CMT Blog: Miranda Lambert

I could sit here and be a music snob and pretend I only read high-end music magazines that have long feature stories about a band’s rich, hypnotic sound, subversive melodies and haunting lyrics about the chaos of life.

But the reality is, I also have a soft spot for magazines like this week’s OK! magazine. With 17 pages devoted to the lifestyles of America’s favorite country artists, I already know all about their songs and/or, for the most part, the stories behind them. So it’s a nice, easy read to flip through page after page of photos and facts like:

1. Carrie Underwood has been playing softball for nine years.

2. Julianne Hough had never played softball until this year’s CMA Music Fest.

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On June 6, I had one of the most amazing experiences. It all began a week prior when I received a phone call from CMT saying that I had won tickets to Bomshel’s concert in Turlock, Calif., through CMT Music Pass. I was told on the phone that it was just free tickets, but then I received a phone call later on from Kristy of Bomshel — yes, a personal phone call. I was in shock! Anyway, she told me how I would get my tickets and that she would meet me before the show. I was beyond excited to just have free tickets for me and my two cousins and now I was going to get to meet Kristy and Kelly. When we arrived at the concert we waited for Bomshel’s manager at the gate and met the girls at a radio booth. They are the sweetest ladies! Wow! They welcomed us with open arms. I thought it was going to be a normal meet-and-greet — very brief. To my surprise, we were able to hang out with them for about 15 minutes. As we visited, I was trying to come up with some thoughtful questions to ask them, but the shock and excitement was taking over my brain. Eventually, I asked them if there was any other country artist that they couldn’t believe they had met. They mentioned Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban.

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I’m ashamed to say it’s taken me a few trips to the surgeon’s office to realize that sunscreen should be a girl’s best friend. After about 10 summers with baby oil on my face and a record album covered in foil to make the sun even more damaging, I’ve had three bouts of skin cancer. And I have the scars to prove it. So I am so happy to hear that Miranda Lambert is smart enough to keep SPF 85 on her face. With all those summer shows she does out in the scalding hot sun, that makes a lot of sense. She says she got the advice from porcelain-skinned beauty Nicole Kidman. Maybe Lambert will take the advice one step further and start selling sun block at her merchandise table. I’ve always felt like her music keeps me young, so I’m not about to let the sun age me anymore.

The press can write about you 24/7. Country radio can take you under its big wing. And labels can spend a fortune creating buzz about you. But nothing really says, “This band is on the verge of great big things,” like a little love from Taylor Swift. In Sunday’s (June 14) USA Weekend magazine, Swift picked Gloriana’s “Wild at Heart” video as one of her faves. She said, “This video conveys what music is meant to be: getting a band together and having a blast. There’s no script — just a lot of energy on the screen.” Other picks of other stars? Darius Rucker likes Jamey Johnson’s “In Color,” Dierks Bentley likes Miranda Lambert’s “Kerosene” and Jason Aldean likes Garth Brooks‘ “The Dance.” Amen to that one, Jason.

Troy Gentry wore guyliner! Miranda Lambert played the sax! In a bra!* Lady Antebellum lost power! And on and on. If it was up to me, my Kenny Chesney concert review would’ve been 3,000 words long and would have included every last detail that filled my little notebook. But newspapers are a little too short on space to let me focus on the non-essentials. Here, though, I can blog about them to my heart’s content. Some of the highlights from the seven-hour show:

Kenny Chesney kissed a little girl who looked like she might’ve been suffering from cancer. He then quietly arranged to have her watch the rest of the show from the side of the stage. I think it’s safe to say that was an unscripted, heartfelt move on his part.

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I had a dream last night that I’d died, and when I got to heaven, there were only girl singers. Not one single guy. And they were all so welcoming, like I’d joined a special club and they were really glad to have me. I’m no dream analyst, but I think it may have had something to do with the music I was playing non-stop over the holiday weekend.

Check it out:

“I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore,” Carrie Underwood
“Crazier,” Taylor Swift
“Girls Lie, Too,” Terri Clark
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Like a lot of people, when I heard Miranda Lambert’s first single off her forthcoming album was called “Dead Flowers,” I assumed she was covering the Rolling Stones‘ tune from the early ’70s. An odd choice, I thought, but whatever. I knew she’d put her own spin on it.

But then she sang it on the ACM awards. It is nothing like the old song, which I think is about a heroin addict telling an ex to go ahead and send him dead flowers. And I know Stones fans won’t agree, but I think Lambert’s is better.

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Miranda Lambert will be heading home next weekend for her second annual Paws for the Cause fundraiser in Tyler, Texas, which will be held on May 17. Of course she’ll be bringing her cute pup, Delilah, as well as that other dog, Blake Shelton. (Just kidding, Blake.) Kasey Musgraves and Adam Hood will be playing, too. The charity event at Villa di Felicita will benefit the Humane Society of East Texas. Along with an acoustic concert, she’ll be offering wines from her family’s Red 55 vineyard. Although the event means she won’t be able to reappear at Kenny Chesney’s stadium concert in Dallas on May 15, it’s hard to resist a cute, scampering puppy. Indeed, last year’s event brought in $113,000 to help abused and neglected animals in East Texas.

Earlier this year, Lambert and Shelton helped raise $70,000 to build a new animal shelter in Tishomingo, Okla. “After being blessed with my tour buddy Delilah from the shelter, I became even more convinced that the saying ‘think globally, act locally’ was a great motto for me,” she said.

Touring can be pretty rough. But even rougher when you’ve gone hog hunting right before hitting the road. Miranda Lambert learned that lesson the hard way when she had to take the stage despite a badly infected knee. (She fell on a rock in a creek in pursuit of a hog. Which is pretty much a country song right there.) But she says on her Web site that she made it through the ordeal with Neosporin and Bacardi. No word on whether the rum was used as an oral painkiller or topical antiseptic, though. I’m just glad she didn’t let the injury sideline her for the whole concert season. That wouldn’t be her style. And cementing her tough-girl status, she tells the crowd, “You shoulda seen the other girl.”

Because my job requires it, I am able to rationalize spending a good chunk of my days listening to albums in their entirety, which means I have time to fall in love with the other songs on the album. Not just the ones on the radio. So I will be starting a new blog series called Top 10 Tracks I’m Digging Right Now. Occasionally there will be older tunes. But for the most part, these songs will come from the newish CDs strewn across my desk and the floor of my car. This week’s faves are, in totally random order:

Jason Aldean, “Keep the Girl”
Keith Urban, “My Heart is Open”
Dierks Bentley, “Better Believer”

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