September 30, 2024 • 23 mins
Her NEW album is out now & it's so much more than just another an album, it's the start of a new chapter in her career. She stops by to share details on her new album, her new record label and way more, including how excited she is for Post Malone to be a part of country music.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Wayne d in studio with a lady who always
seems to be busy. Do you does Mirandam and Lambert
believe in downtime at this point in the life.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yeah, I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
How do you? Because how do you balance things?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I well, I don't know, but I'm learning, you know,
And I think it's like that's a big conversation lately.
I feel like with everybody and maybe we're putting too
much pressure on it. Just like live our lives. Like
stop saying we're clock balance, because then it's more stress.
It's like anxiety. You know, Am I doing it right?
Am I doing it wrong? And that adds to the stress.
So I'm like, you know, we should just stop talking
(00:36):
about and just do it.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That's true. That's I love myself. I'll clip this out
so you can listen to it your own motivational tapes. Yeah,
speaking of tapes, awkward transition albums? Uh yeah, really old school.
I remember when I was a kid. You put the
pencil in to fix it. Tastes like, what what are
(00:57):
those tapes? The week cassettes? It's all I'll show you later.
Retro very retro. How do you feel about the new album.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm very excited about it. It feels like it feels
like home. It sounds like home. It's kind of a
little mix of all the influences I've ever had. It's
very country, lots of steal guitar.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I will say we sat in this same position with
Keith Urban a couple of months back, and he was
talking about a new album, but he was telling us
what happened before that. He created a whole album, walked
into the label to play it, and walked out and
scrapped the whole thing. Which is crazy to me that
somebody that you guys are at that same level to
(01:38):
me to have this body of work that is done
and you scrap it. Are you to the point where
you're super picky about stuff like that? Are you're only
creating songs that you're like, I feel it and I'm
rolling with it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I just roll it. I'm like, I'm not going
to go in and waste my own time, you know, Yeah,
Like I really think about it and really spend time
rotten and really get a play in. So I go
in there with confidence and I don't you know, it's
like if you don't believe in it, who's going to,
you know, it's like, I want to go in there
and make something I'm really really proud of and not
(02:12):
a second guest. But I understand artists really want their
art to be authentic. So I understand there's so many,
so many times I've heard of you know, amazing artists
scrapping it because it just wasn't there. And I appreciate
that too.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
The new album is called Postcards from Texas. There's fourteen
songs on there. Was it tough to find the fourteen
or did they kind of fall into place?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
They kind of fell into place, and I wrote towards them,
like I knew I wanted this kind of nostalgic record
because I'm kind of starting over in a awesome way.
I got a new label with Republic and Big Loud,
and I was like, I want to start back at
the root of it all. So I kind of knew
what I wanted to do for this first record out
of the gate with the whole new team. I really
want it to be sound like old school me and
(02:57):
feel like that, and it does. Now I feel like
I can go anywhere from here.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
At what point did the Big Loud Texas thing come together?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I'm obsessed with Big Cloud Texas already. I'm so excited
to be part of it. It's been about a couple
of years talking about it with my friend John Randall.
And you know, the music that came out of Texas
is so it's so important to music as a whole.
On it, it's Million Whalen and the boys like, we
have to make sure we nurture that and that we
grow it and that we can you know, we want
(03:28):
to keep the music out of that. There's so much different.
There's so many different kinds of music to come out
of Texas too. It's not just country at all, and
so our goal is to just shine a lot on
the amazing art that comes out of our state and
bring it to the world.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know, there is something so prideful about the art
that comes out of Texas. And because Tay and I,
one of the shows we do is a morning show
in Austin, UH and you can just feel, even though
we're not there, you can feel how special that is.
As your career grew, did you feel responsible to kind
of like protect that a little bit and nurture it?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Absolutely? I mean it's like I want everybody to know
how how great our state is and what we sound
like there and how much truth we tell in our writing.
And you know, it's we have our own kind of
genre in Texas and it's the music I grew up on.
But it's also important that the world hears it and
we shine light on it. And you know, I mean,
George strait's a perfect example of doing both.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You know, yeah, absolutely, we know the list of massive
songs you've had, obviously the new album is on the way.
Do you have songs that, at some point in your
career you were sent or maybe you were a part
of a rite and they came to you and you're like,
I'm not feeling it, but then it ended up being
massive for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You like, just ten of them?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I can, well, so you just mentioned you just mentioned
George Straight. We asked Kenny Chesney that same question. He
was offered check yes or no and passed on it.
Oh man, And now I can't imagine that not being
a George Straight song. Do you what songs would that
be for you?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I don't even want to say, because I'm like, I
don't want to insult the songs because they were great,
they just weren't good for me. And then they were
huge and I'm like sitting at a ward show watching
somebody except song of the Year. I'm like, I'm not
a missed one. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, but Jake Owen told us that same story a
while back where he got big green tractor offered to
him and he goes, dude, I'm I'm a beach guy,
not a tractor guy. So like that doesn't work. And
obviously Jason elbeing still casting checks off of that.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
But you know what, it's good though. It's good even
if I like knew, okay, this is gonna be huge,
but it's not for me. It's important to just not
do it. Like for me, I'm not gonna just go
cut something because it I know it's gonna be a hit,
but it doesn't feel like me at all. It has
to be right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Was there ever a time where it was tough to
make that decision because you knew the song was going
to be big?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, there was, and it was huge, but it wasn't
for me and I you know, but I lucky, like
I found I got to have house that built me,
like so I got mine like that. That song is
so special and it's such a cornerstone of my career
and of my set every night, and just like really
(06:03):
needed that song at the time. And so I feel
like for everyone I might have lost, I gained a
song like that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, And a song like that probably means more than
a handful of songs that don't connect with you absolutely.
When you look at the track listing of the fourteen songs,
do you feel pressure to recreate big songs or do
you feel like a part two of a house that
built me? Do you ever look for stuff like that
when you're putting together a new album.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I feel like you can't chase something that's already been done. Ever,
if you do that, you get lost. You sort of
start doing U turns, you know what I mean, You're like,
where am I going? What am I? You know? I
feel really strongly about reinventing myself in certain ways every
single record. And I mean, really, this is my tenth
album to make solo album if I count my very
(06:50):
first little independent record. Just crazy to even say, but
you know, I don't ever want to do the same
thing twice because I've already done that, you know. And
like when I was writing for wild Card, I put
tapestries up all around my music room with my trophies
and plaques and whatever, and I just covered the walls
with tapestries because I was like, well, this is all great.
(07:11):
I'm really proud of it, but I've already done that.
Now what am I gonna do? Because I'm sitting there
right and comparing myself to myself and I wasn't getting anywhere,
you know, and my friends were coming over and not
getting anywhere to write, and so I was like, let's
just cover all this up and start fresh, you know,
because it's such a part of my history. But it's
like I got to keep moving forward. You got to
keep reinventing. You have to keep trying something new, And
even on postcards from Texas, it's like little pieces. Each
(07:33):
song's a little piece of my story and where I'm from.
But it's still there's parts of it that are really
fresh to me and that feel like hopeful and like
I knew. The last song on the record is called
Living on the Run, and I did that on purpose
because I'm like, kind of sets me up for the
next journey, like where are we going? On album eleven?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You know, when you talk about a song has to
connect with you, it has to make sense for you.
Maybe you were a part of the right maybe somebody
else brought brought the idea to click for you. Not
all artists get to say that right. Some artists are
trying to find whatever song they can to connect. At
what point in your career were you like, Nope, I
have to feel it or it's not going to happen,
(08:12):
or have you always been that way.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
From day one? I just you know, I started writing
when I was seventeen, and which you know wasn't great,
but I was it was a start. And I just
the artists that I'm drawn to and that I love
her are all really strong, like they stand really firm
and who they are, and so that's kind of where
I learned it. And also being from Texas, we're kind
(08:34):
of just that way. We're a little bit stubborn and
like we love y'all, come on in. But if you
don't like, cause we really don't care that much, you
know what I mean. And so I feel like I
use that kind of raising in my in my business,
like I still do it, you know, I just it
has to be. My mom's advice to me was so simple.
It was know who you are and stick with it
(08:54):
at seventeen when I was like, I want to do music,
She's like, well, you need to establish who you are now.
Don't waiver, because you know when you come into Nashville
like eighteen like and you're meeting with labels, it's like, well,
you could be the next this person, or you could
wear this halter top and be the next this person.
It's like, well, I just wanted to be the first
Miranda Lambert and that's what I've done.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You have a massive impact. And it's funny because you
watch these artists become legends, and I think, to this
new era of artists, you have reached that spot. We
talked to Lanny Wilson recently and she said how much
you have meant to her before she even knew you,
and now you're friends. What does that mean for you
to be able to connect with other artists and maybe
(09:40):
share something you already know about the business.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's so important and I'm honored to have that. I mean,
it's a big responsibility and I don't take it lightly.
And that's a huge part of why I love Big
Loud Texas is I'm able to like use my experiences
and you know, the things I've learned, which I'm still learning.
I mean, I've done a whole lot, but I'm only
forty and I've got long way to go. So I
just want to be able to, especially with the women
(10:03):
in the industry, not just the artists, but women in
the industry in general, Like sometimes it's takes three times
as long, and it's have to pay, and that's just
part of it sometimes. But I want to be able
to like encourage artists and people to just really stick
it out and be strong in their authenticity because that
(10:24):
win's at the end of the day every time. And
so you know, if my career and where I've made
it to is a testimony to that, I'm really.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Proud country music. You would just like you were talking
about Texas and yes there's Texas country, but there's also
like different levels of it, right, and it's the storytelling
and it's the songs. Country music in general has become
more of a melting pot than it ever has been.
It's almost like top forty music and like the two
early two thousands were like everything everything, everything right now. Yeah,
(10:55):
but with that, we are getting experiences with artists who
normally haven't done country before. Obviously, more recently post Malone
something so special about his approach on we'll say dipping
his tone in the country, but it felt more like
a cannonball. What's your thoughts on how he's been embraced
in the format.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I just appreciate anybody that comes and immerses themselves in
our city, like I love Nashville so much. I always
say I've got half my heart in Texas and half
in Tennessee because this community and the country music industry
has been so great to me, and it's my family.
I mean, it's where all my friends live, it's where
I work, and I'm so proud of it. And you
know the fact that he came to town and wrote
(11:38):
with all of our writers, me included, and we're just
with at the acums, playing flip Cup and just hanging
and being part of our community. I respect that so much,
and I think that's the way to do it. If
you're gonna come on over here. We are very open
door in country music. As we all know. We take everybody,
but I expect for that person to, you know, respect
(12:00):
us and reciprocate that because our community is amazing and
we have some amazing songwriters, and I don't take that
for granted, and I don't want anybody else come into
town and taking it for granted.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
You know, is it special for you to invest time
writing with other people? Not just the post Malone story,
but like, if you're gonna if you are going to
take your time with the experience and the success that
you've had to sit with somebody, is it a project
that like you have to know ahead of time and
believe in or you just down to write whatever. Whenever
I've been.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
A lot more just down to write, like I needed
to branch out. And it's really good for me. And
it's you know, and it's writing with different kinds of
writers and writing with different kinds of artists. I mean,
I'm a creator, so I want to create in all
kinds of ways and I think I've opened myself up
to that a lot more in the last few years
and it's been really fun. And I've actually gotten some cuts,
(12:49):
which is super fun. So I'm like, Okay, this is
like it's you know, when I'm on my downtime, I
want to be creating something and it doesn't have to
just be for me.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
How much longer do I got? Guys? Okay? Got it?
Something else? That's awesome is you have done so much
as an artist and not only that, like as a
powerful female artist in the format between a Vegas residency.
Your name's on Lower Broadway right, which, by the way, Uh,
what's my favorite taco there?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
The gringo.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Taco. It's like the it's like a deep fried taco.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It's like a state something delicious and then fried, ye
make it even more.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
But I will say, what did you call it?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
The gringo talking the spicy beef ONTs my favorite.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I'm telling you, your.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Food is good, y'all.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It's like not bar food.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
That's and I say that to people because bar food
is bar food. Cool. Have some drinks and then it
helps you have more.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
But ours is like good food, Like you can go
there for like lunch and not be drinking.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It's delicious and the caso is fantastic. Like if I
took that very.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Seriously because I put text mex on there and I
was like, all my Texas friends are going to give
me so much. Hell if this doesn't taste good, like
I can like claimed text mes and then it not deliver.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know, But like so that brings me to and
I'm not putting down any other artists, but like artists
get approached to slap their name on something and then
they'll just send you some money once a month. Why
was it important? Because we've obviously worked with that crew
down there, the ownership group yea, and they even said,
as you were working on getting the building open, how
involved you were. Why was that important when you could
(14:22):
have just got money anyway? Right?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Well, I really wanted it to feel like me, like
you need to has my name on it. It's gonna
have my stamp on it. I touch and feel and
see every single thing that has my name or my
brand Marianda Lambert brand quote unquote on it, because it's
important to me. Like, you know, four chords. I learned
four chords and that was an extra I don't even
(14:45):
need for I needed three only. So I'm like at
seventeen and I can't believe what those four chords led
me to. And I have worked my ass off for it.
But I'm also like, I really want to protect it,
know because it's important, and I can't be a mentor
or be this, you know, have this long career if
(15:05):
I don't stay in it and stay really aware of
anything that has it needs my stamp on it. It
needs to feel like me. Fans can see through that,
especially country fans, like they want the truth, you know,
and that and that's what I signed up to give them.
And that means across the board, with my charity, with
my brand, I'll wind you know, I just with my
Nation Foundation. I'm really involved with all of it because
(15:27):
I have to be. And sometimes I'm tired, and sometimes
I if I slack, I feel it, and I think
the fans feel it. So try to stay in it.
Try to drinking like a lot of coffee as you should.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's day near album. Yeah, don't sleep. You brought up
my Nation. I want to go that way next because
that's a part of the restaurant that the average person
might miss if they just you know, run in and
they want to see the the disco ball hanging in
the dining room upstairs or whatever. Sorry, the saddle that
is super unique.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We pattern that saddle after the one hanging Billy Bob's text.
There's a ron Stone sidle hanging over the dance floor
and Billy Bob's and I've just loved it since I
was like sixteen, and so we did a bigger version
for Casa Rosa.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Is it? This is totally not a question I was
gonna ask, But as you talk about the stuff hanging there,
is it I've always wondered for an artist, is it
weird to be like, yeah, sure, here's my CMA outfit
that I've actually worn and sweat in when I performed.
Go ahead and put it in a frame.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, it's a little bit weird. And I always tell
him to like fold it, make it look smaller. And
I also cut the tag out. I'm like, they don't
need to, don't I don't even need to know what
size I was that day, Like, that's just gonna get
my head.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
But but there's there's like a hidden gem of of
Casa Rosa and uh it's the Mutt Nation. Yeah. And
so as they were as they were setting that up,
I had I have a rescue pit bull named Cash
that when I was in Vegas, like he's and he
it's almost like he can tell like he was rescued
because he's so like sweet and he just wants you
to hold. Yeah, why was that important to incorporate there?
(16:58):
And then the second part of that is you're so
involved in that every day yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I mean, I'm I have so many dogs, Well I'm
down to two. But like I'm involved to the point
where I like, overdid it nine press q dogs at once?
Like what am I doing? It's so at the mut
Nation wall at Cus Rosa, I'll speak on that first
sec you kind of sign. It's on the backstairs. You sign,
or you scan the QR code and then for five
(17:23):
hundred bucks, you get your dog painted on the wall
and it's hand painted by my friend Tiny. He's amazing, Tim,
He's great, he's amazing. He painted all the murals in
all of our places and he'll paint your dog and
then you know, and every dollar that you know. I
started a Muttinnation Foundation in two thousand and nine because
I want I was asking my fans to like give
money to something, and I wanted them to believe in
(17:46):
where it was going and like understand what was going.
So me and my mom were like, we just want
to vet all of this process and make sure that
we're not asking the fans to give to something that
they can't really see, touch or feel and understand where
all the money's going. So we don't have a shelter
nation is set up up to give to shelters. We
do so many programs we work with. We do like
disaster relief, where we go in and help the animals
(18:08):
of the situation, like a Harvey for instance. We're boots
on the ground there and we give grants to a
shelter in every state every single year to just lift
them up. And we you know, do campaigns to We
have one called it Takes Balls right Now, which is
like promoting span neuter because that's part of the problem
why we have so many dogs. Too many dogs. People
(18:29):
are breeding. We don't need to. So there's I could
go on and on. I won't, but but my nation
is close to my heart and I wanted to make
sure that the fans could understand where the money was going.
And my mom with a private investigator in my whole life,
and so she like vets it like that, like she
knows about all the shelters that were that were affiliated
with and it's legit. And it's now been since two
(18:51):
thousand and nine and we've raised over ten million dollars
and saved thousands of dogs. So I'm really proud of it.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
That's what I have four at my home. You do
and let me tell you it's I don't have a
back where I'm down in spring Hill. I don't have
a backyard for four dogs, but we make it work.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
It's a I'm down to two because they were all
seniors at once, you know, but it's just the most
joy and like it's the most unconditional love and they
do not care. I'm not Mariana Lamberton them. I'm their
mom with the Greenies, and like that's fine with me.
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Uh that's my backup plan when this radio thing drives
up for me? Is I said to Tate, I'm doing
a dog rescue.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I'm all about it. Let me know when when you
get there.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
We may need funding. You know how much that's ten
million got left. I'm just kidding. We will rap on
the album because being a songwriter and being a storyteller
is great and it's therapeutic for your fans. It's also
therapeutic for you. Out of these fourteen songs, is there
a story that maybe you struggle to tell or was
(19:52):
emotional put to paper and then record that you hope
fans give a little more time.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
To I would you know all my babies, I love
them all, but.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
No babies are ugly, Yeah, exactly, But you have a favorite.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
If there's an emotional The most emotional song on the
record is Run and it's a solo rite, and those
are always scarier because there's nowhere to hide, Like it's
kind of like I can't be like, well, that was
my co writer story because I wrote it by myself,
so you know, and it was a song I needed
to write at the time because I was going through it,
like in the thick of some hard stuff, and so
I guess, you know. But that's that's like the most
(20:27):
important part, because we wouldn't have some of my favorite
songs of all time. We wouldn't have if people didn't
just tell their truth, you know what I mean. So
as scary as it can be, sometimes it's it's so
important to just put it out there because it's if
it's your story, it's somebody else's too. Somebody else is
going through the same thing you are. It makes you
not feel alone.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You know, the album's coming out. We are what just
under two weeks away from the album coming out. Take
me The last thing I want to ask is take
me to the first time you ever heard your song
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Oh man, I was like nineteen maybe or eighteen, I
think eighteen, and I had a little I had a
little independent record and so I heard on the radio,
Well i'll take the back. I was seventeen. I first
heard myself on the radio, but it was in Texas
music chart. You know. It was my little independent record,
and I wasn't very good writer at all yet, but
I was real proud of it. I was like, I
(21:16):
write songs, you know, and that was cool. But then
like signed with a major label and I had been
on Nashville Star and my real like Kerosene album was made,
and my first single was me and Charlie talking and
it was like, well, this ain't just playing in Dallas.
This is like on a radio radio like nationally, you know.
And so me and my mom were driving, I think
(21:37):
we were leaving Nashville and going towards home, and I
heard it like on a station in Memphis or something,
and we like pulled over and ran around the car
and like with like a fire drill because we were
so excited, like, oh my god, like this is big time,
you know. So it was you don't ever forget that,
And that was one of those stories that I'm glad
that I can be part of artist's life. In fact,
Laney actually called me when her when a Heart Like
(21:59):
a Truck, Number one, No Things a man not to
know her first number one? She called me, I think
it was really late at night. I was like, hell,
She's like, I just want to talk to somebody who
knows exactly what this feels like. And I'm like, it
just means the world to me because you don't forget that.
It's like it lives with you forever. And I still have.
When I hear it on the radio, I get excited.
I'll be like, car next to me, I'm like, that's
me on the radio. I gotta spin.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I've always wanted to if like an artist, and I'd
like to ask that too, is if you are in
the car and you're listening to whatever and your song
comes on, do you turn it up? Are do you?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
It depends on what it is. Some of my old ones,
I'm like, I've heard that, But my new ones, I'm like,
crank it up. I will tell you I was leaving
vag I was leaving UH after my residency in Vegas.
One of the shows one night and going home and
and my song that I wrote with Morgan thought you
should know came on and the drivers like doesn't know
country music, and I was like, turn it up. It
(22:54):
was like eleven thirty nine. I'm like, turn it up.
I wrote this song. It was the first time I
heard it all there, so I'm still excited, like it's exciting,
especially Morgan Wall and cut. That's huge. I'll take it
all day.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
A driver in Vegas like, yeah, sure, you can't tell.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
All the ron stones lued to my eyes and I'm legit,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Miranda, Thanks so much for the time today.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Thank you
It's Wayne d in studio with a lady who always
seems to be busy. Do you does Mirandam and Lambert
believe in downtime at this point in the life.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yeah, I'm doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
How do you? Because how do you balance things?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I well, I don't know, but I'm learning, you know,
And I think it's like that's a big conversation lately.
I feel like with everybody and maybe we're putting too
much pressure on it. Just like live our lives. Like
stop saying we're clock balance, because then it's more stress.
It's like anxiety. You know, Am I doing it right?
Am I doing it wrong? And that adds to the stress.
So I'm like, you know, we should just stop talking
(00:36):
about and just do it.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
That's true. That's I love myself. I'll clip this out
so you can listen to it your own motivational tapes. Yeah,
speaking of tapes, awkward transition albums? Uh yeah, really old school.
I remember when I was a kid. You put the
pencil in to fix it. Tastes like, what what are
(00:57):
those tapes? The week cassettes? It's all I'll show you later.
Retro very retro. How do you feel about the new album.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm very excited about it. It feels like it feels
like home. It sounds like home. It's kind of a
little mix of all the influences I've ever had. It's
very country, lots of steal guitar.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I will say we sat in this same position with
Keith Urban a couple of months back, and he was
talking about a new album, but he was telling us
what happened before that. He created a whole album, walked
into the label to play it, and walked out and
scrapped the whole thing. Which is crazy to me that
somebody that you guys are at that same level to
(01:38):
me to have this body of work that is done
and you scrap it. Are you to the point where
you're super picky about stuff like that? Are you're only
creating songs that you're like, I feel it and I'm
rolling with it.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I just roll it. I'm like, I'm not going
to go in and waste my own time, you know, Yeah,
Like I really think about it and really spend time
rotten and really get a play in. So I go
in there with confidence and I don't you know, it's
like if you don't believe in it, who's going to,
you know, it's like, I want to go in there
and make something I'm really really proud of and not
(02:12):
a second guest. But I understand artists really want their
art to be authentic. So I understand there's so many,
so many times I've heard of you know, amazing artists
scrapping it because it just wasn't there. And I appreciate
that too.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
The new album is called Postcards from Texas. There's fourteen
songs on there. Was it tough to find the fourteen
or did they kind of fall into place?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
They kind of fell into place, and I wrote towards them,
like I knew I wanted this kind of nostalgic record
because I'm kind of starting over in a awesome way.
I got a new label with Republic and Big Loud,
and I was like, I want to start back at
the root of it all. So I kind of knew
what I wanted to do for this first record out
of the gate with the whole new team. I really
want it to be sound like old school me and
(02:57):
feel like that, and it does. Now I feel like
I can go anywhere from here.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
At what point did the Big Loud Texas thing come together?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I'm obsessed with Big Cloud Texas already. I'm so excited
to be part of it. It's been about a couple
of years talking about it with my friend John Randall.
And you know, the music that came out of Texas
is so it's so important to music as a whole.
On it, it's Million Whalen and the boys like, we
have to make sure we nurture that and that we
grow it and that we can you know, we want
(03:28):
to keep the music out of that. There's so much different.
There's so many different kinds of music to come out
of Texas too. It's not just country at all, and
so our goal is to just shine a lot on
the amazing art that comes out of our state and
bring it to the world.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You know, there is something so prideful about the art
that comes out of Texas. And because Tay and I,
one of the shows we do is a morning show
in Austin, UH and you can just feel, even though
we're not there, you can feel how special that is.
As your career grew, did you feel responsible to kind
of like protect that a little bit and nurture it?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Absolutely? I mean it's like I want everybody to know
how how great our state is and what we sound
like there and how much truth we tell in our writing.
And you know, it's we have our own kind of
genre in Texas and it's the music I grew up on.
But it's also important that the world hears it and
we shine light on it. And you know, I mean,
George strait's a perfect example of doing both.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
You know, yeah, absolutely, we know the list of massive
songs you've had, obviously the new album is on the way.
Do you have songs that, at some point in your
career you were sent or maybe you were a part
of a rite and they came to you and you're like,
I'm not feeling it, but then it ended up being
massive for somebody else.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You like, just ten of them?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I can, well, so you just mentioned you just mentioned
George Straight. We asked Kenny Chesney that same question. He
was offered check yes or no and passed on it.
Oh man, And now I can't imagine that not being
a George Straight song. Do you what songs would that
be for you?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I don't even want to say, because I'm like, I
don't want to insult the songs because they were great,
they just weren't good for me. And then they were
huge and I'm like sitting at a ward show watching
somebody except song of the Year. I'm like, I'm not
a missed one. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, but Jake Owen told us that same story a
while back where he got big green tractor offered to
him and he goes, dude, I'm I'm a beach guy,
not a tractor guy. So like that doesn't work. And
obviously Jason elbeing still casting checks off of that.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
But you know what, it's good though. It's good even
if I like knew, okay, this is gonna be huge,
but it's not for me. It's important to just not
do it. Like for me, I'm not gonna just go
cut something because it I know it's gonna be a hit,
but it doesn't feel like me at all. It has
to be right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Was there ever a time where it was tough to
make that decision because you knew the song was going
to be big?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, there was, and it was huge, but it wasn't
for me and I you know, but I lucky, like
I found I got to have house that built me,
like so I got mine like that. That song is
so special and it's such a cornerstone of my career
and of my set every night, and just like really
(06:03):
needed that song at the time. And so I feel
like for everyone I might have lost, I gained a
song like that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, And a song like that probably means more than
a handful of songs that don't connect with you absolutely.
When you look at the track listing of the fourteen songs,
do you feel pressure to recreate big songs or do
you feel like a part two of a house that
built me? Do you ever look for stuff like that
when you're putting together a new album.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I feel like you can't chase something that's already been done. Ever,
if you do that, you get lost. You sort of
start doing U turns, you know what I mean, You're like,
where am I going? What am I? You know? I
feel really strongly about reinventing myself in certain ways every
single record. And I mean, really, this is my tenth
album to make solo album if I count my very
(06:50):
first little independent record. Just crazy to even say, but
you know, I don't ever want to do the same
thing twice because I've already done that, you know. And
like when I was writing for wild Card, I put
tapestries up all around my music room with my trophies
and plaques and whatever, and I just covered the walls
with tapestries because I was like, well, this is all great.
(07:11):
I'm really proud of it, but I've already done that.
Now what am I gonna do? Because I'm sitting there
right and comparing myself to myself and I wasn't getting anywhere,
you know, and my friends were coming over and not
getting anywhere to write, and so I was like, let's
just cover all this up and start fresh, you know,
because it's such a part of my history. But it's
like I got to keep moving forward. You got to
keep reinventing. You have to keep trying something new, And
even on postcards from Texas, it's like little pieces. Each
(07:33):
song's a little piece of my story and where I'm from.
But it's still there's parts of it that are really
fresh to me and that feel like hopeful and like
I knew. The last song on the record is called
Living on the Run, and I did that on purpose
because I'm like, kind of sets me up for the
next journey, like where are we going? On album eleven?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
You know, when you talk about a song has to
connect with you, it has to make sense for you.
Maybe you were a part of the right maybe somebody
else brought brought the idea to click for you. Not
all artists get to say that right. Some artists are
trying to find whatever song they can to connect. At
what point in your career were you like, Nope, I
have to feel it or it's not going to happen,
(08:12):
or have you always been that way.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
From day one? I just you know, I started writing
when I was seventeen, and which you know wasn't great,
but I was it was a start. And I just
the artists that I'm drawn to and that I love
her are all really strong, like they stand really firm
and who they are, and so that's kind of where
I learned it. And also being from Texas, we're kind
(08:34):
of just that way. We're a little bit stubborn and
like we love y'all, come on in. But if you
don't like, cause we really don't care that much, you
know what I mean. And so I feel like I
use that kind of raising in my in my business,
like I still do it, you know, I just it
has to be. My mom's advice to me was so simple.
It was know who you are and stick with it
(08:54):
at seventeen when I was like, I want to do music,
She's like, well, you need to establish who you are now.
Don't waiver, because you know when you come into Nashville
like eighteen like and you're meeting with labels, it's like, well,
you could be the next this person, or you could
wear this halter top and be the next this person.
It's like, well, I just wanted to be the first
Miranda Lambert and that's what I've done.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You have a massive impact. And it's funny because you
watch these artists become legends, and I think, to this
new era of artists, you have reached that spot. We
talked to Lanny Wilson recently and she said how much
you have meant to her before she even knew you,
and now you're friends. What does that mean for you
to be able to connect with other artists and maybe
(09:40):
share something you already know about the business.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It's so important and I'm honored to have that. I mean,
it's a big responsibility and I don't take it lightly.
And that's a huge part of why I love Big
Loud Texas is I'm able to like use my experiences
and you know, the things I've learned, which I'm still learning.
I mean, I've done a whole lot, but I'm only
forty and I've got long way to go. So I
just want to be able to, especially with the women
(10:03):
in the industry, not just the artists, but women in
the industry in general, Like sometimes it's takes three times
as long, and it's have to pay, and that's just
part of it sometimes. But I want to be able
to like encourage artists and people to just really stick
it out and be strong in their authenticity because that
(10:24):
win's at the end of the day every time. And
so you know, if my career and where I've made
it to is a testimony to that, I'm really.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Proud country music. You would just like you were talking
about Texas and yes there's Texas country, but there's also
like different levels of it, right, and it's the storytelling
and it's the songs. Country music in general has become
more of a melting pot than it ever has been.
It's almost like top forty music and like the two
early two thousands were like everything everything, everything right now. Yeah,
(10:55):
but with that, we are getting experiences with artists who
normally haven't done country before. Obviously, more recently post Malone
something so special about his approach on we'll say dipping
his tone in the country, but it felt more like
a cannonball. What's your thoughts on how he's been embraced
in the format.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I just appreciate anybody that comes and immerses themselves in
our city, like I love Nashville so much. I always
say I've got half my heart in Texas and half
in Tennessee because this community and the country music industry
has been so great to me, and it's my family.
I mean, it's where all my friends live, it's where
I work, and I'm so proud of it. And you
know the fact that he came to town and wrote
(11:38):
with all of our writers, me included, and we're just
with at the acums, playing flip Cup and just hanging
and being part of our community. I respect that so much,
and I think that's the way to do it. If
you're gonna come on over here. We are very open
door in country music. As we all know. We take everybody,
but I expect for that person to, you know, respect
(12:00):
us and reciprocate that because our community is amazing and
we have some amazing songwriters, and I don't take that
for granted, and I don't want anybody else come into
town and taking it for granted.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
You know, is it special for you to invest time
writing with other people? Not just the post Malone story,
but like, if you're gonna if you are going to
take your time with the experience and the success that
you've had to sit with somebody, is it a project
that like you have to know ahead of time and
believe in or you just down to write whatever. Whenever
I've been.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
A lot more just down to write, like I needed
to branch out. And it's really good for me. And
it's you know, and it's writing with different kinds of
writers and writing with different kinds of artists. I mean,
I'm a creator, so I want to create in all
kinds of ways and I think I've opened myself up
to that a lot more in the last few years
and it's been really fun. And I've actually gotten some cuts,
(12:49):
which is super fun. So I'm like, Okay, this is
like it's you know, when I'm on my downtime, I
want to be creating something and it doesn't have to
just be for me.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
How much longer do I got? Guys? Okay? Got it?
Something else? That's awesome is you have done so much
as an artist and not only that, like as a
powerful female artist in the format between a Vegas residency.
Your name's on Lower Broadway right, which, by the way, Uh,
what's my favorite taco there?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
The gringo.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Taco. It's like the it's like a deep fried taco.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It's like a state something delicious and then fried, ye
make it even more.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
But I will say, what did you call it?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
The gringo talking the spicy beef ONTs my favorite.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I'm telling you, your.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Food is good, y'all.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
It's like not bar food.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
That's and I say that to people because bar food
is bar food. Cool. Have some drinks and then it
helps you have more.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
But ours is like good food, Like you can go
there for like lunch and not be drinking.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It's delicious and the caso is fantastic. Like if I
took that very.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Seriously because I put text mex on there and I
was like, all my Texas friends are going to give
me so much. Hell if this doesn't taste good, like
I can like claimed text mes and then it not deliver.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know, But like so that brings me to and
I'm not putting down any other artists, but like artists
get approached to slap their name on something and then
they'll just send you some money once a month. Why
was it important? Because we've obviously worked with that crew
down there, the ownership group yea, and they even said,
as you were working on getting the building open, how
involved you were. Why was that important when you could
(14:22):
have just got money anyway? Right?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Well, I really wanted it to feel like me, like
you need to has my name on it. It's gonna
have my stamp on it. I touch and feel and
see every single thing that has my name or my
brand Marianda Lambert brand quote unquote on it, because it's
important to me. Like, you know, four chords. I learned
four chords and that was an extra I don't even
(14:45):
need for I needed three only. So I'm like at
seventeen and I can't believe what those four chords led
me to. And I have worked my ass off for it.
But I'm also like, I really want to protect it,
know because it's important, and I can't be a mentor
or be this, you know, have this long career if
(15:05):
I don't stay in it and stay really aware of
anything that has it needs my stamp on it. It
needs to feel like me. Fans can see through that,
especially country fans, like they want the truth, you know,
and that and that's what I signed up to give them.
And that means across the board, with my charity, with
my brand, I'll wind you know, I just with my
Nation Foundation. I'm really involved with all of it because
(15:27):
I have to be. And sometimes I'm tired, and sometimes
I if I slack, I feel it, and I think
the fans feel it. So try to stay in it.
Try to drinking like a lot of coffee as you should.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's day near album. Yeah, don't sleep. You brought up
my Nation. I want to go that way next because
that's a part of the restaurant that the average person
might miss if they just you know, run in and
they want to see the the disco ball hanging in
the dining room upstairs or whatever. Sorry, the saddle that
is super unique.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We pattern that saddle after the one hanging Billy Bob's text.
There's a ron Stone sidle hanging over the dance floor
and Billy Bob's and I've just loved it since I
was like sixteen, and so we did a bigger version
for Casa Rosa.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Is it? This is totally not a question I was
gonna ask, But as you talk about the stuff hanging there,
is it I've always wondered for an artist, is it
weird to be like, yeah, sure, here's my CMA outfit
that I've actually worn and sweat in when I performed.
Go ahead and put it in a frame.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, it's a little bit weird. And I always tell
him to like fold it, make it look smaller. And
I also cut the tag out. I'm like, they don't
need to, don't I don't even need to know what
size I was that day, Like, that's just gonna get
my head.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
But but there's there's like a hidden gem of of
Casa Rosa and uh it's the Mutt Nation. Yeah. And
so as they were as they were setting that up,
I had I have a rescue pit bull named Cash
that when I was in Vegas, like he's and he
it's almost like he can tell like he was rescued
because he's so like sweet and he just wants you
to hold. Yeah, why was that important to incorporate there?
(16:58):
And then the second part of that is you're so
involved in that every day yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
I mean, I'm I have so many dogs, Well I'm
down to two. But like I'm involved to the point
where I like, overdid it nine press q dogs at once?
Like what am I doing? It's so at the mut
Nation wall at Cus Rosa, I'll speak on that first
sec you kind of sign. It's on the backstairs. You sign,
or you scan the QR code and then for five
(17:23):
hundred bucks, you get your dog painted on the wall
and it's hand painted by my friend Tiny. He's amazing, Tim,
He's great, he's amazing. He painted all the murals in
all of our places and he'll paint your dog and
then you know, and every dollar that you know. I
started a Muttinnation Foundation in two thousand and nine because
I want I was asking my fans to like give
money to something, and I wanted them to believe in
(17:46):
where it was going and like understand what was going.
So me and my mom were like, we just want
to vet all of this process and make sure that
we're not asking the fans to give to something that
they can't really see, touch or feel and understand where
all the money's going. So we don't have a shelter
nation is set up up to give to shelters. We
do so many programs we work with. We do like
disaster relief, where we go in and help the animals
(18:08):
of the situation, like a Harvey for instance. We're boots
on the ground there and we give grants to a
shelter in every state every single year to just lift
them up. And we you know, do campaigns to We
have one called it Takes Balls right Now, which is
like promoting span neuter because that's part of the problem
why we have so many dogs. Too many dogs. People
(18:29):
are breeding. We don't need to. So there's I could
go on and on. I won't, but but my nation
is close to my heart and I wanted to make
sure that the fans could understand where the money was going.
And my mom with a private investigator in my whole life,
and so she like vets it like that, like she
knows about all the shelters that were that were affiliated
with and it's legit. And it's now been since two
(18:51):
thousand and nine and we've raised over ten million dollars
and saved thousands of dogs. So I'm really proud of it.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
That's what I have four at my home. You do
and let me tell you it's I don't have a
back where I'm down in spring Hill. I don't have
a backyard for four dogs, but we make it work.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
It's a I'm down to two because they were all
seniors at once, you know, but it's just the most
joy and like it's the most unconditional love and they
do not care. I'm not Mariana Lamberton them. I'm their
mom with the Greenies, and like that's fine with me.
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Uh that's my backup plan when this radio thing drives
up for me? Is I said to Tate, I'm doing
a dog rescue.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I'm all about it. Let me know when when you
get there.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
We may need funding. You know how much that's ten
million got left. I'm just kidding. We will rap on
the album because being a songwriter and being a storyteller
is great and it's therapeutic for your fans. It's also
therapeutic for you. Out of these fourteen songs, is there
a story that maybe you struggle to tell or was
(19:52):
emotional put to paper and then record that you hope
fans give a little more time.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
To I would you know all my babies, I love
them all, but.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
No babies are ugly, Yeah, exactly, But you have a favorite.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
If there's an emotional The most emotional song on the
record is Run and it's a solo rite, and those
are always scarier because there's nowhere to hide, Like it's
kind of like I can't be like, well, that was
my co writer story because I wrote it by myself,
so you know, and it was a song I needed
to write at the time because I was going through it,
like in the thick of some hard stuff, and so
I guess, you know. But that's that's like the most
(20:27):
important part, because we wouldn't have some of my favorite
songs of all time. We wouldn't have if people didn't
just tell their truth, you know what I mean. So
as scary as it can be, sometimes it's it's so
important to just put it out there because it's if
it's your story, it's somebody else's too. Somebody else is
going through the same thing you are. It makes you
not feel alone.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
You know, the album's coming out. We are what just
under two weeks away from the album coming out. Take
me The last thing I want to ask is take
me to the first time you ever heard your song
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Oh man, I was like nineteen maybe or eighteen, I
think eighteen, and I had a little I had a
little independent record and so I heard on the radio,
Well i'll take the back. I was seventeen. I first
heard myself on the radio, but it was in Texas
music chart. You know. It was my little independent record,
and I wasn't very good writer at all yet, but
I was real proud of it. I was like, I
(21:16):
write songs, you know, and that was cool. But then
like signed with a major label and I had been
on Nashville Star and my real like Kerosene album was made,
and my first single was me and Charlie talking and
it was like, well, this ain't just playing in Dallas.
This is like on a radio radio like nationally, you know.
And so me and my mom were driving, I think
(21:37):
we were leaving Nashville and going towards home, and I
heard it like on a station in Memphis or something,
and we like pulled over and ran around the car
and like with like a fire drill because we were
so excited, like, oh my god, like this is big time,
you know. So it was you don't ever forget that,
And that was one of those stories that I'm glad
that I can be part of artist's life. In fact,
Laney actually called me when her when a Heart Like
(21:59):
a Truck, Number one, No Things a man not to
know her first number one? She called me, I think
it was really late at night. I was like, hell,
She's like, I just want to talk to somebody who
knows exactly what this feels like. And I'm like, it
just means the world to me because you don't forget that.
It's like it lives with you forever. And I still have.
When I hear it on the radio, I get excited.
I'll be like, car next to me, I'm like, that's
me on the radio. I gotta spin.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I've always wanted to if like an artist, and I'd
like to ask that too, is if you are in
the car and you're listening to whatever and your song
comes on, do you turn it up? Are do you?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
It depends on what it is. Some of my old ones,
I'm like, I've heard that, But my new ones, I'm like,
crank it up. I will tell you I was leaving
vag I was leaving UH after my residency in Vegas.
One of the shows one night and going home and
and my song that I wrote with Morgan thought you
should know came on and the drivers like doesn't know
country music, and I was like, turn it up. It
(22:54):
was like eleven thirty nine. I'm like, turn it up.
I wrote this song. It was the first time I
heard it all there, so I'm still excited, like it's exciting,
especially Morgan Wall and cut. That's huge. I'll take it
all day.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
A driver in Vegas like, yeah, sure, you can't tell.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
All the ron stones lued to my eyes and I'm legit,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Miranda, Thanks so much for the time today.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Thank you
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