CMT Blog: Miranda Lambert

I've loved Miranda Lambert's music since day one so this kind of shocked me: She told The Tennessean newspaper that her latest album is the one she would hand out to her heroes. She said, "The fact that Patty Loveless knows my music at all, that made me really pumped. This is the first time I've made a record that I want my heroes to hear. This one, I'd hand it to my heroes with no hesitation." I hope that doesn't mean she's not proud of her first two albums. Like if she were to hand those to her heroes, would she seriously hesitate? I mean, sure, she's come a long way since "Me and Charlie Talking" but those efforts produced deeper cuts like "Bring Me Down," "New Strings" and "More Like Her." I can't speak for all Lambert's heroes, but I have a feeling they'd dig everything she's done since her debut in 2004. She should be proud of it all.

Let me preface this entry by saying that I love, love, love country concerts. I do wish, however, that an artist would ask me for advice just once on making the perfect set list. I know these artists have to do their big hits -- the ones everybody is paying big bucks to hear. And I know they need to promote their newest album with songs they have on the radio now, or ones they might want on the radio later. And then there are the covers that give everybody a little something unorthodox to remember them by: "Oh my God! You should have heard Keith Urban on 'Material Girl.' He was better than Madonna!"

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In this special section on Maxim.com, they list who they consider to be the 18 hottest women of country music. And it's pretty much the usual suspects, like Julianne Hough, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Kellie Pickler, Jennifer Nettles, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Gretchen Wilson and the girls from Little Big Town. But it's the little remarks and photo captions that are worth checking out. From the introduction line ("We know why the devil really went down to Georgia. He was looking for these country divas.") to the comments about sexy newcomer Jessie James ("the smokingest thing to happen to country music since Willie Nelson rolled his first joint") and about Danielle Peck ("grabbed our attention with her pantsless video for "Bad for Me." Which was, ironically, very, very good for us."). This story may not be for the girls who hate men's magazine, but guys who dig country will love this photo gallery.

Photo Credit: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

I was a red carpet virgin. I only saw what everyone else saw on television. But last night (Nov. 10), I was able to be part (a quiet, out-of-the-way part) of the BMI Country Awards. And since BMI represents something like 400,000 songwriters, composers and publishers, that was an invitation I was not about to turn down.

So as the country stars were walking up the carpet, being interviewed by what seemed like an endless stream of television cameras, I just watched them in all their charming glory. And I really mean that. There wasn't a diva in the bunch.

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When I interviewed Miranda Lambert for an upcoming feature about her new album, Revolution, our conversation ventured to her wide-ranging taste in music. "I love stuff that's not necessarily mainstream," she said. "I love mainstream stuff, too. I love it all, but I don't really know what draws me to people like Julie Miller and John Prine or Emmylou Harris or Gillian Welch. I don't know really what it is that makes me so infatuated and love them. I think it's just because it's real music. It's always real. They sing about real things. I just love the music. I just love finding new music."

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You know that game "Would You Rather"? Imagine being able to play that with country stars. That's what this feature from CMT Mobile is kind of like. It's called CMT Minute. But it's not impossible-to-answer questions like, "Would you rather eat Rocky Mountain oysters or spend the day with Kayne West?" This is just 60 seconds of easy questions for your favorite country singers. Luke Bryan ends up choosing "Dixieland Delight" over "Mountain Music," fishing over hunting and sweet tea over regular tea, but he never really answers the toughie: cornbread or biscuits? Then Carrie Underwood chooses Garth Brooks over George Strait for a duet. And shoes over clothes and heels over flats and football over hockey. Miranda Lambert goes with hunting over shopping, Law & Order: SVU over Law & Order: Criminal Intent, gun over bow, cowboy boots over heels and four-wheelin' over a day at the spa. When it comes to the Brooks vs. Strait question, though, she says she can't answer.

Thank you, Billboard, for releasing a little bit more of Carrie Underwood's upcoming album, Play On, every time I turn around. This time, it's "Undo It." Before I even listened I knew I'd like it, because who hasn't had those moments in life when you want to start something over, clean the slate and all that? I was surprised, though, when I heard the intro because it sounds more like a Miranda Lambert song with an acoustic guitar and some sassy, bouncy fiddle. But by the time the chorus rolls around, and Underwood is belting that, "You stole my happy, you made me cry/You took the lonely and took me for a ride/And I wanna uh-uh-uh-uh-uh undo it," the music's big enough to keep up with her voice.

If you listen to music for a living, chances are you will eventually get sick of the music you are listening to over and over. Not me, though. If I'm reviewing an album, a country one anyway, I will dig most of the tracks long after they're considered "new." So this week, my list is made up of the newish tunes I still love and ones I will likely still love years from now.

"Heart Like Mine," Miranda Lambert
"Someone Else Calling You Baby," Luke Bryan
"If You're Tryin' You Ain't," Toby Keith
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You know how when you're at a concert and an artist tells you they are going to play some new stuff and everyone sits down and/or heads for the beer tent? Well, that rule apparently didn't apply to Miranda Lambert as she headlined the Chicago Country Music Festival on Saturday night (Oct. 3). Despite the 50-degree, rain-soaked miserable conditions in Grant Park, she kept the crowd in awe for a good 90 minutes.

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A total of nine new music videos flooded the CMT New Music Video Evaluation Team this week, as CMT launches its New Music Weekend. Fresh work comes from Sugarland, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Michelle Branch, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Reba, and Billy Currington. So, out of that whole bunch, which one do you watch first? We'll never tell. In no particular order:

Artist: Carrie Underwood
Video: "Cowboy Casanova'"
Director: Theresa Wingert

Carrie Underwood's first single from her upcoming album, Play On, is a lush and brash song and video. The latter finds Carrie wearing a series of elaborate outfits and presiding over a flock of dancing girls in what some viewers see as a dancehall and others interpret as a fancy bordello.

Panelists comments: "Very impressive." "I love those gorgeous outfits." "A very good-looking video."

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