Miranda Lambert named ACM Entertainer Of The Year

                  MIRANDA LAMBERT NAMED ACM ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Most Awarded Artist in ACM History Also Takes Home Video of the Year Trophy for Current Top 10 Single “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” With Elle King

Lambert Teases New Music as “If I Was A Cowboy” Climbs Top 20 at Country Radio Ahead of Headlining C2C Festival Shows in the U.K. and Ireland This Week

Miranda Lambert  Photo Credit: Robert Ashcroft 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – “This one goes out to all the singer-songwriter girls out there that are putting their blood, sweat and tears into their guitar strings,” shared newly-crowned Entertainer of the Year Miranda Lambert as she accepted the night’s top honor at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, via video message from Europe, where she is set to headline the C2C Festival this weekend. “We did it! This is for us.” 

It was only fitting that the most awarded artist in ACM history accepted from the road to close out the night, a nod to her nonstop hustle as recognized by the ACM voting body and qualifying the Texas-native for the coveted Triple Crown Award. In addition to her return to live shows, Lambert has released a seemingly endless string of new music both on her own and as part of varying collaborations, leading Variety to declare, “we could argue [Lambert’s] has been the most important country music career of the 21st century.” 

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From upbeat anthems “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” with Elle King and her own “Tequila Does” dance remix to full-length albums The Marfa Tapes with Jack Ingram & Jon Randall (plus a corresponding film) and Hell of a Holiday with her Pistol Annies trio, the year was already a musical celebration for the three-time GRAMMY winner before even taking into account her recent solo releases: “If I Was A Cowboy” and inclusive Queer Eye theme “Y’all Means All.” 
 
The woman NPR praises as “the most riveting Country star of her generation” also took home the ACM Award for Video of the Year in honor of her raucous ’80s-inspired wedding collaboration with King, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” which is nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category at the upcoming April 3 ceremony. Lambert is also nominated for the Best Country Album GRAMMY Award, celebrating her work on The Marfa Tapes with Jack Ingram & Jon Randall – a project that was named among 2021’s best by American Songwriter, Billboard, LA Times, Rolling Stone, TIME, Vulture and more.
 
“Elle and I are new friends, but it really feels like we are old friends; I felt like that immediately when I met her at one of her shows,” Lambert shares of her co-star in the music video co-directed by Alexa Kinigopoulos and Stephen Kinigopoulos. “Since then, we’ve toured together and sang on stage together, recorded together and bonded about actual life. This song just feels like the natural transition to the after party. To have the music video be recognized with an award win is really special. I love that we’ll always have this together.”
 
These two latest ACM Awards extend Lambert’s longstanding relationship with the Academy of Country Music as the most decorated artist in the organization’s history with a record-extending 37 wins. In addition to numerous trophies for her annual achievements, she is also the recipient of the ACM 50th Anniversary Milestone Award and ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award in honor of her record-setting win count, the ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award (presented to a singer-songwriter who is continuing Haggard’s legacy by following their own path while epitomizing his spirit through genuine performances and great storytelling) and the ACM Song of the Decade Award for “The House That Built Me.”
 
Lambert, who has recently teased new music on socials, is set to join forces with Little Big Town for this spring’s co-headlining The Bandwagon Tour kicking off May 6 in Houston, offering a reincarnation of 2018’s run of the same name which earned rave reviews from Pollstar, CMT, The Tennessean and more.
 
For more information, visit www.MirandaLambert.com and follow on social media @MirandaLambert.
 
About Miranda Lambert
Vanner Records/RCA Nashville superstar Miranda Lambert’s storied career has spanned seven consecutive No. 1 albums, seven No. 1 hit radio singles, more than 70 prestigious awards and countless sales certifications, earning the Texan praise from NPR as “the most riveting country star of her generation.”
 
Following 2019’s critically acclaimed release of her seventh consecutive No. 1 album, Wildcard, Lambert ushered in her next musical era with the recent release of new single “If I Was a Cowboy,” while also adding her voice to Netflix’s new season of Queer Eye with inclusive anthem “Y’all Means All.” She is set to hit the road on The Bandwagon Tour with Little Big Town this spring.  

In addition to Wildcard, the celebrated singer/songwriter’s lauded discography includes The Weight of These Wings (2016), Platinum (2014), Four The Record (2011), Revolution (2009), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007) and Kerosene (2005). In addition, she has released three albums with her trio, the Pistol Annies, as well as 2021’s The Marfa Tapes, a critically acclaimed, raw and intimate recording with collaborators Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.

The most decorated artist in the history of the Academy of Country Music, the reigning Entertainer of the Year has earned 37 ACM Awards (including a record-setting nine consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year Awards), 14 CMA Awards, three GRAMMY Awards, the Nashville Symphony Harmony Award, ACM Gene Weed Milestone Award and ACM Song of the Decade Award, plus was named 2019’s RIAA Artist of the Year. She is the youngest artist ever to serve as the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s Artist in Residence, joining a legendary list of predecessors including Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Douglas and more.

Her clothing and cowboy boot collection, Idyllwind, is a private-label brand sold at all Boot Barn stores nationwide. For more information, visit www.idyllwind.com.

Miranda Lambert’s Musical Journey Palomino, Arrives April 29th

 MIRANDA LAMBERT’S MUSICAL JOURNEY PALOMINO, ARRIVES APRIL 29^TH

 New Song “Strange” Available Now

For superstar Miranda Lambert, each of her seven consecutive US No. 1 albums has presented a chance to explore a new theme while pushing herself across varying sonic landscapes. With the progressive 15-song album, Palomino, due Friday, April 29^th, Lambert has crafted a record that explores the world and the people in it, seeking beauty and adventure all around. 

A line from the first song written for the album perhaps sums up the project as a whole best: “there’s always been a stranger in my soul / who loves a good goodbye and a good hello,” she sings in “Tourist.” On Palomino, her inner stranger travels lyrically from Fort Worth to the Mojave Desert; Battambang, Cambodia to Maine; the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield to the Rocky Mountains and beyond. In each destination and with every character met along the way, Lambert’s freewheeling trek is a work of unbridled freedom and self-discovery without painful introspection.  

#MirandaLambert #Strange #Palomino

Miranda Lambert – Strange (136K views) published Mar 10, 2022

“The making of this record has been one of the most fun and creative experiences of my career,” reflects the woman who holds the title of most-awarded artist in ACM history. “Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, and I went out to my farm in Tennessee in 2020 and started writing songs. We figured while we have time let’s get out to the country and see what happens. The first one we wrote was ‘Tourist’ and that set us on a path to create something with a bit of a theme. Since we couldn’t travel at the time, we decided to go 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.”

Her first solo album since 2019’s GRAMMY-winning Wildcard (despite a busy interim that included releasing the GRAMMY-nominated collaborative project The Marfa Tapes as well as Pistol Annies celebration Hell of a Holiday), Palomino opens with a slow build and a low-slung vibe on “Actin’ Up,” with the opening track serving as the first in a series of postcards from the road, images and moments, places seen and swallowed whole, characters you won’t forget... It’s all here in a brew of styles, sounds and wordplay that are absolutely Miranda.

Tapping longtime songwriting collaborators Luke Dick (Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves) and Jon Randall (Emmylou Harris, Dierks Bentley) to co-produce with her, Lambert once again pushes the envelope of what country music can contain. Whether the bump-and-grind thump of the one who can’t be extinguished on “I’ll Be Loving You,” the skunk weed strut of Marfa sessions’ revisited “Geraldene,” the gorgeously hushed vintage bar-room heartbreak of “That’s What Makes the Jukebox Play,” or the sunny life code that informs the ever-curious songwriter on “Tourist,” Lambert has fashioned a true song cycle, a journey of one woman questing for happiness and the folks she meets along the way.

There’s the go-lightly acousticness that suggests ‘80s Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on “Pursuit of Happiness,” the breezy Beyoncé-invoking Wild West truth of “If I Was A Cowboy” featuring the legendary Al Perkins on steel and the funky Deee-Lite meets Creedence Clearwater Revival trip down the Cumberland River on “Music City Queen” with the B-52s.

“Unthinkable things coming together,” marvels the woman who has won the Academy of Country Music’s Female Artist of the Year a record-setting nine consecutive times and the Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year seven times. “When Natalie, who is such a bad ass singer and the kind of person who raises the cool in every room, started singing ‘Rollin’ on the river...,’ we were all like, ‘What if the B-52s sing on this?’ They loved the song. They Zoomed in with Luke and Jon and sang their part, which gives me so much joy. I missed their Zoom, ‘cause I was on a plane; but to ZOOM the B-52s into your record? Yes, please.” 

With a core band of drummer Fred Eltringham (The Black Crowes), bass/keyboardist Ian Fitchuk (Sam Hunt, Joy Oladokun, Birdy) and guitarist Rob McNelley (Joe Bonamassa, Beth Hart, Buddy Guy) joining, they worked close to the bone, exploring what the songs could be while retaining Lambert’s serious country flavours.

 

“I love everything about Marfa: some friends around a campfire, no fixes, no protocols, no filters. It was raw and real, and I wanted to take some of that with me,” remarks Lambert. “‘In His Arms,’ ‘Waxahachie’ and ‘Geraldene’ got to go on this journey with us, cutting them with a full band – and usually the public doesn’t get to hear that part, which I’m really excited about.”

 

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The references tucked throughout the album – Little Feat’s “Willin’,” Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s “Mandolin Rain,” Emmylou Harris’ “Roses in the Snow” – create a treasure hunt for music fans of all ages. For Lambert, raised on a healthy diet of Texas icons, classic and modern country, rock & roll and pop radio as a girl, it’s how influences come together and pollinate each other that make Palomino so interesting and so fun.

 

When Dick suggested Mick Jagger’s “Wandering Spirit,” which he felt embodied the project’s manifest destiny, she knew it was a matter of making the song her own. Enlisting Sarah Buxton and The McCrary Sisters, known for their work with Bob Dylan, it became a feverish downhome gospel for ramblers of all stripes and stands tall as the only outside cut on the project.

 

Only Lambert & Co. could come up with the characters in the outrunning heartbreak boogie of movin’ on and makin’ friends found in “Scenes,” from a trucker named Dwayne to an old hippie named “Katie with a K.” Equally frisky are the big money earners on the quirky, barbwire plucky “Country Money” – whether the Carter Sisters and their good corn liquor, Connie Johnson and her cattle or Carol Jean the chicken egg queen, these ladies are making bank.

 

It’s that desire to taste it all, to explore the possibilities while sidestepping the statements and judgements that colors Palomino. And it’s not all happy-go-lucky stuff, even if it feels that way. Yearning and driving through the night on the sweeping “Waxahachie,” the tumbling “Strange” offers a more philosophical approach to being out of sorts. By “Carousel,” the almost lullaby closer, we meet Elaina, a former circus highwire walker/trapeze artist living in Nacogdoches as a mother and wife. With the exhaled truth of how she came to leave the circus – “She fell so hard because he always let her fly / Till he left her heart suspended in a cotton candy sky...” – with a broken heart she couldn’t heal, it speaks volumes about the multitude of lives most people contain.

 

For Lambert – and lovers of her wild-eyed country – Palomino is as much about the journey as the destination and the characters along the way.

 

Track Listing

1.       Actin' Up (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Jon Randall)

2.       Scenes (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

3.       In His Arms (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)

4.       Geraldene (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)

5.       Tourist (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

6.       Music City Queen feat. The B-52’s (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

7.       Strange (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

8.       Wandering Spirit (Mick Jagger, James Rippeto)

9.       I'll Be Lovin’ You (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Jon Randall)

10.   That's What Makes the Jukebox Play (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

11.   Country Money (Miranda Lambert, Aaron Raitiere, Mikey Reaves)

12.   If I Was a Cowboy (Miranda Lambert, Jesse Frasure)

13.   Waxahachie (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)

14.   Pursuit of Happiness (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)

15.   Carousel (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)