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The ACM award-winning singer-songwriter steps beyond her spitfire image
By Alan Light
Special to MSN Music
Miranda Lambert is multitasking. It's the day after the release of her third album, "Revolution," and the only time she could squeeze in an interview is while she's sitting in her Times Square hotel room, getting her hair done between TV appearances.
The 25-year-old singer is eager to stay busy, though; after her 2005 debut, "Kerosene," established her as one of the brightest young talents in Nashville, and the 2007 follow-up, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," won the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year, she thinks now may be her best shot at A-List stardom. "I feel like, finally, people are accepting me for who I am, and understanding me, and are willing to take risks with me," she says, between blasts from the blow dryer.
View photos of Miranda Lambert
The new album continues the alcohol and firearm imagery that earned the onetime "Nashville Star" finalist her reputation as a take-no-prisoners spitfire (in 2008, Esquire magazine named her "Terrifying Woman of the Year"). But "Revolution," her first release since she started dating country singer Blake Shelton, extends Lambert's emotional reach, from "Heart Like Mine," an intimate gem exploring her faith, to a rave-up cow-punk version of John Prine's "That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round" ("I'm not sure how that one ended up the way it is," she says. "I think it was just a couple beers and some crazy musicians!").
Though both of her albums reached #1 on the country charts, there remains an expectation around Lambert, a sense that she still needs the breakout single that will make her a superstar. The underwhelming reception given to the cinematic ballad "Dead Flowers," the first single on "Revolution," only amplified these concerns. She insists, though, that she isn't worried about reaching that next level of fame, and that she cherishes her independence too much to change.
"I feel like I've gotten to do it my way and make the music I want to, and it's worked," Lambert says, "and I'm one of very few that get to say that."
MSN Music: What were you able to do that was new or different on this album?
Miranda Lambert: Taking time to write was new for me; actually, taking time to do anything besides be on the road was new. If I didn't take that time, I was just going to make another rushed album, because I really had to rush through "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." I was writing songs in the studio for that one. We used the same musicians, the same producer. But taking that time to sit down on my farm and say, "Where am I, what do I want to say?" that was a really good decision.
And what came out of that time to reflect?
I still saw the Miranda that people know from the last few albums. But I do love someone now, I have a steady career, a stable life, and I want to sing about that. Why not? Why do I have to sing about love gone wrong every single time?
There's so much focus on how you deserve to be a bigger star, how everyone keeps waiting for your smash single. Do you worry about that stuff?
I really don't care. I mean, I would love to have a top five and go to the next level, but I want to go there the way that I've gone to every level so far, which is a slow and steady build, doing what I want to do. I don't want a giant single and then have the next five singles fall off the chart and everybody is like, "She's done." I'd rather just keep building the way that I have, because that's setting the tone for a 30-year career.
I go out there and play shows, a lot, and I do the press and stuff that I need to do to get my music out there. But I'm not going to change anything to try to get bigger because I don't care enough. My fans are faithful: they come to the shows, they buy the records, and you can't ask for more than that. I sometimes wish there were 45,000 fans coming to a show instead of 45, but it just is what it is.
Were you disappointed by the reaction to "Dead Flowers" as the advance single?
Well, the label said, "You need a single," and I only had five rough cuts. And the ACM [awards] were coming up and I needed a song to sing. So we just kind of picked something, and the label felt like it was a single for maybe five minutes, and then decided, maybe not.
It was hurtful. I was p---ed at first, because I wrote that song by myself, it's one of my babies, and I felt like it was taken lightly. But I want radio play, and if they're not going to play it, then we need to move on. At least "Dead Flowers" bought us some time to get the record finished and pick another single. I still love the song and I'm going to keep singing it live forever, because I'm proud of it.
"Heart Like Mine" is a really powerful, personal song. How did that one come about?
Me and Ashley (Monroe) went up to Dollywood for a couple of days, and we were sitting on a porch in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., with a bottle of wine, just two girls hanging out and talking about our tattoos and our families, our boyfriends or lack of, just whatever. We're both Christian girls who grew up in church but were judged for singing country music. And we thought, "You know, Jesus is cool. We know he is. We know he's sitting here with us right now." And we just started writing it down, writing out words.
I think it's honest, it's autobiographical in a sense. I don't smoke, but everybody smoked a few cigarettes thinking they're cool. Every girl's dad cried when they got their first tattoo. That's just how it goes.
Do you get tired of having to be the outlaw, gunslinger girl all the time?
That's just the part of my image that sticks out to people, but if you listen to my records, my image is kind of all over the place. I'm just a small-town girl who's kind of volatile and has a short fuse. I'm really sweet most of the time!
I like that I get to do a photo shoot with a shotgun, that's badass. But I also like that I get to do another shoot with my mom, because my family is such a big part of me. It's cool that I can play up both sides, because I don't want to get shoved in a corner. I don't want to be vanilla and happy and smiling all the time, but I don't want to be this crazy-eyed girl in every single picture.
Alan Light is the former editor-in-chief of Spin, Vibe and Tracks magazines and a former senior writer at Rolling Stone. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, GQ and Entertainment Weekly. His book "The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys" was published in 2006. Alan is a two-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music writing.
