a man who's heart is tragic/ But he makes his magic every night on me"...

what an amazing album this is

for a double album in the era of consumption ADHD which prioritises immediacy so much less than her previous work, this sure didn't take much time for every single song to feel distinct and necessary. in fact length apart it's basically an impeccably fat-free, perfectly edited work!

every single mention of the word "heart" is a bit upsetting

I love the little production touches that support the songs, like the slightly overexposed vocal on "Ugly Lights"

I don't need to hear "Dear Old Sun" and "Tin Man" again. The other OK tracks on the second disc form part of the texture of the thing.

This is the most pleasurable double album I've heard in years.

one time through disc one and "good to excellent" seems about right

"I want a man who's heart is tragic/ But he makes his magic every night on me"...

awful

I think "Use My Heart" is the one that speaks to me most. Love that stray distortion under the first iteration of the title.

my bday gift was the triple LP vinyl of this, listening to this currently as we prep the turkey

what a great album

always been fonder of the vibe of revolution than crazy ex-girlfriend even if it's hard to argue for the former song-by-song so rly glad she's embracing her roadshow sprawl. stuff like "smoking jacket" is gorgeously confident in how far back it lays. and i wasn't a big four the record fan but yeah rly glad she's kept on playing w the great texture of "fine tune".

I don't need to hear "Dear Old Sun" and "Tin Man" again.

not a fan of "dear old sun" as far as i can so far tell but legit like embarrassed by my response to the gimmick of "tin man": it's the song on the album that KILLS me like it was "bathroom sink" only instead of being this ambitious multilayered timelapse epic it's just a formal joke like a stephin merritt tossoff. love technocratic pop writing tho and she sings it terrifically.

the wordless chorus of "tin man" is so gorgeous that i don't mind the lyric

predictably this is a great road trip album

The first half ending with "Use My Heart" and the second half opening with "Tin Man" is a kind of heartbreaking core of the album

Ahhhhhh this album is so good.

I was sure I was going to dislike "Pink Sunglasses' but then that "$9.99" part in the chorus happened.

The first half ending with "Use My Heart" and the second half opening with "Tin Man"

I feel like such a dope for not noticing this

excited to spin this!!

I look forward to listening to this record when it's not on.

i basically love every song on this album except covered wagon

I was listening to it in the shower this morning -- the chorus is a jam imo

all those end of year lists that were compiled before this album came out need a do-over.

always been fonder of the vibe of revolution than crazy ex-girlfriend even if it's hard to argue for the former song-by-song

same here and this definitely feels more like a return to that Revolution vibe

damn 12 years since Kerosene. what other country singers have had that kinda run recently?

After hearing Vice, I wasn't expecting much with this record, but it's really good!

i love vice!!!

I've come around to liking Vice in the context of the album, but at first it sounded uneventful to me.

"Runnin' Just in Case" is fantastic

"Vice" was the first song of hers that I heard and was floored

she has a lot of songs about broken-hearted ppl driving aimlessly on the highways i appreciate that

"vice" floors me now but for some reason didn't as a single

'vice' is a lot better as a kickoff tune than 'automatic' was, though in the context of 'platinum' i came around on the latter a bit more (it's still the single not-great song from that album though)

yeah the weird thing is "vice" also strikes me as the obvious lead single and standout but when it was actually a single i enjoyed it but didn't really cane it like i'm doing now

"Somethin' Bad" is exactly that xpost

🤔 I guess that one too

should have a platinum poll. we're actually getting close to her having enough songs for one of these artist polls or a listen thread

there's nothing wrong with "somethin bad"

Platinum was my favorite album of 2014, and while I won't change my ranking its flaws grate on me more than ever: the dismissal of loose, catty women using loose, catty terms; the facile gestures towards an imagined past of awesome VCRs or something; the neither-here-nor-thereness of "Somethin' Bad." What I love about TWOTW is how she's past this nonsense -- she figured out what she wants to say and whom to hire so she can say it. Maybe the road as controlling metaphor liberated her songwriting.

"neither-here-nor-thereness"?

i mean, it's a flippant song that knows it's throwaway, and you definitely don't get that on the new one...

she figured out what she wants to say and whom to hire so she can say it.

talk about damning with faint praise

WHAT

I don't get that at all

Isn't that one of the reasons everyone loves Beyonce?

Xgau only gives it a B+: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/country-livin-with-miranda-lambert-margaret-glaspy-and-more-expert-witness-with-robert-christgau

just wanted to link a couple of rly good pieces of writing about this

http://www.mtv.com/news/2957832/miranda-lambert-weight-wings-review/

http://www.vulture.com/2016/11/album-review-miranda-lamberts-wings.html

I love Jewly Hight

I was sure I was going to dislike "Pink Sunglasses' but then that "$9.99" part in the chorus happened.

― Wimmels, Tuesday, December 6, 2016 7:37 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

assuming no abrupt neocommunist revolution before new years, this was the best part of 2016

also that's a steal for polarized ones imo

which is why it's right that it's the most ecstatic part of the song

"To Learn Her" is like some lost country gem

can't get over how good this album is

Album of the Year winner at ACM last night. I'm fairly confident thinking it's her best album -- I listen to it at least three or four times a month.

I updated a quick best-of playlist I assembled last year.

i like it but i generally struggle with long albums. i should return to it tho.

"Ugly Lights," guys

I was in my brother-in-law's truck this morning while he switched through various pop-country stations and "Tin Man" came on, sounding utterly unlike anything else that popped up

i'm really glad her label's giving that one a chance on the radio

people reacted really strongly to her performing it on the acm awards

yeah the clearchannel dweeb doing the countdown thing mentioned that specifically

been coming back to "use my heart" a lot recently

Upon its release in late 2016, The Weight of These Wings was accompanied by a deluxe, hardbound book, containing exclusive images and details about the album’s creative and recording process of which only a few hundred copies were printed. Now, those images and words have been combined with official videos and previously unheard audio interviews from Lambert.

Today Lambert launches her a one-of-a-kind, interactive Virtual Book for The Weight Of These Wings, where fans can visit TheWeightOfTheseWings.com, connect to their own Spotify accounts with a single click, and stream all of The Weight Of These Wings double album 24 songs, which were originally spread across two CDs (and six sides of vinyl), thematically dubbed ‘The Nerve’ and ‘The Heart.’

New Miranda's song. Way more rock than I was expecting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJqNGUwfL_4

I like "All Comes Out in the Wash" best of the first three single.

New singles not doing much for me alas

album art is outstandingly terrible

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

love this though

bluebird is really nice

man "runnin just in case" is so good

^^^^^

this is the only album i've listened to for the last 2 days

i can't believe alfred was hating on tin man

this ACM performance is stunning https://www.facebook.com/mirandalambert/videos/10155657238850742/?v=10155657238850742

"smoking jacket" into "pushin time" is my favorite pivot on this album

the perpetual shimmer of "dear old sun" and "i've got wheels" really rewards you for making it thru all 24 songs

of the new songs, i'm into "mess with my head". it some weird parts but i like the chorus a lot... power pop sounds good on her. "bluebird" is good too.. "all comes out in the wash" is a cool concept but the song is kinda forgettable to me. "locomotive" was prob fun for her to record but not really her best context

there is a great line in "bluebird"... "if love keeps giving me lemons / i'll just mix em in my drink"

"little red wagon" legit is written like a be your own pet song

good morning!

i can't believe alfred was hating on tin man

hey, its host album is her best

"i've got wheels" fucks me up

fans of this record should watch this PBS special https://www.pbs.org/video/cma-songwriters-series-presents-miranda-lambert-2xrnpj/

^thanks for the PBS link. Interesting that she had so many different co-writers and yet the album comes across with a consistent voice. Such a great record.

bluebird IS good, isn't it

i will say that when she opens the song with "Yeah I'm a Turner...", I involuntarily chimed in with "And You're a Hooch" and I have to say I frankly think I should get a CMA songwriter nomination for that

https://youtu.be/t4VoWQS5RyY

also not for me. maybe next cycle

damn, at this rate she's gonna put out every damn song on the album before the release date, which is still two months away.

The guitar sound is nice, but I've heard this thing from her already.

put out another new one “pretty bitchin” which is awesome

discovered last night that the album this thread is dedicated to is absolutely one of my favorite albums of all time. even the sequencing is incredible

correct

another awesome one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAmD9U2hH4A

the final stretch of this album is shaping up very nicely

I like to love about half of it. I regret that she's returned to shtick after the last album's small-burrow strokes. Two songs ("Locomotive" and "Settling Down") are among her best.

i revisited crazy ex-girlfriend today and keep thinking she’s the greatest artist of my lifetime. she was due for another four the record i guess but i’m guessing i’ll still love it

she's the best recordmaker of the last decade, no question

and I'll keep calling TWOTW her best until I'm blue, but, yeah, none of her records approaches "meh" except FTR.

Kerosene's the one that keeps knocking me out. She had found her voice so soon!

Somehow the deceptive simplicity in Swift's songwriting makes me rate her higher among their generation but really it's neck and neck.

I think "Revolution" would be my pick but crazy ex-girlfriend, platinum all floor me. The Pistol Annies from last year was also right up there.

With Weight, there's a degree of Dave Cobb-ness that puts me away but I should really go back to it.

Yes to Tequila Does and all the praise for TWOTW

i love "bluebird" "pretty bitchin" and "tequila does" off this record

based on structure i feel like this is looking a bit like platinum

"Dark Bar" has a danger she's rarely attempted.

aside from "way too pretty for prison" and "locomotive" this album sounded pretty great to me... the final 4 songs make for a predictably wonderful closing stretch

"Settling Down," "Fire Escape," and "Track Record" are my favorites.

Yeah love "Track Record"

followed beautifully by "dark bars"

"dark bars" is really great... the line about lifeguards

yesss. "how dare you love" is a stunner too

"dark bars" is so good

you're welcome!

This needs its own thread

it's a really gentle production for such a sad song and more texturally interesting than it lets on at first

"Track Record," another chapter in the "Kerosene/Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" book, gets me with its jangly guitars -- it's those songs played by Tom Petty.

i really like the opening & closing clusters of songs on Wildcard.

"Dark Bars," yes; "White Trash" meh.

I like "White Trash!" (I see Luke Dick and Natalie Hembie both wrote on it... to circle back to my posts here)

(I should mention that "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" is in my all-time top-10 -- so big, unabashedly corny country-pop songs are right up my avenue.)

Dick & Hemby also wrote on the excellent "Highway Vagabond," track 2 on The Weight of These Wings (to hew to the thread topic)

I whittled this down to a 10 song playlist and it’s perfect

finally getting around to this

man, the guitar tones on "mess with my head"

(i only caught maybe two of the singles so most of this is new to me)

Well, good. You can decide whether "Locomotive" and "Bluebird" and "Settling Down" are as good as I think.

"locomotive" and "bluebird" are amazing ("bluebird" was one of the ones i'd heard)

oh so was "locomotive" actually but it grew on me heavily, generally i'll listen to her sing over any overdriven wall of guitars

c/o the Rosanna Cash thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihyHTKqBU5Q

basically love every song on this except for "way too pretty for prison" which could've spent a little more time in the song incubator

as an album it's a little all over the place and weirdly-paced like platinum and revolution, which are two excellent albums so i'm not exactly complaining

she's the goat

Best of the decade.

Way to pretty for prison surprised me - it’s markedly inferior to Stripes by Brandy Clark.

It's on par with Goodbye Earl.

“Pretty Bitchin’” is such an awesome personal anthem.

listened this morning. first impression: seems to get better in the second half. some of the uptempo or rockier ones were misses but the ballads were uniformly good, some truly great

I was not expecting "Track Record" to sound like New Order!

Closer to Tom Petty to my ears (and "Mess With My Head"!).

re "Dark Bars" this seems right

it's a really gentle production for such a sad song and more texturally interesting than it lets on at first

― J0rdan S., Thursday, November 7, 2019 4:01 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

what strikes me in particular is the restraint of her singing. Compare it with "Over You", for instance, where she sings "you went away" big & loud to express her loss. "Dark Bars" communicates in subtler ways, through her twangs, through her enunciation of words with the letter "r" throughout (in "bars", "lifeguard", "hearts", "hard"): soft, almost mushy? but broken? it's mesmerizing me.

What fascinates me about her evolution is how she saves the sentimentality for the rockers while her ballads are getting more fatalistic and in some cases terrifying -- her vocal choices, that is.

I'll have to give this another listen, because on my first try it sounded just OK but nothing particularly special (at least not the way "The Weight of These Wings" popped out at me).

yes her vocal choices are fascinating. just listening to "Track Record" and "Dark Bars" over and over and over again.

"Dark Bars" is a Liz Rose co-write, I just learned.

as is "Track Record"

the little documentary on apple music about this album is not incredibly insightful but it does have some good video

I don't have the gene that lets me enjoy some of the shtickier upbeat songs but the closing stretch is killer

Finally listening to this now. If I could make one plea to the gods of modern pop country it would be this: please make the guitar solos sound more like James Burton (or at least Eddy Shaver) and less like CC Deville. Brad Paisley is probably the only guy from this generation of country stars who understands the role guitar should play in this music. Half of the (admittedly unnecessary) solo breaks here sound like Dial MTV circa 1988.

I like "White Trash," "It All Comes Out In The Wash," and "Track Record," but some of these songs sound like cuts Pat Benatar would have given the gas face, and I don't remember thinking that about any of her previous albums.

The Bon Jovification of so much contemporary country doesn't always leave a lot of room for chicken-pickin' and guitar twang.

hmm, you make a point there

I like most of the solos *shrug*. I've heard worse on Eric Church's The Outsiders.

I take your point about Paisley, though. And Jason Isbell does fine work on The Highwomen album.

not important question: why does she cut out the two utterances of the word "pretty" in the last verse? just for fun? or am i missing a reference or a joke?

Of "Pretty Bitchin'"? I assume just cuz it sounds cool?

yeah, sorry i forgot the song title

sounds cool, just seems weird! but i guess identifying that kind of thing is what makes her Miranda Lambert

this woman is an all-time genius

What a wonderful album this is.

Yup, very much so.

Pink Sunglasses one of my alltime favorite songs now & yeah the whole album is terrific.

new song is incredible

meanwhile “bluebird” has basically become one of her biggest songs ever... she’s not going away, and the industry hasn’t left her behind. i never get tired of hearing it either, it’s pretty close to a perfect song. “i turn pages all the time / don’t like where i’m at, 34 was bad / so i just turned to 35” ... been thinking about this one a lot lately

i will also ride hard for wildcard ... it’s kinda self evidently inferior to its two predecessors but completely stands on its own two feet to me. i still play it all the time ... “tequila does” is my favorite song ever written

pretty beautiful, this new song. intrigued about the album.

i never got around to giving wildcard a spin but i def should. honestly, might as well revisit the weight of these wings lol

she put out a song w/ elle king recently, i wasn't feeling it much but maybe it'll grow on me as/if i hear it more

wait, what's the new song??

https://images.app.goo.gl/Gp3QijuBjwrjTwyt8

Announcing The Marfa Tapes
A project by Jack Ingram, Jon Randall and me. Recorded in Marfa, TX. They’re raw. You can hear the wind blowing, the cows mooing... We wanted you to feel like you were right there with us, sitting around the campfire, escaping the world, disappearing into the music. The first song “In His Arms” is out now. Full album arrives May 7th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUrukGC8TQA

These three wrote "Tin Man" together, btw

i whittled wildcard down to ten songs and i listen to it all the time. a very underrated album

i love Wildcard

Looks like the Marfa Tapes is digital/vinyl only so far, which surprises me a little.

heard it a few hours ago, it's nice.

Is he playing in some house band in Dallas?
Is he breaking horses in San Anton?
Is he all alone in the neon light?
I wish I was in his arms tonight

Is he praying for rain out in West Texas?
Is he lost in the Marfa lights?
Is he out there looking for me
Wishing I was in his arms tonight

perfect lyrics

These three wrote "Tin Man" together, btw

oh wow, excellent to know

and more importantly they wrote “tequila does”

“in his arms” is exactly the kind of simplicity that i think is really hard to get right & she just fkn nails it like it came to her all in a dream or something

she does it a lot & it never stops being impressive

<3 miranda! so much!

new song is great

"use my heart" once again casually destroying me today

New Marfa Tapes single up on streaming platforms. "Tin Man."

Also here's the vinyl preorder link, fyi
https://store.mirandalambert.com/collections/the-marfa-tapes/products/the-marfa-tapes-vinyl

3rd single out

https://open.spotify.com/track/3u0MjJXsTyTJnpK9H7LeKA?si=b8bc8bd44c694100

Another song, "Anchor":

https://ml.lnk.to/themarfatapes

“Homegrown Tomatoes” off the Marfa album is the funniest thing, I love it so much

whole album is an excellent mood, really feels like you are sitting right next to them

yesss

I wondered if Homegrown Tomatoes was going to be a cover of Guy Clark's tune but instead it's just a fun reference to him in the chorus.

FYI, they're live streaming the Marfa Tapes film on Facebook rn. It will be available for 24 hours.

very nice rainy day album

VegemiteGrrl spot on. This feels really special. Listened to it a bunch this weekend and caught most of the film. The lead singles were nice, but you put this on and it's a whole vibe. Intimate and awfully rough around the edges, but also somehow manages to sound like more than a demos or an acoustics collection. I love the mix of traditional and contemporary country tunes, and the track order/pacing is superb.

Loving everything I've heard so far

I was wary of falling in love with the idea of the album, but I think it really stands up as a nice collection of songs. With its own outtakes included. “In His Arms” is on my song of the year list.

i didnt realize how badly i want to get messy drunk around a campfire til i listened to this album like ten times over the weekend

Homegrown tomatoes crosses over to cheesiness in a way that Guy Clark does for me as well. enjoying the album though

the "Semi-Charmed Life" hook tho

I like the way Miranda references Jolene to show who's the boss to Geraldine

the "Semi-Charmed Life" hook tho

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 11, 2021 8:16 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, this won me over

Anchor sounds like an uncle Tupelo song. I love it

it’s really good; it’s so tender but so painful

xp otm

I sing the chorus of “I don’t like it” in my head about a dozen times day

it's a whole vibe. Intimate and awfully rough around the edges, but also somehow manages to sound like more than a demos or an acoustics collection

Yeah, it's remarkable... I can't think of another album with this particular feel (although I'm sure they're out there).

they don't really sound alike but the conceit reminded me of cowboy junkies trinity session

"She's a little instigator" is a great line.

Miranda sounds a little embarrassed (for good reason) when one of the guys shouts "Ándale!" when she finishes singing "Tequila Does."

Lambert is quietly putting together one of the all-time great singer/songwriter careers

she's already the best working singer-songwriter

she's inarguably top five or so

i never knew much of her backstory except that she was on Nashville Star

Miranda was on the new episode of that Dave Grohl show on Paramount Plus “Cradle to the Stage” with her parents & her parents are something else! throwing in with her completely, her Dad taught her to play guitar, toured with her for her first 4 years, her Mom was her first manager … and they were private investigators, not like they were raking in huge cash to start with… it was pretty amazing to see all the hard work they all collectively put into her career (her included).. just laid out like that. Really moving.

it all comes out in the wash!

oh yeah, her parents are characters. Worked for Paula Jones's lawyers. Lots of weird and fun anecdotes in this article:

https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a43217/miranda-lambert-parents-private-detectives/

"Anchor" is such a great song. Does anyone know which of those two dudes (Ingram or Randall) is the singer (and presumably "main" songwriter)?

pretty sure it’s Ingram, if i recall correctly from the video

Thanks, I'll check out some of his other stuff...

On August 26, 2009, Ingram set a Guinness record for the most radio interviews in one day, when he was interviewed 215 times.

!!

crikey

there are 1440 minutes in a day

without sleeping, eating, or using the bathroom, every interview would have to last no more than 6 and a half minutes, not taking into account interview changeovers

calling bullshit on this bit of trivia

is there a reason not to allow for even shorter spots? like just a couple of minutes? since it’s radio there could be a lot of quick hits imo

Do you buy this trivia?:

This is also where he met famous country music artist Taylor Swift. Jack stated they were developing a relationship though she wasn't interested.

I didn’t know they did a Tiny Desk thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKK5FV6zPkY

they also did the first episode of this CMT network show "Campfire Sessions"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8RCYBvByyQ
http://www.cmt.com/shows/cmt-campfire-sessions

Dang that Tiny Desk is good!

this is the best album of all time

I was listening to the first Pistol Annies yesterday and thinking the same thing. Her longevity and versatility is a gift.

Acquaintances on a music-loving message board I frequent expressed genuine shock when this album appeared on the RS list. They still hold fast to CEG.

Love Crazy Ex-Girlfriend but for me this is pretty obviously the best Miranda album. Albeit I mostly mean the first disc when I say that.

Her only mediocre album is Four the Record, which, if so, well...

CEG is still my favorite, but "best," sure, I'm on the Wings train. There's an artistry and depth to it that is unique in her catalog, and I think she recognized that and very wisely chose to package it in a way that clearly stands out in her discography. But there's something to be said for CEG's tightness--some would find a song like "Famous in a Small Town" too tight, too Nashville, but me? I can't think of an opening three track run that I prefer in all of 21st century country music.

Her last two albums are its match, though. I get CEG' importance too

Not sure if I've shared this before, but I'm almost certain my first encounter with Lambert -- who I now consider my favorite solo artist, period -- was the Stylus 2007 AOTY list where CEG placed, iirc, 2nd, and the blurb was written by none other than Alfred Soto.

lol that's right!

my wife and I watched her season of Nashville Star, way back in another lifetime. she was clearly terrific, but i *think* i remember feeling like they picked the right winner? not certain about that. but i liked ol' Buddy Jewell.

platinum is her best album to me. she expanded her sound and at the same time the songwriting is as sharp and witty as ever, while also being emotionally affecting, and catchy. it's like what taylor did w/ 'red' except (imo) even better. or what kacey did w/ 'golden hour.' there's no fat on the album at all. "girls," "priscilla," bathroom sink" couldn't have been on any of the albums before that & those are perfect songs to me. just great songwriting in a very classic sense and with production that fleshes out her sound in a natural way. and then you have like "smokin and drinkin" where she does something completely new and pulls it off. "little red wagon" sounds like it could be on the first be your own pet album. the lyric "something about platinum irrefutably / looks as good on records as it does on me" is positively mariah carey-esque. "another sunday in the south" is an effortless southern rock homage... my favorite closer of hers. the bridge on "holding on to you" ("baby we just rolled in / it's cold here in michigan..."). prob a top 10 album ever for me honestly.

but i can't hate on anyone who thinks weight of these wings is her best album, that's the album that made me fall in love w/ her music. if you took the best 16 tracks on that it might be better than platinum but it's amazing that she did a double album and i happily play it all the way through. "happiness ain't prison but there's freedom in a broken heart."

i actually think wildcard is closer in quality to platinum than i would've thought possible, it's great in the same way tho obv less great. has at least three of her best ever songs to me. revolution is the fourth classic to me. i need to spend more time w/ CEG

a question i'm not sure i'd ever be able to answer is which album between weight of these wings ("runnin just in case" & "i've got wheels") and platinum ("girls" & "another sunday in the south") has the better opener/closer combo

I put Platinum one spot ahead of Wings on my decade ballot, but I consider "Somethin' Bad" one of her worst songs.

re: Openers/Closers, she's always been so adept at making and sequencing coherent albums, but Kerosene, CEG, and Wings would be my podium finishers. I don't know how she did it but she somehow took the album opener from one of my all-time favorite country albums, slowed it down a hair, and made it the perfect send-off to CEG. The way that track dissolves piece by piece and is left with just the drumbeat gets me every time.

I'm a little embarrassed b/c Platinum topped my 2014 album list. At the time I cringed at the title track, "Somethin' Bad," "Automatic," and "Gravity is a Bitch," the kind of shtick that made FTR stink. But Platinum also has "Smokin' and "Drinkin'," "Vice," and "Bathroom Sink (her best self-written song imo).

Wildcard and Palomino astonish me with their confidence, and they owe a lot to Wings.

My current ranking:

Wings
Wildcard
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Palomino
Kerosene
Platinum
Revolution
Four the Record

i've had a tough time getting into palomino honestly. it's all a bit... jaunty to me. but i need to revisit

it is quite jaunty! i love pretty much all the songs - i think it’d be a great roadtrip album. but mostly i love playing on friday evening after i’m done with my work week, they’re all pretty good “letting off steam” songs imo

i misheard the chorus for actin up initially, i thought it was “i want a car ride home, a california glow” instead of the correct lyric “colorado high, california glow” which makes sooo much more sense lol

otm

Yeah, I'll actually login for the first time since the Plague Years started to do this.

Here's how I assessed her full catalogue a few months back (on Twitter, hence the character counts):

A rankdown of the strongest catalog-- and it's not particularly close-- in this century's popular music. Side hustles in (#) but still ranked, and those side hustles are also better than most mainline careers. There's just no one else on Miranda Lambert's level.

#8 (#12) Wildcard (***)
Her contemporaries would dismember a hobo for an album this solid to be their worst. Too many half-baked, everything-to-everyone metaphors ("Bluebird" included, y'all) in the songwriting for a writer of her caliber, but some real winners, too.

#7 (#11) Four the Record (***1/2)
The heinous title tips its hand that something's a bit off for the first time, and it's the first of her albums to include anything that's actually poor ("Over You," still her worst single by miles, "Baggage Claim"). Still: Look at Miss Ohio.

(#10) Annie Up (***1/2)
Another bad wordplay as a warning sign. On their 2nd outing, they were still working out how seriously they wanted PAs to be taken after their debut's odd reception; it's the only time these 3, solo or together, ever sounded at all unsure of themselves.

(#9) The Marfa Tapes (****)
Points toward what her post-mainstream career might sound like, but let's hope that includes collaborators whose voices blend better with hers, less problematic cultural signifiers. But who else's first drafts are this good?

#6 (#8) Kerosene (****)
She was brilliant ("Kerosene," "Me and Charlie..," "What About GA") right out of the gate, conventional wisdom be damned; the slant rhymes and first-person details that she deploys better than anyone were already intact.

#5 (#7) Palomino (****)
An album that finds stability and comfort in restlessness and camaraderie in outsiders. She's covered these themes on individual songs before, but never with empathy this deep or with singing this nuanced. Some career-best lines in these songs.

(#6) Hell On Heels (****)
A slap in the face to the genre's authenticity fetishists, the Annies' debut revels in its artifice. Like the contemporaneous Laura Bell Bundy, they use country signifiers as a drag revue, and with killer, hook-forward songs.

#4 (#5) The Weight Of These Wings (****)
Less about her celebrity divorce than it is about how trauma re-forges a person's identity, it's her moodiest and most inward-focusing set. "Vice" remains a career-best, but, like most double-albums, this does have filler to cut.

#3 (#4) Revolution (****1/2)
Lacking the thematic heft of many of her other albums, it's still, song-for-song, her most consistently *great* set, a high-water mark for quality albums Music Row actually embraced.

#2 (#3) Platinum (****1/2)
Divorce Albums are a cliché, so Miranda, always ahead of the curve, made a Pre-divorce Album: Grateful for who she's been, keenly aware of who she is now, unapologetic about who she's going to be. A few clunkers, yes, but a bunch of her highest highs.

(#2) Interstate Gospel (*****)
No lingering doubts from its predecessor that they're a singular act of substance, the Annies' Interstate Gospel is the truth you *should* find in every hotel nightstand, a vision of an unmoored population that finds grace in limbo.

#1 (#1) Crazy-Ex Girlfriend (*****)
I said what I said: "Brash, insightful, wry, and, above all else, *smart*, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend confirms that Miranda Lambert is... a country music legend in the making, and the most vital artist Music Row has produced in a generation."

She's the best popular singer-songwriter.

I can't rank those marvelous Pistol Annies albums with Lambert albums.

She's absolutely the best popular singer-songwriter. I don't know that I would really even entertain a different argument.

xp-Alfred: That's why I offset them in (): They're deserving of their own consideration, but I also think it has been overlooked-- outside of Very Online Country Music Writers-- how great they truly are. Feels weird to exclude them entirely, when they're of a piece with Lambert's overall career.

Four the Record looks especially disappointing next to the release of the first Pistol Annies album.

Surprised to see Marfa Tapes rated so low. (Are the problematic cultural signifiers a reference to “Tequila Does”?)

To me, their voices not blending is sort of part of the charm, but I get the critique.

wait, i'm not much of a lyrics person ... what are the problematic cultural signifiers on Marfa Tapes?

oh sorry, xp ... should've read the "posted since" more closely

I respect The Marfa Tapes as demos for Palomino but I haven't listened to it since May 2021 and probably won't go back.

marfa tape - surely technically imperfect campfire harmonies are the whole point imo? the crackle of the fire or the wind in the microphone, shuffles & sniffles all part of the vibe

Yeah, its twilight-to-evening presence sneaks up on me every time, like a great one-off bootleg---think I'll scoop up that and all the Pistol Annies albums, incl. the xmas, and my imaginary friend The Great Lost Pistol Annies Album, from their solo joints etc.---and go tottering off---

But OK speaking of solo joints here are some, from my Nash Scene ballots, show previews etc over the years:

Miranda Lambert
Thursday @Celeste
When tiny blonde Miranda Lambert scored her first country hit by applying “Kerosene” to a cheatin’ boyfriend, the even-cuter-when-she’s mad factor promised to get out of hand. But ”Kerosene,” “Gunpowder And Lead” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” gain more credibility as album tracks: tabloid-fueled or not, they’re as truly expressive as any other pages from the diary of a frustrated, sleeplessly dreaming small-town girl. Speaking of fuel, be sure to check the re-run of Lambert’s “Austin City Limits” set, where she and her band leave the somewhut more jaded or just plain tahred Gretchen Wilson’s crew in the dust.

Miranda Lambert
Friday @ Nationwide Arena

Young country star Miranda Lambert’s current album, “Revolution”, cranks up and orbits old folk star John Prine’s “That’s The Way The World Goes Round.” She’s found her own sharp-eyed stoicism, just naturally igniting when rubbed the wrong way too hard. Some say she rocks too hard for country, but Lambert’s “Only Prettier” draws on the droll, drawled comic zingers of honky tonk, and she thoughtfully, tunefully re-affirms her roots. It helps that her father’s an ace guitar picker, and both parents are also private detectives, specializing in marital disputes.

Miranda Lambert, Platinum: The winter of her discontent, and not just a diva's hissy fit. Oh yeah, when she stresses about being upstaged by her big loud stupid TV star husband (as if trying to maintain your hard-won status as a female star in NashVegas---having started as third-place finalist on TV's historic Nashville Star, then: gaining foothold via persona of cute-when-she's mad, eggsy gun-freak/pyro---now: vs. electro-bro chart toppers wasn't enough) we're perfectly cued to respond, "Oh no, Miranda, you're Elvis, he's Priscilla!" But she manages even that obvious move really well, ditto sassing us 'bout can't have a ride in my little red wagon---cause it's ALL MESSED UP. That's the way she really feels, pretty sure; she's not just playing hard to get, she is hard to get, hard to get a grip on, hard to accept, in her own view. Which is also true in the hinge track (getting even more relatable, as the kids say), where she doesn't wanna catch herself in the mirror, maybe looking like her Momma, the loved opponent who taught her to clean up this "Bathroom Sink," this microcosm of messy life itself. But she does go out with Little Big Town, getting relatable as hell on the bro and sis Saturday night parking lot circuit: "Smokin' and drinkin thinkin' bout the one that GOT AWAY," hell yeah, damn! Overall, the country equivalent of Beyonce's s/t Platinum Edition.

Prob be some argument, but to me, for now (especially with some of the guitars on relative mainstreamer Miranda Lambert's The Weight of These Wings is not that far from the more consistently "out" sounds of Lucinda Williams and cookin' E. Cook), this is a country album: the pitch and cadence of her voice, the turns of phrases, as written and sung, guide and shadow the grooves, bringing out the bluesy elements of crossroads sounds, without trying to pretend they're pre-digital; the subject matter, layers of atmospheric consistency---the fixations of an addict, recovering enough for perspective on same---though getting the fix, "getting straight," as they used to say, can provide enough detachment for moments of insight even inside the thing, as "Dharma Gate" and others suggest---all merge with certain classic themes of country, even if she's not meditating on a shot glass all of the time.

From a later online discussion:
Going for what I called her "sonic grid"---that dark, spare, hard-edged but flexible framework for the throughline of her narrative themes---has some of the same appeal as Stapleton and Eric Church's recent albums, something of a Jamey Johnson atmosphere too, but I doubt that she expects as much radio play as they've gotten. The main challenge is writing about this stuff at all, without becoming too dependent on lurid imagery or therapyspeak, or seeming evasive. Her current solution seems to be just to begin in the middle, to tell it like she might have told it then, in her most self-aware, lucid and candid moments. And maybe she's still in the middle of it, for all we know--but I have the impression (because the self-awareness etc is so sustained here) that she's been through some kind of therapy, with whatever lapses experienced or still possible, and of course the idea is to know yourself to be a recovering addict, present tense, no matter how long you've been sober. So, while these songs may not be the deepest, as Edd Hurt prev. mentioned, this is how far she's gotten writing-wise (with anything she'd want to show us now, at least).

Sorry! I was hewing too close to Ctrl + Search in the personal archive, so that Weight mention was really just in the middle of scribble about Elizabeth Cook's also badass Exodus of Venus.

Ctrl + F search, that is.

https://www.vulture.com/2020/11/cmas-2020-miranda-lambert-entertainer-year-essay.html

... and same writer has an interview with Miranda out today: https://www.vulture.com/2022/09/miranda-lambert-vegas-best-worst-music.html

i love this

I, for a while, did this set where I would end with a fiery one and then go down and do a couple ballads, like “House That Built Me” and “Dark Bars.” I had to switch it, because I would do “Mama’s” before “House That Built Me,” and always girls would start fighting in the front row, and then they’d still be fighting through my ballad. And I’m like, All right, we’re going to have to put “House That Built Me” somewhere else because they don’t get over it quick enough.

she’s right that “dead flowers” is one of her best songs

i love it so much

Also I love this bit about "The House That Built Me":

"I’m so thankful for that song. I sing it every night and I watch people cry. I cry once a tour, at least — especially if I’m playing in Dallas, because my family’s there. I think any songwriter that you ask right now, they have that on their top-ten list of songs they wish they’d written. It’s just so vivid, and parts of it are part of all of our childhood. But my guitar player for so long, who I lost this year, Scotty Wray — the first time he heard it, I was saying, “Isn’t this just everyone’s story?” He goes, “No. I wish I had that house. I wish that was my story.” I’d never thought about it like that. There’s a whole different meaning when you listen to it from someone that didn’t have that. It made me cry when he said that. I think that’s the power of “The House That Built Me.” It brings out so much emotion."

To think she didn't enjoy a country smash until 2010 and "The House That Built Me." Radio didn't know what to do with her.

I wrote here at the time that Revolution side one was her most rockin' side ever.

good list, jon_oh! Here's mine today - no doubt it'll be a bit different tomorrow.

Tier 1
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Platinum
The Weight of These Wings
Hell on Heels
Kerosene

Tier 2
Wildcard
Palomino
The Marfa Tapes
Interstate Gospel
Revolution

Tier 3
Annie Up
Four The Record

Re: Cultural signifiers

Yeah, "Tequila Does," coupled with some interviews she did around the same time in which she had some tone-deaf responses about being a white woman opening a Tex-Mex restaurant / tequila bar. She's shown great allyship on LGBTQ+ issues, but she really didn't seem to get it when it came to cultural appropriation. I believe Dr. Amanda Martinez, whose work is essential in the country space, did some writing about it that explains it more authoritatively.

Re: Marfa

Still a great album, for sure: Check the **** ratings for albums (9) and above in my rankdown, and those rankings are always in flux depending on what I've listened to most recently. I just don't think the actual vocal timbres of their three voices make a pleasant sound when they sing together (I also think Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks sound horrible together, so...), in a way that detracts at least somewhat from my enjoyment of the album.

she had some tone-deaf responses about being a white woman opening a Tex-Mex restaurant / tequila bar.

She's from Texas, where a substantial number of Tex-Mex restaurants/tequila bars are run by monied Whites under less scrutiny.

it takes all kinds of kinds iirc

Crazy Tex-Mex Girlfriend

“tequila does” def has some blatant white person in a sombrero vibes but i also think it’s a brilliant song. i like to think of “in his arms” as a companion to it

I will argue though that "To Learn Her" is not one of Wings' memorable songs.

Rightly or wrongly? It is a perfectly executed 50s throwback - not sure there's another song in her catalog like it.

The two guys on Marfa Tapes are also a big asset (I still think Ingram's "Anchor" is an amazing song). It's such a special kind of album; I'm listening to it now...

yeah its a top 3 for me

Not sure if there's supposed to be some grand revelation on my part to the statement that Miranda Lambert's from Texas, which I certainly knew? And doesn't invalidate the appropriation issues? Which is full YMMV territory for anyone's enjoyment or engagement with something.

Love the Vulture piece, particularly her "Dead Flowers" love and spot-on critique of the current state of country radio. Which, as Alfred said, never knew what to do with her.

I'm just pointing out that she probably doesn't see it as appropriation, more like a smart business move with loads of precedent. The only reason anybody cares is that she's famous in a more scrutinized field.

And besides, it's not like she's the first Country star who's had suspect/cringe/objectionable business interests.

If I may also note in her character assessment the enormous amount of work she's done (and presumably $ she's given) for animal welfare organizations, and her own Mutt Nation.

https://muttnation.com/foundation/

i don’t think we need really need to hold a trial over how problematic she is or isn’t. her songs provide for far more interesting discussion

"It All Comes Out in the Wash" is sorta a lesser variation on "We Should Be Friends," huh?

Wildcard starts out bumpy, but ends really strong...

Related, anyone read the Her Country book?

the only song on Wildcard i’m ambivalent about is “fire escape” because it’s so repetitive it sounds more like a filler song

but otherwise i enjoy Wildcard a great deal,

"Settling Down" is the catchiest song of her career. Jeez, even typing the title got it lodged in my head.

Putting aside the Tex-Mex schtick, something great about "Tequila Does" is how it's, like, a "positive" ode to booze... you know, drink responsibility and all that (and I could never handle tequila myself), but I like the idea of a drinking song that doesn't have a "dark" edge. I'm sure there are many others (esp. in country music), but they're not known to me.

(or at least paying tribute to a particular drink)

the first half of wildcard is def a bit patchy altho “mess with my head” is an incredible song, she should keep writing songs that sound like the cars. it gets better starting with “bluebird” — one of her best singles and which ended up being a crowning achievement for her at this stage in her career — and i’d put the final 4 songs up there w/ pretty much any stretch on any of her albums. i love the way the album slowly descends into darkness from “pretty bitchin” (i love being the subject of gossip!) to “tequila does” (no man feels better than tequila!) to “track record” (i recklessly pursue unhealthy relationships) to “dark bars” (here i am in my happy place, hanging out with degenerate alcoholics)

worth noting that "Bluebird" was her biggest country hit in years

"Life's pretty good if you live it" (from "Pretty Bitchin'") is like one of those all-time great song lines.

i love the first verse or “bluebird” so much… “i turn pages all the time / don’t like where i’m at, 34 was bad / so i just turn 35”

"Strange" has been largely DOA at radio, which has surprised me. Not sure if the recurrent play for "Drunk And I Don't Wanna Go Home" w Elle King (also a great single) is hurting it, but it had an impact date back in July and hasn't yet cracked the t40. Would love to see "Waxahachie" or "Geraldene" get tagged as single, but I also respect her DGAF attitude to such things.

Yeah in my head Wildcard is always just like “White Trash” and “It All Comes Out…” and “Way Too Pretty….” and then I listen to it again and get totally blown away by the last third each time.

"Dark Bars" is scary. It's like not-quite-middle-aged Dylan looking ahead 20 years.

It reminds me of “The Last Time I Saw Richard” and not just because of the setting.

"Track Record" is one of my all time favorite Miranda songs.

And it's totally buried on Wildcard, surrounded by Pretty Bitchin' and Tequila Does and Dark Bars ... just sitting there in the middle being more understated and perfect.

Dark Bars might be my favorite off Wildcard … that chorus gives me goosebumps “I’m not in paaaaaiiin / I’m not on piiiillls”

i love all her songs about bars, dare I say she has a Haggard-esque knack for capturing the sad specifics of booze & loneliness in crowded places & making them still weirdly beautiful

Yep. She covered "Misery and Gin."

yes and "ugly lights"

sorry lol that was in support of what VG said about her bar songs.

Her best album.

Saw she put out a new track with Leon Bridges but haven't listened yet. Also extended her LV residency...toying with the idea of trying to get out there for a night or two...Anyone been or heard any reviews?