miranda lambert

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.