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Country singer Miranda Lambert cultivates relationships on 'Revolution'

Thursday, October 15, 2009
By MARIO TARRADELL

If the celebrity tabloids peeked into Miranda Lambert's lyrics – especially the three songs she wrote with boyfriend Blake Shelton on her new CD, Revolution – there would be a bunch of stories about trouble in the couple's country paradise.

Two tunes in particular, "Sin for a Sin" and "Me and Your Cigarettes," would attract supermarket-counter attention. The former track is about revenge, while the latter is about an addictive, deadly affair.

Lambert, calling from Nashville, praises Shelton, a country traditionalist with a penchant for feel-good numbers and tearjerkers, for taking that creative leap during "Sin for a Sin."

"He came out of his comfort zone for that song," she says. "We are way different creatively and musically. He put himself in my world for that song, because it's definitely a song that I would write."

When you make music with Lindale's Miranda Lambert, you're destined to take a walk on the dark side. Even at 25, this Texan has the creative heart of a world-weary traveler. She is the woman who wrote "Kerosene," about burning the abode of a cheating lover, and the powerful "Gunpowder & Lead," a story about domestic abuse, prison and a trusty shotgun.

But with Revolution, her third CD for Columbia Nashville, Lambert further explored her artistic and emotional nuances. "The House That Built Me," the first song by mainstream Nashville songwriters she's ever recorded, is a bittersweet ballad about returning to a childhood homestead for soulful nourishment.

"That song just hit me like a brick wall," she says. "It's one of the most special songs ever written, and I'm glad I found it first. My reaction to the song was so powerful. I was crying."

Revolution finds Lambert more relaxed. After crafting the material on 2005's Kerosene and 2007's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend almost single-handedly, she's now confident enough to seek outside collaborations. "Love Song," the third cut penned with Shelton, also features Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley from Lady Antebellum as contributing songwriters.

"It's really important to do that. On the first two records, I kind of did everything. I think I made more relationships writing with people. I like to write with people I know and that I have a relationship with," she says. "I feel more comfortable with them. By building these relationships, it has helped me break out creatively. It's bad to just stay where you are."

Lambert, largely by force of personality, has succeeded in a male-dominated country music world that doesn't normally take kindly to women with attitude. In 2007, she won the Academy of Country Music's top new female vocalist trophy. In 2008, she enjoyed her first Top 10 hit, "Gunpowder & Lead." That same year she took home the ACM album-of-the-year prize for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

The spunky "White Liar," the current single from Revolution, is a radio hit. "Radio is on board with me now," she says. "I feel like the relationship has turned around for me and radio."

Most importantly, Lambert no longer feels like an outsider.

"It just took awhile because I was different," she says. "It took awhile for them to let me in. But I'm not going away. And the fans aren't going away."Plan your life

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