miranda lambert

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.