E537 Miranda Lambert

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I have some new tour dates to tell you about. This week I'll be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Moline, Illinois, Colorado Springs, Casper, Wyoming, Billings, Montana, Missoula, Montana, Bloomington, Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, Champaign, Grand Rapids, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Beaumont, Texas.
All tickets

through theovon.com slash T-O-U-R, and thank you for your support. Today's guest is a Grammy award-winning country musician.
She has a new album called Postcards from Texas, and you know her songs, The House That Built Me, Drunk, January Heart, The List Goes On, Red Wagon.

I'm really grateful today to get to spend time with one of the queens of the country music industry, Miss Miranda Lambert. Shine that light on me.
I'll sit and tell you my stories.

Shine on me.

And I will find a song I've been singing just before.

Nice to see you today, Miranda Lambert. Hello.
It's an honor. Oh, I appreciate it.
He's golfing. Is he? Priorities, yeah.
Yeah. Well, he's just dang handsome too.
That's a thing. I see that guy and I'm like, God, I got to get some conditioner or whatever.
He is. He's a pretty one.
God, he is. He's like a – and he used to be a cop, right? Yep.
He's a retired NYPD officer. And did you – you guys ever play cops and robbers or anything like that? No, but last year or two years ago for Halloween, I wore his uniform and I made him be a donut.
And it was awesome because he's super fit and doesn't even eat donuts. And I was like, I'm going to be a cop and you're going to be a donut.
And he was like, that's just cliche. That's stupid.
I was like, no, it's awesome. It was my favorite.
That's a great idea. He was pouting the whole time.
He was like, I don't want to be a donut. Dude, everybody wants to be a donut, bro.
I couldn't even imagine not wanting to be a donut. I think everybody's always just wanted to sit in a box with 11 of their buddies You know Well it's funny because That whole like cliche or whatever And I was worried I wouldn't fit in this uniform But I did I was like I can't fit in this uniform we have bigger issues It's going to be a problem It was fun My whole family is first responders And so is his family So we had that common right away.
Oh, sweet. Yep.
Yeah, did you guys ever, has he ever like tased you or anything like that? Or is that a crazy thing? No, no. And he has handcuffs.
And I'm like, that would be the one time that the key was gone. Like, we're not ever doing that.
Never. It's not going to happen.
Yeah, we got tased one time. Oh, if you're ever in Shreveport or whatever, and you're, I guess, have some free time or whatever, they will, they'll tase you there.
The officer's there. For fun? Yeah, for, yeah, for, there's not a lot to do there, I guess.
But yeah, they'll do it. I grew up like an hour from Shreveport.
Oh, you did? Yeah, I used to play over there in little bars and casinos coming up. I actually had my 21st birthday in Shreveport.
No. That's pretty red.
Where did you guys go? To a casino? Yeah, we were at Sam's Town, I think. My grandma was a VIP there because she spends a lot of money on the slots.
So she got the limo and all that, and I went with my grandma and her friends for my 21st birthday. And her friends? Her friends.
They're wild though. Yeah.
They were wild. Oh yeah.
A lot of these seniors now, you can't, well you see them in the pools and everything and they have those weights and they're just doing it all. Every time I see seniors, they're just getting crazier and crazier.
Do they have a senior citizen dating website, I wonder? I don't know. But my grandma's, my granddad would just give her like allowance, like stay out of my hair money.
And so she would just go blow it at the casino. It was the best.
Was she one of those grandmas that at the end of the year, they buy all the Christmas gifts? Oh, yeah. And they all say Sam's Town or whatever on the back? Yeah, and she would always buy and then wrap them and forget that she did it.
You know what I mean? And she would be like, we'd open the presents. She'd be like, I don't know when I bought that or what it is.
Oh, yeah, dude. Yeah, they used to taser us over there, man.
That's real weird. Yeah, it was kind of crazy.
But I think you can get a taser now. You can even get one on Timu that also beats eggs and stuff.
They just have everything now, you know? I don't think I want to be tased. I'll say this.
it wasn't it was way easier than i thought well i'm glad you took one for the team i'm glad that's over with settled so your 21st birthday you guys went over there was that like the biggest city close to you guys um we're right between dallas and treeport so like i-20 my little hometown lyndale texas is like the halfway point where you like stop for gas and Burger King. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah.
So I was there a lot. And Dallas was our like city.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
What was your first job over there? I worked at Bell's. Oh, my first singing gig? No, your first like human job, like a job.
My first big girl job. Well, I worked at this little department store called bells for like the christmas season they hired me to wrap presents which i'm terrible at so then they were like these presents are terrible so they put me in the back room to like sort things and i only lasted two weeks i was like i just started singing and playing i was 17 but i needed like i like, I was not making any money.
I was like starving musician.

And so I would try for that, like, you know, that like holiday season, extra money and realized quickly, like, I've got to make the music business work because this is not for me.

Because that's not it.

No, it was just not.

I wasn't good at anything else.

So I was like, yeah, if they put you in the back to sort, that's not.

Yeah, I know.

I couldn't even use.

Well, because I someone lady asked me, like, does this look good on me? And I told her my truth. I was like yeah if they put you in the back to a sort that's not even i know i couldn't even use well because i some old lady asked me like does this look good on me and i told her my truth i was like not really they're like that's not how it works you kind of have to lie i'm like oh um yeah i'm trying to think if i well i used to work at a pizza parlor for a while and we got late there were uh cutbacks there or.
And I don't know how there could be cutbacks.

It's like there was four of us working there, but I guess they had like cutbacks or whatever.

So a couple of us got laid off.

But I wonder if I ever worked at a department store.

I couldn't work around pizza.

I just, I love it too much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We had the pizza in.

In your town?

Yep.

And had the salad bar and had little corn dogs on it.

And I was really happy about that.

They put corn dogs on the salad bar?

I love a salad bar.

That's unprecedented.

Oh, I love a salad bar.

Pizza Hut used to have a great one.

Do you remember?

Pizza Hut.

It was like Pizza Hut, but like small town brand pizza inn.

Oh, yeah, pizza inn. Same thing.

Did they throw the pizza in the air or not?

No.

No?

Nobody knows how to do that.

Oh, yeah.

Now I know.

I've actually seen it in real time now because my husband is from new york city yeah so i've had like legit pizza now not pizza in oh we had a place i'm trying to think of what it was called and but they had a big window there and some dude i think he was a magician but they gave him like daytime work throwing those pizzas in the air because i think it just fit in people's heads like oh that's magic and so that's hard oh he was I think he really got the hang of it and it was awesome people would come from miles around to watch him you know you'd see kids just out there just licking lollipops just staring at him looking at this doe wizard small small town entertainment is is pretty simple it's easy to it's easy to uh come up with oh yeah when the fair came to town that was always exciting We could go to the fair a day before and for 50 cents you could you were kind of a guinea pig they didn't tell you that but it was like come on over and uh you can do a ride for 50 cents so we lived right down the street from the fairgrounds so we'd walk down there dude and you would just get rattled electrocuted yeah i don't i don't trust small-town fair rides. I just don't.
And I think that's probably a wise choice for you. Yeah.
You seem like a thrill chaser because you got tased and you ride the 50-cent ride. You're just going for it.
I've been in some bad relationships. Yeah, maybe I'm a thrill chaser.
I think, yeah, if you stack all those things up. How does a guy this is news so how does because your husband was just like a regular police officer right how does a regular police officer meet a um a celebrity comfortably do you is that a weird thing to ask kind of oh i mean honestly like we're kind of from the same fabric so it was the the weirdest part of it all is the the language barrier at first honestly because he's new york accent and you hear mine so it was like any of my southern phrases any of the like redneck stuff i say he's like well i don't understand what you're saying so but we just met we met by chance literally on the street and like and six years later it worked out but was was there moments where he was like you know this is like because i feel like if i'm a regular guy say if i met you know julia roberts or um trying to think of somebody else queen elizabeth or something i'm trying to date him i would i wonder if there'll be moments in my head where I'm like, how do I do this?

Like, you know, do I put on a special cologne?

Like, how do I, just because there's some-

Well, Brandon does wear the polo,

like the old school one.

Oh, he does?

The red bottle, oh yeah.

That green bottle with the little gold cap?

The red one.

I don't know if I've seen that one.

That might be the sport.

Yeah.

Maybe it is.

Remember when sport came out?

Yeah.

Oh, every-

Did you ever wear cool water? No, I didn't didn't, but I did. No, some, uh, some of the fancier kids kind of did guys that had like game with women wore it.
That's why I was like, did you, are you lying? Did you wear the water? Say it. I didn't have game of women.
I was like, I was always the guy who like would, like would help my buddy open all the Valentine's like on Valentines in school, they would have the key club or whatever would come in. And if somebody bought you a Valentine, they'd give them all out in the room at the same time.
So my buddy would get 11 of them and I wouldn't get any. But he'd let me hold a couple of them on my desk or whatever.
Make you feel good? Yeah. And it's like, hey, hold.
Isn't it like the one where you give everybody in the class one so everybody feels love oh when we were kids but when it got into junior high it got like okay somebody had to go real yeah and you would get him and he would just have a stack of them he looked like the damn bachelor you're gonna get so many valentines now it's gonna be weird because you talked about it good point huh yeah valentines were nice my mom wouldn't get us like something that she would like leave by our like bed or something in the morning like uh that was pretty sweet though um but yeah was there ever a moment where he was just like where it just seemed like nerd like he's like i'm a regular guy and you're a you're a regular person but then there's always like a i think there's a fear in like a regular guy's head of like how you would behave around a celebrity i guess i think um does it make any sense yeah and it definitely is an adjustment to like just jump into country music world and move to nashville i mean he like retired you know he was eight years on the department and he like sort of made the choice we made the choice together of like we got to be together you know and you had to trade your gun in for a harmonica or whatever it a big deal i think um well thank god he didn't because i don't know if he's he loves music he's not necessarily musical he did write a song on my new record he's a co-writer on a song on my new record yeah i had him writing during uh 2020 we were all doing anything during 2020 yeah oh if cops are writing songs yeah cops are writing songs. Yeah.
I was like, let's write songs. And so we did.
And he was pretty good. And I guess because, I mean, growing up in New York City and like being a cop on the street in Times Square, like you have a lot of life lived, you know.
And so this record, he has a co-write on my song called Damn It Randy. And he had some of the best lines in the song.
Really? Yeah. Oh, wait, I've heard that one, like in a hurricane.

That was his line.

Nuh-uh.

Flying a cotton hurricane.

I was like, dang it.

That is a good line.

Yeah, it is a good line.

But yeah, you know, I think that like all the celebrity part out of it,

I don't care about that stuff, you know?

So it just made it, we're just real and regular.

And like I said, both being from first responder families,

like we kind of grew up the same.

You were some glue.

Thank you. So it just made it, we're just real and regular.
And like I said, both being from first responder families, we kind of grew up the same. There was some glue there.
Just different places, yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do.
I'm just trying to inspire regular men out there to think that they could handle it if they met a celebrity person in that world, that everything could be cool. They can.
And you know what? It's like I'm such aler of like, don't surround yourself with yes people. And so having a husband that's just a regular guy, like just being a cop in New York city and like he comes, he comes into my world, but he tells me the truth.
He like calls me on my shit. He tells me the truth.
He doesn't sugarcoat. He sees everything for what it is.
And I really appreciate that. Like there's the fact that he's not in my industry at all and just really kind of, it's a straight shooter.
It's like, it's such a blessing to have in my life. And so I'm glad that I married somebody that just like is, is that way.
That is just a regular blue collar guy that sort of comes in and enhances my world and speaks a lot of truth into my life. So y'all go, All y'all regular do is go.
Go get it. We need you.
Yeah, we need you. That's a great call.
He also married a country singer and a horse girl. And so, I mean, he signed up for a lot.
Yeah. Because horse girls are like, we're a different breed.
Oh, yeah, dude. I just met.
I went to a therapy place for like a week, and they had horses out there. And one of the therapists worked with the horses.
She was like the horse therapist lady or whatever. It's amazing.
Yeah, and so she had him out there hugging this big old horse. I don't know what his name was.
I've done that too, the equine therapy. It's amazing.
I thought it was crazy, but it's really neat. It teaches you so much.
Where they're like, put your hand where you feel most drawn to the horse and immediately put my hand on its heart. I didn't even know where a horse heart was.
Now that I think about it, I was like, I don't know where it is in that huge giant chest. It's pretty cool.
Oh, I had to take the horse. I was trying to take his pulse, and I had to do it with both of my hands my hands like that like yeah horses are crazy they just got like 60 inches of neck on them um but yeah

it was kind of wild because at first she's like okay approach the horse and let it know you're

okay so that i'm like four feet from this horse i think his name was knuckles or like mitten or

something and um and i'm like hey horse i'm just letting you know i'm here like it was almost like

meeting an alien because i just never even been around a horse like in that much like proximity like just being a horse in a pen and but by the end i got to take the horse for a walk and stuff and i felt like it was cool because at first i was super nervous and as i went along it kind of like yeah i kind of like my idol came You know? And that, they're so therapeutic, just being around them in general. But like, they're just majestic creatures.
And I heard, I think they can hear your heartbeat from like five miles away or something. Oh my God, perverts.
Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's crazy, dude. I mean, that's eavesdropping.
I know. But they could sense everything.
It's like, they you the truth about you before you even know your own truth. You're like, ah.
I didn't grow up around horses. I didn't start until I was 30.
And I just wanted to do something that scared me a little. And I always wanted to be with that cowgirl.
I used to play all the rodeos back in the day and sing the national anthem and small town rodeos. I love rodeos.
When I was first getting started. And all those flag girls and the barrel racers with all the glitter and fringe i wanted to be that so bad and i chose country music and so i was like at 30 i was like i'm gonna be a cowgirl damn it i'm gonna do this and so i started riding for the first time at 30 and now i'm really super into it i love it i but i was i mean i'm still'm green.
I don't know what I'm doing, but I just love like having a hobby completely outside of what I do. That's challenging and physically challenging.
And also it's like, not up to you. It's up to them, you know? Oh yeah, dude.
It is like, that's the dang Lord's Uber, dude. Being on a horseback.
The Lord's Uber. Bro, you get on a horse, it is not, it's like kind of up to you because they give you these little strings you're like these strings are not going to do anything against this horse you know like i just saw that pull up on the screen my um my horse cool i started mounted shooting oh his name's cool his name's cool and i started mounted shooting uh last december and what does that mean mounted shooting so like shooting a revolver with black powder off the back of the horse at a balloon.
It's super fun. It's spectator safe and the horses wear earplugs.
Just FYI. The horses do? They do.
They wear earplugs and the gun has black powder in it. And so you do these patterns and you go like 100 miles an hour.
I don't yet. I'm trying to get there.
And you shoot at balloons. My friend, Kenda Lonsane, she's like the world champion.
And she. Kenda Lonsane.
Bring her up. She's a badass.
Like she has taken me under her wing and taught me so much about it. I've never even heard of this.
So it's called mounted shooting. So you started.
There she is. Let's see that beauty.
That's her. She's a beaut.
Hey. I'll let her shoot me.
That's for sure. She probably would.
Really? She'd probably taste you if you wanted her to. Look, she can shoot me in the belt buckle and see if my pants drop.
You know what I'm saying, baby? That's where I'm at with her. She's a buckle shiner.
But she's really great at it. So wait, explain it to me.
I've never even heard of this. It's so fun.
So you have two revolvers, and you have five shots in each. And you're on the horse.
It's a gun belt. You're on the horse, and it's a timed event.
So come out of the gate, and she does it in 7.5 seconds, which I'm still learning to ride good enough. So I'm a lot slower.
Oh, she's used to a quick shot. I'm in again.
Yeah, see? So you're shooting at a pattern of balloons, and you're timed on the event. And you do five shots and a gun change.
so while you're riding 100 miles an hour you're having to shoot aim switch your gun go around a barrel go around a pattern like it's very challenging super fun though it's like the most adrenaline rush it sounds like adhd meets yellowstone yeah it is but it sounds beautiful wow it is called mounted shooting yeah that's fascinating so do you get to try that? So you have your own horse. That was nice to get, wasn't that? Yeah, I bought a horse.
I was one of those, like, I did it once and loved it so much. I was like, I'm going to winter in Arizona.
I'm buying the horse. I'm buying the guns.
Like, I fully got into it. But I just, you know, I feel like at 30, I started riding.
And then I turned 40 in November, last November. And I was like, all right, now's a new season to keep pushing myself and try something that's a little scary but new and outside of my wheelhouse.
Well, you look beautiful for 40. Well, thank you.
Yeah. I don't mean that in a flirtation.
I just mean that in a complimentary way. I'll send you a valentine.
Okay, please do. Yeah.
Actually, your husband will get them all. I'll sit there and hold some for them.
He will. Yeah.
He hold some. Yeah.
Like hold these for me. You're going to get so many.
Watch and see. It's going to be great.
We'll see. All my friends have a crush on you, by the way.
Really? Yes. All my Nashville, my gal pals.
I'd love to meet any nice gal. Okay.
Well, I know some. I've been trying to be like, we have more like, like kind of like brave about just like dating and stuff you know because i just get like

i start to get like turning a little bit of a home body sometimes a home so cozy you know it is cozy yeah but they say it's cozy you're with somebody but then you're like who is that person though because that's the right person or you'd rather be by yourself oh yeah dude i don't want somebody just freaking bugging me and bothering me and wanting pancakes or whatever can you make pancakes No, I can't.

Well, you should learn because they're going to want pancakes.

They are.

Hang on.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah. me and bother me and wanting pancakes or whatever.
Can you make pancakes? No, I can't.

Well, you should learn because they're going to want pancakes.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let me practice a little.

The little cute ones like my mom used to do like the Mickey Mouse one where she would

like pour the batter in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

Oh, that's beautiful.

And it was just epic, right?

I don't know.

Oh, our mom had like one of those things and it would sit on the table and it had a little dial on it and it would heat the skillet like that and you plugged it in right yeah it's like a um what do you call those things like a little aren't like a little skillet yeah it's kind of like a skillet yeah but you don't have to put it on the oven the oven's built into it and she uh one time she did it though on like her wood table, and it roasted a little hole in it.

We all got in trouble for it.

We didn't do shit. How dare y'all want pancakes and make me burn my table?

How dare you want pancakes in my house?

Yeah.

I was like, well, dear God.

Well, that's why you went to the horse therapy.

Yeah, and it really is full circle.

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That's BootBarn.com, code Theo. You got to tour with, and you have a new album out.
I know that, and we're going to talk about it. What's one of your favorite songs off of your new album that you like performing? Because as a comedian, there's jokes you like telling and then there's some jokes you're performing and it feels even more vibrant.
Is there a song off of it that you really like performing? I mean, I just started doing some of them because we did a little thing at my bar, Cesaroso, which I think is the first time I met you. Yeah, it's the first time I met you there.
Yeah, at the opening. It was the opening.
Yeah. Yeah, we did the whole record, which was like, it's always fun to do.
I've only done that one other time with my record, Revolution, a long time ago. So it was fun to actually learn every song.
I didn't really know them that well. I had lyrics up there.
I had a little notebook, like old school. I was like, it's my first time to play these, you know what I mean? But I think, I don't know.
There's one on there called Armadillo. It's the first song on the record.
And my friend Aaron Ray-Tierre, I don't know if you know him. He's a Nashville songwriter.
And y'all should be friends because he's funny as hell and the funnest. Aaron Ray-Tier Ray tear yeah and he sent me this song and it's just funny and quirky and um so I don't know that one's been fun to do live I've only done a couple times but it's fun there he is right there he's a Kentucky boy Aaron Ray tear that's a cool name.
You got to tour with Toby Keith

before. I did.

Yeah. What was he like? What's Toby

Keith like? That was one of my earliest

tours. I was

lucky enough. I went on so many

well there weren't hardly any women touring

back then. Really?

In country there wasn't that many

touring

that much. I mean in the early days you got to play like 100 200 shows a year you know um so i went out with all men for a long time i learned so much from all of them like keith urban was my first one 2005 and then because i just played honky tonks until then and then um dorks bentley and george toby i think was like my fourth big major country tour.
Yeah. And I learned a lot.
I mean, oh, gosh, old school. Look at that hair.
That is like Mendel, Texas hair. Oh, my gosh.
Wow. Yeah, little old school.
Tease it to Jesus. That's what we say.
Oh, the Lord does my hair while I sleep. Exactly.
So, yeah. Wow's cool what was toby like like what was he like i just never got to meet him i've gotten to meet some different artists that i'm a big fan of um but what was he like as a person he was really he was like he was himself you know what i mean like he was his like authentically himself kind of did everything

his own way an outlaw in his own way prolific songwriter and you know he was he was kind of a tough love at first out on the road um but I guess I needed that because I was a baby and didn't know you know what was going on yet I was learning all the ropes of everything and And it was, it was, I learned so much from every tour I was on.

And I would say Toby was just like, like his fans taught me a lot too, because they were really about Toby only. Like you had to work to get them to care, you know, because they were like, we're here to see Toby.
And he's, his like outlaw kind of, um, I am who I am mentality, they kind of adopted that. And I felt like it made me work for it in a good way.
I had to really figure out my set list and figure out, I'm just some little gal. They're not here to see me.
And if they're here early, I really need to, I'm here to gain fans. I got to work on this.
I got to capture that. Yeah.
Did you get to interact with him before he passed away? I haven't. I did see him at the BMI Awards when he got the Songwriter Legend Award a couple years ago.
So it was right before he passed away, yeah. And could you tell he was sick then? I knew people knew he was sick for a long time.
He just didn't put much out there about it, it seemed like. It seemed like he was very private.
But I guess who would want to, right? Yeah. Well, and I was, I mean, when he was there, he sounded great and he looked great.
So, I mean, you know, that journey is like everybody's got to take that journey and however they feel comfortable and their family and all that stuff. But I know that he was, even at the end, like really about the music, you know? Because the last big thing I saw him out was the BMIs, and it was all about his catalog.
And I did not realize how many... He wrote like 150 songs a year or something, like crazy.
Like just prolific. And I also didn't realize how many outside songs he cut, or that he had other artists cut of his until that ceremony.
Is there ever a song where you write it and you think it's good, but it's not for you? A lot. Oh, really? A lot of times.
Yeah. And I, you know, it's, I'm thankful that some artists are still willing to cut outside songs.
I'm one of those artists. What does that mean that they're willing to cut outside? songs? Like, you can't cut every song you ever write.
You know? So, for instance, Aaron sent me Armadillo, and I was like, I love this. I'm cutting it.
So, you know, I think it's important if you're a songwriter to have a balance of we live in Nashville. There's amazing songs written all day, every day in this town for years.

And I think it's cool when artists are not trying to write every song on their records.

Oh, I see what you're saying.

Because at a certain point,

it almost you're just able to help out more people by picking up songs that they've written, really.

Yeah.

And for my career, I mean, my biggest songs,

I wouldn't have if I would have tried to write everything. I mean, like House That Built Me is a staple in my career.
And that's I didn't write that. And Mama's Broken Heart and Little Red Wagon.
Like I have some of the staples drunk. Some of the staples in my set that are my career staple songs are not songs I wrote.
So I think it's good to keep the door open to like, you know, look around town, look where we live. This is amazing.
Right. Yeah.
So many people. Yeah.
And you can't do things alone too. That's one thing I realized, like kind of like, as I get older, it's like, I used to want to do everything by myself.
It was just like how I was wired and it still is a lot of times, but it's certainly, it started to alleviate some where it's like, I got like I got I need help I need people to do and I need people to help me do things and and I can help people do things and then it's more fun to do something with somebody sometimes yeah and it's like when you celebrate the highs with your friends because you all did it together like a co-write you know it's fun like collaborating is Nashville is such a good community for that. Like everybody's, I mean, you know, you live here.
Like everybody's so, country music community is very collaborative and we lift each other up. We kind of stick together.
You know, you don't have to look. Do you think that's true? I do think it's true.
For me, it has been for 20 years. And not that you have to love every single person you ever work with or in the business, but I feel like everybody's kind of in it for the same reason.
And there's a mutual respect there most times. Yeah.
Yeah, I guess, but it's also competitive, right? Yeah, but I think that's also good. You got to like compete.
But I think there's a difference in my manager. We've been together 21 years.
And just recently went on a birthday trip with her and one of her really good friends who's born and raised in Bellmead, her name's Elizabeth and she said there's a difference in wanting to win and wanting to beat everybody and I thought that was really poignant I was like that because that's a different mindset like it's okay to want to win and like compete and be on, but I don't think you have to want to go into it going, I'm going to beat everybody. Right.
I'm just going to win at my race. Yeah, because it's almost vindictive.
It's not vindictive, but it's almost, yeah, I'm trying to think of the word. It really almost adds a negative edge to it.
It does. Because I want somebody to lose then.
lose then right right we can all win we just gotta run our own race yeah interesting yeah thanks for thinking about that kind of stuff with me yeah because i love songwriting and it's oh in national anything can happen you uh like you'll drop a tomato at trader joe's and somebody will come up and have half a stanza written about it you know's like, yeah, you get in a car accident and the guy gets out of the vehicle

and he's already written a couple bars about the accident.

And he's like, what do you think of these?

And I'm like, what do you think about give me your insurance papers?

You know?

Well, that's the title insurance papers.

But it really is.

What's in your glove box?

That's a good song title.

Yeah, dude.

Yeah.

What's in your glove box?

It better just be gloves, buddy. Yeah.
If there's gloves, that's weird. Why is it called a glove box? Not that we talked about it, it's even weirder if there's gloves in there.
It is weirder now, isn't it? And it started off by- It's only supposed to be your insurance. Because people used to put, the name is derived from the compartment's original purpose, storing driving gloves.
Initially, the glove compartment was a box near the driver on the floorboard. Driving gloves were worn to keep hands clean and considered essential equipment in early vehicles.
Driving gloves are important for women now, too, because our hands, they, like, keep you from aging because your hands are on the wheel. And, like, I didn't know that, but, like, driving gloves are a thing.
But why does it keep you from aging? Because the sun, coming through the windshield, you wear, like, drive so that the sun's not like getting on your hands. Honey, you're only driving to Smyrna.
That ain't a lot of sunshine on them. I don't know, but I ride in gloves now because of that.
I have my little gloves. I'm like, I don't want sun damage.
Oh, I thought you'd ride a shotgun in a car. I ride my horse with gloves on now because I'm like, oh God, I don't want aging hands.
There's so much to think about. It's a full-time job.
Oh, yeah. You don't want aging hands, though.
No. Because you can hide everything else, but you can't just show up to something with mittens on for no reason.
No, but Dolly does wear those sheer gloves with the rhinestones, and I'm kind of really into that. So that's a vibe.
Somebody said she's full body tatted up. I heard that, too, but whoever really knows the answer.
I don't know. A couple have to.
A couple, for sure. I mean, I don't know how many.
I mean, I know. Is she still married or not? Yeah, Carl.
Somebody knows, and we're going to have to get to the bottom of this. Somebody knows.
Does Donnie have the tattoos or not? Somebody tell us. Somebody's seen that artwork, brother.
It ain't me, you know? I ain't no peeping Tom. I hope she does.
That would even make her, if it's possible for her to be more badass. Yeah.
That makes it more badass. Oh, if she if she came out with like in one of those ESPN where they do like the nude, like they're pushing a baby carriage like but they're naked or whatever.
If she came out and she was full body tatted, dude, it would be crazy. Like Kat Von D just totally.
It'd be insane. Yeah.
T yeah you have them? yeah I got tats I'm not like sleeved or anything because I don't know about the top like the top of your arm like as you age like does it get weird? I don't know so I just have them down here where they can't like swing at some point in my life I have them on my forearms I don't want like mama tattoo arm. I don't need that.

You get a chair and then years later it's a swing set.

You're like, oh, that's a damn fourth swing right there.

Exactly.

Got to be strategic.

Is there an artist that passed away that like you really missed their music?

You missed them?

Is that a weird question?

There's a bunch.

Like one you knew maybe even? Haggard. Haggardggard like he's such a like my number one hero and i was really sad the day he died and like it i guess it was like the first kind of oh my god one of my heroes is gone you know feelings um i was lucky enough to get to sing with him and meet him and know his family.
And so that was awesome. In fact, I just saw his family this past summer at the Plain State Fair and Ben Haggard and the family opened.
But I just, I don't know. That was, Merle's my, like, number one, you know.
Yeah, what did you admire about him, you think, so much? I think that, you know, he, one of my favorite quotes is from Johnny Cash, and he said, I sing about the things that Merle Haggard actually lived. Because he literally turned 21 in prison.
Like, he told his truth. Like, he didn't have a glamorous childhood or upbringing, and he took his outlaw and sort of the troubled times of his life, turned him into songs and turned it into a beautiful career.
And every time I was ever around him, he's one of those heroes that like is exactly what you hope he would be, like a little mysterious but super kind, you know. And it's always like meet your heroes or not.
It's scary because what if they let you down? Yeah. But he never did.
All these pictures they're bringing up, like, tease it to Jesus. I mean, look at the hair.
That is Texas hair, y'all. That's definitely a full crop.
I mean, they got a lot of rain that summer, I'll say that. That is for sure.
What's a song that you put on? Everybody has songs when they want they want to feel something right so like you have like man i really want to feel something right now like or i don't know i do i'm kind of an emo kind of dude so i'll put on like um like i used to put on like trace adkins uh every light in the house is on you know i that Trace Adkins? You're going to say Trace Adkins, yeah. Yeah.
Oh, I told you. That guy, yeah.
Yeah, you want the big deep voice. Oh, yeah.
You want to feel it. I don't know.
Oh, I went through a breakup, yeah, and I would sit on my porch and just smoke cigarettes. I don't even smoke.
Well, everybody smokes when they break up. Yeah, dude.
It's kind of part of it. I would just smoke, and I'd play that on repeat until my neighbors were like, what? Turn off the light or whatever.

We can't handle it anymore.

I think Nobody in His Right Mind by George Strait.

I haven't even heard it.

It's so good.

It's one of my favorite George Strait songs.

It's just like a heartbreaker.

We're like, I don't know.

I love country.

I truly, my go-to is country.

Old country is like my jam.

And George Strait, we call him the king for a reason. It's a great song.
Nobody in his right mind would have left her. Even my heart was smart enough to stay behind.
Come on. God, put my fucking feelings in a wheelbarrow.
We need to go to that horse therapy place immediately. Yeah, what else would I listen? Oh, Lee Bryce's I Drive Your Truck.
That one's a heartbreaker. Oh, man, my friend Jesse Alexander wrote that song.
Really? Yes, she did, and she's amazing. She wrote it.
I don't know who she wrote it with, but I know she wrote it. That's a great song.
She, yeah, oh, it's so good. And Lee's delivery is like insane.
See, but that's a song that he didn't write. right and that's why it takes a group it's like but you also if he doesn't perform it if somebody else does who knows if it works the same it could it all has to land in the right basket right like the right song finds the right artist at the right time yeah you know yeah the house that built me too i had uh i saw some that the the writers of that song um it took them like they wrote that song for like seven years alan shamblin and tom douglas yes it they rewrote it and rewrote it it's seven years of writing it but i'm that is such a lesson like i'm not good at that at all like i'm like i'm kind of millennial about my like i know i want to come into this co-write today and then i'm gonna leave with a song like in you know four hours you get a song or two hours or whatever it is i i don't know that i could have stuck with it for seven years yeah it's a lesson to all of us to like be patient till it's right oh that song is like perfectly written yeah yeah they made like a real sistine.
Dude, I remember. It's kind of weird maybe, but like I grew up in like a pretty traumatic youth, you know, and I heard that song, this was a couple years ago, maybe two years ago.
It was like Christmas time. I was in my town where I grew up, and I went and got like an orchid or whatever from a flower place and I took it back to the place that I grew up at and I went this sounds really bizarre now I wasn't doing peeping tom or anything it was like I knocked on the door and I gave him that I was like I think that's really cool yeah I said something nice should grow here that's what I said and I gave him that.
I was like. I think that's really cool.
Yeah, I said something nice should grow here. That's what I said.
Wow. And I gave them that.
That's a song. You said that to the songwriter, so.
It was interesting. You'll have to write it down.
But honestly. But it's funny what a song can do to somebody.
Yes, because I didn't write that song, but I was like, how did they know my story? But my guitar player that was with me for forever since I was 17 we lost him two years ago but he said I that is that song hits me because it's what I wish I had yeah that sounds like what you're talking about like and I never thought about it from that perspective oh he wished he had those things that built him right Right. But he didn't have a healthy childhood.

Yeah.

But I love a song like that.

And the fact that they waited it out and just stayed with it is like goals.

I got to work on it.

I got to work on it.

Yeah, that is.

Yeah.

Yeah, who knows what things.

And that's one thing that's nice about life.

It's like you don't know the little things you're doing now, how they'll merge with like the things you're doing later on and how it'll help you form like wherever you're supposed to be. Like sometimes it's so hard to get through just the moment, but you don't realize that the moments are the stairs that are going to get you to the place you're supposed to stand.
You know? Anyway, sorry. But yeah, I don't know.
And those people must have thought I was batshit crazy, dude. No, but it's not.
Like the house I grew up in was an old tobacco farm, and it was a house built in 1905. And it was just a farmhouse, no central heat and air, one bathroom, like not like a farmhouse.
Like we didn't have a lot growing up but people constantly stopped by there specifically older people seniors and were like you know I they would cry they would just be standing on the front porch crying and I was like 10 like hiding behind my mom going like trying to eavesdrop and like what are they saying you know that they had so many memories there and those handprints were there that's why I thought when i heard the song i was like have they been eaves dropping on my whole life like because it was such an old farmhouse it had so many stories in it and it touched so many people's lives you know oh yeah yeah i think that's one thing that's amazing about art is that it can do that i mean i think you could it's just powerful you, that the beats and the words and you put it all together the right way and it unlocks something. It does.
And it's like everybody feels like, okay, I'm not alone in this world. And this, whatever's happening to me, good, bad, or ugly, I'm not the only one.
Yeah. That's the beauty of a song or any art, really, truly, but especially songs.
I love I'm I'm I'm in awe of songs. I'm a songwriter.
I'm a song lover. I'm a music lover, like especially country ones, because we just tell the sad truth no matter what.
Like you get in your feels, you know? Oh, yeah. So what do you listen to when you're like wanting to like rage or like rock out or? I mean, I'll put them before.
Well, I mean, before I go uh fgl dirt it's a little up tempo for me but it's also kind of kind of chill yeah and like down home and grounding and then i'll put on a little bit of boozy badass and listen to him so i'll turn it the other way you know i might even go some sexy red or something like that i don't go anything too crazy i mean I'll put on maybe like Soundgarden or like I've been listening to Stephen Wilson Jr. recently.
I'm obsessed with that record. God, it's so good.
Golly, it's great. I actually have a rap coming up with him.
You do? Yeah. Oh my God, what are you going to wear? I know.
It's like, I wrote with him and Natalie Hemby recently and we wrote this song Called Well the hook is I don't want to see the movie If the dog dies Like All of us are sitting there crying It was just like The most magical ride And it was Stephen's idea Obviously shows up with that Yeah And my dogs were there And they're seniors And I was like oh god And they're scared They're like Let's don't finish the song No he's so great love him. But I also love that he said Soundgarden because mine is Audioslave.
Like, that's my. Really? Yeah.
Girl, what do you wear while you listen to me? People are like, what do you, what people would be surprised to know about you? I'm like, he's Audioslave fan. Yeah.
I just like, nail in my head. We just get all ragey.
Yeah. Female rage is a thing, you know.
It's like my bread and butter. Oh, look.
Yeah, no, I definitely notice that some of it's in you, you know. And yeah, I've been victim of it for sure, dude.
I've got a couple angry women in my text, in my D, in my dang. In your ding-dang DMs.
In my ding-dang DMs, yeah. But yeah, it's just interesting how a song will get you activated to get you ready for like a

certain moment or something did you ever have to play at a funeral or anything do you ever get asked to do something oh god i can't like i'm not good at it at all i just i get too emotional did you ever have to or not yeah i had to sing at my grandma's and i had to sing at a friend that was like my age that was the worst one oh god the first thing you ever went to was the first like like reality check like teen years high school friend you know what I mean and her family asked me to sing and I did but it was it was just one of the hardest things I've ever done I really I know I know so I but you know when you're given a gift what are you going to say? I'm not going to use it to celebrate someone that was amazing. You have to do it.
Yeah. Get on up there, Miranda.
Yeah. Oh, my good God.
Yeah, man. Oh, one time I was at a funeral and some, uh, the person that sang, it was a girl and she was so nervous.
She started singing the star spangled banner accident? Yeah. Oh, man.
Well, you shouldn't sing that. Somebody had to go and kind of grab her.
Hardly anyone should sing that. Hardly.
Let's just talk about it. It's time to talk about it.
Especially if Kenny's right there in the casket, and she's just like, who's? People were like, we can't even be here right now. Honestly, there's like four people on earth that should sing that song, and that's it.
And she made it to like this. And people waited.
And some people started going like this. No, no.
Yeah, because part of it is I just feel so uncomfortable right now. I'm going to go down those spiral stairs and leave forever right now.
Those only go up. Just thinking about it.
They only go up. A lot of us were like what? I thought what happened? He wasn't even in the service.
No. The whole thing got really confusing, man.
I've been at some weird funerals. My dad was 70 when I was born.
He was an older man. And so he had to get me a suit for a funeral one time, right? And it was around Halloween.
He got me a Beetlejuice costume. Like the pinstrap.
And like a costume version, though. Like not it what i don't even know if it was real text i think you were like stylish or i don't know if it was real textiles or whatever but anyway i so i go to this funeral dude in a dang beetlejuice costume bro and i guess it was kind of hip how old were you i was probably 11 or 12 so like already awkward years so that didn't help it was horrible yeah but you know i guess that's what happens when you send a senior citizen to the uh it wasn't rite aid back then it was called kmb was a store they had that had them a couple of costumes over there but god it was yeah that was too much but yeah, funerals are a lot.
Yes, they are. So sorry I brought that up.
I was like, I don't have anything to say to that. I'm sorry about that.
It seems terrible. I heard a rumor that you got to meet Gypsy Rose when she was a Make-A-Wish kid.
Is that true? I did. I met her several times a lot there's look at that hair that crunchy hair i got that aussie scrunch spray going in my hair the hair is coming along as these photos go forward yes uh i've met her several times super super sweet girl and what was her mother like like i believed her yeah i mean i did like when all that came out i was freaking out that's what i was wondering how did you feel was somebody just tell you oh my god do you see what just happened yeah like somebody texted me and was like have you seen this documentary i'm like what what's happening and i'm now i've been down all the rabbit holes of it i'm like in it i'm 100 now she's pregnant i watched all the things well like she's seems to be thriving so Yeah, I mean's had a crazy childhood thing was crazy that's what i'm just saying i can't even imagine how crazy it was like if something like that would because you have these moments in your life you're being supportive of somebody they're dealing with a disease a syndrome and then but it was real to her i mean oh totally so she she was a child.
Yeah. She was a baby child.

But then suddenly it'd be like a national thing, and you're like, what is going on?

I can't believe I was part of that, but you don't know at the time, and neither did she.

So it was just like, I mean, her mom worked the system, and it worked.

Because we have all met her, like the whole country music community.

Like, ask any of us. She was part of it it she was in it yeah she was hobnobbing oh that's interesting yeah a lot of us that gets kind of crazy too sometimes you know but if that's what the child loves or something but she did and gypsy was very genuine yeah really truly that's just such a cry i heard heard that.
I was like, this can't be true. It's just so crazy.
Yeah. Yeah.
Has she reached out to you since? No. I mean, that was so long ago.
She might have just put all that behind her, which I would if I were her. The whole thing.
I don't know. Some of y'all's songs are so good.
I don't know how you could put it all behind you. Well, we'll see if she comes to a show.
Yeah, that's just a crazy thing that I heard. So I was like, is this the truth or not? It's on Google.
It's got to be true. Well, now, you know, chat GPT is kind of getting better than Google because there's not advertising on it.
Oh yeah. My brother's like super smart, like really a techie.
And he's telling me all about this stuff. When we first said I was like who's Chad He kept talking about Chad And I was like who's Chad And then he asked it to write a song At Father's Day We had Father's Day in New York With my husband's family We're sitting around You know it's like forced family fun You have to like think of things to do Yeah And so my brother's like I'm gonna ask Chad to write a Miranda Lambert song And I was like okay And it.
And it did. And it didn't have a melody, but it's just the lyrics.
And it was called Whiskey and Wildflowers. And it was kind of good.
I was like, oh, God. Oh, God.
My career's over. It's happening.
Do I get a royalty? Will it go on tour? Tell me all the answers. Chad GBT.
There it is, dude. That's definitely the redneck version of Chad GBT is Chad GBT.
That's what I thought. I was like, who's Chad? He was like, I'm saying chat.
And I was like, oh. And it's like, how do you get to New York City? You put in there and it's like, how much gas money you got? You know what I'm saying? I know.
Like it has a different voice. Like it has like a Hick voice.
That would be funny. That would be great having Chad GBT.
That would be so good. Hey, Chad.
How do I fix this two-stroke motor, bub? That'd be so good, dude. Somebody has to come up with that.
Whiskey and Wild Heart sitting on the porch, sun sinking low, memories of you like a river flow. Your laugh still lingers in the evening air, but love's a wild ride.
Why does it talk And I'm holding on with can. They're judgy.
Chad's judgy. And then the pre-chorus got a bottle in my hand and a heart full of scars.
Full of scars. That sounds like Trace Atkinson.
Well, it also sounds like you're a pirate. So that's the crazy part of this.
It's so stressful. But this is also like Chad GPT is a newborn.
You have to think in a a few years if it starts to really get like the ability to do some stuff but i don't know if it'll ever take over like the human ability to feel and stuff and actually create music that's based on real feelings i don't know and that's the you know it's all weird whatever i'm trying to stay hip and cool but it's weird i'm not gonna be that hip and cool that's weird why don That's weird. Why don't you have feelings anymore? Right.
Like you have to go to a museum to see feelings. Like somebody's smiling behind a piece of glass.
You're like, oh, remember that? Remember that? Oh, there's a tear. Yeah.
This is a fossilized tear that you're looking at. Oh, wow.
We don't even have those anymore. Yeah, I'm on the pill that makes it so you can't cry.
Remember when people had those? But that could be a real thing one day.

I know.

But maybe we'll be long gone and doing something else by then, hopefully.

I hope I'm in the dang stars

or definitely just, I don't know.

I hope something happens to me.

I hope I'm in a dang time capsule.

You live in Nashville and Texas for a bit.

What was Nashville,

how has Nashville changed over the years to you? It's popular now. Like, everybody wants to come here.
It's the city, which is awesome. I think, like, the fact that country music is thriving right now and our town is a destination, I love that because these honky-tonks have been here for ages and kind of like it's the music of our lives, you know, of my life.
And so people are wanting to get a little glimpse of it. I love that.
Yeah. I don't love that the roads aren't really made for all these people yet, but we'll get there.
Yeah. Some of these roads are damn homemade too.
I'm like, what is somebody – you see somebody just put a damn cake batter in a pothole out there, you know? Yeah. It's just, people are filling with anything.
I drove through something the other day. Cake batter.
Oh, I drove, yeah, people are using anything to fill them now. There's so many potholes, especially in January around that time.
Yeah. I drove through something the other day and had damn devil's food all over my tires.
I was like, shit's getting weird out here. Was it Dolly's Brownie Mix? I don't know.
Is that a thing? Those are good. Dolly has no brownie mix? The Duncan Hines brownie mix? Dolly has everything.
And I bought them. Of course I bought them.
And I was like, there it is. Of course I bought them.
Because they don't have like oil in them. You know how the box brownies have oil? Nope.
She has milk and eggs and butter like real ingredients. They're delicious.
I love that. Dude, what I used to love was whenever our mom would make something, dude, and she would let us lick those things that were in the- The raw egg.
She lets you lick the beaters. Lick the beaters, boy.
Beaters. Now they're called kitchen mixers.
Yeah, well. But my mom had like the Walmart brand beaters.
Yeah, kitchen mixers is a little bisexual for me, okay? Yeah husband has the KitchenAid and he's obsessed with it. He does all of the things.
He makes homemade pasta. He has all the, every accessory you can have for a KitchenAid.
He's like in it. He's in there.
He's not doing like old school beaters. We don't even have those.
Put them beaters on there, honey. But I was like, your mom was like, don't eat too much of it because it's raw eggs yeah and we'd be like bro and the crazy thing was some of the whatever was in it i mean we eat them it's like that grainy stuff granules it had a little bit like yeah it had like i don't know what it was who care you didn't get it down but the crazy part was some of it if you started licking the theater at the top, then some of the stuff would flow down in your hand.

So you get all that.

Then you're just licking your own hand with that still holding on that beater.

And then somebody would like accidentally put soapy dishwater in the bowl.

And you're like, no, it's over.

Because, dude, if you get even part of your head in that dang bowl, you know, I just wanted to grow.

I just wanted to grow longer.

I would pray to God to make my tongue longer at night. Well's a whole different episode okay yeah sorry that's where no that's where the trace atkins yeah you're right things have changed um what's a place that you miss in nashville not here anymore? I kind of miss old losers.

Like, old losers was like, I love losers still,

but like Midtown, it was like just one little shitty dive bar

with like darts in the back and smoke

and like a great jukebox and popcorn, you know?

And now it's like three stories and the rooftop and all the things.

But it's still great.

But I kind of miss like the little, like the divier, the better, you know. Yeah.
Yeah, now they still have the back porch over there you can go kick it at sometimes. Yeah, that little deck.
I have a little sign up there. It says Marina Lambert Way.
It's hanging up there. Do you? Have you been on that VIP deck? Yeah, I have a couple times.
Exactly. Go look for it, ma'am.
John Daly is usually out John Daly's usually out there. I put in a lot of- He's usually out there waiting for an ambulance.
I put in a lot of late-nighters to get that sign. Oh, I bet you did.
I didn't even think about that. You have to drink a certain amount of Tito's out of a shitty plastic cup to get your sign up there.
And I have one, so. And at least it says way.
It could have ended up being Miranda Lemmer cul-de-sac. Oh, no.
See, that wouldn't be as cool. No.
But at least it's- it could have ended up being miranda lemmer cold a sack yeah oh no see that one would be as cool no but at least driveway road i can deal with not cold to sack yeah cold i remember when somebody put a damn cold a sack first time i ever saw one i was like what is this shit what do you mean you can't keep going just fucking hurt my feelings boy i said we'll see about that i'm gonna call the damn sheriff we'll about this. I can't find a picture.
I have one on my phone. What else was I thinking about? Oh, if you had to travel back in time, right? If you had a time warper, and it could have a hammy on it or whatever.
I don't know how you like to travel, but if you had a time warper, what time back in your life would you go to, do you think?

Right now.

I think I just stay right now.

I feel like I've done it, but I'm still learning.

Somebody asked me that, like, what's your most fun era?

And I was like, right now.

Like, still young, but, like, not dumb.

You know, I mean, you know that whole vibe where you learn a lot um early 30s were weird late 30s were fine but like now i'm like what we're doing right now you're like we're here we're here everybody's just like 40s is the best decade i'm like let's roll yeah we'll see yeah i believe it yeah we go. Yeah.
Tell me something else that you think about. Oh, the new song is Damn It, Randy on your new album.
Who's it about, man? Well, it's about Randy. Oh, I see.
It's about Randy. Everybody has a Randy in their life.
Okay. Everybody has one.
And it's about just a time where I was like, this is not good. It's not serving me anymore.
This is, I got to move on. And was it a real, like, was it serious or was it just somebody that didn't install y'all's cable well or something like, you know? Well, it depends on the person.
Everybody's got a Randy. Damn it, Randy.
Right? And I wrote it with John Randall, who's one of my besties. And his real name is Randy, so I always say that to him anyway, so it's kind of funny.
And that's the one that Brendan's a rider on. Oh, yeah.
I was flying a kite in the middle of a hurricane. There it is.
That little songwriter. What else was I thinking about? What drives you at this point in your career? I know this is kind of a general question, but like you've gotten to have notoriety.

You've had number ones, you've won Grammys,

you've won, you're a household name.

You have, you can afford to pay your rent.

You know, it's like, what goals are there still for you?

Or do things evolve from goals into

like just wanting to still do the job? I'm just curious. And it's stuff I go through in my own life, too, with comedy.
I'm just curious. What do you think about that? You know, I'm lucky enough to have reached a lot of the goals that I set when I started this journey.
I mean, I was 17 when I was chasing music. That's what I'm doing.
Yeah. And people are like, fuck you.
You'll be at a Dairy Queen in two months. Yeah, and I was like, okay, see you all next time.
Like, well, I'll be singing in the drive-thru, damn it. Exactly.
I don't know. I feel like now I'm just, like, open.
I'm trying to be open to, you know, I'm not walking around saying I'm going to do this and this and this. I'm just, like, absorbing what's around me and being open to new opportunities and meeting new people and like also saying no to the saying no to the right things like i think that's a big part of it because you can save your energy for the right things if you just say no to the things that are not right for you like that's kind of where i'm headed and where I've been living in the past couple years.
Because I realize, like, if you put all your energy into the wrong people and the wrong things, then you don't have any openness or any time or energy left for the right things, and then it's too late. You know? So I think I'm just in this space right now where I'm like, what's next? I mean, this is new.
I've just started doing podcasts. Like, I done that before until this year.
You've done a good job. I've watched some of them.
It's fun. I'm new to it.
I'm not great at talking. I'm a singer.
I'm in front of people. I'm actually an introverted extrovert.
I have an extroverted job with an introvert personality. I'm trying to...
I'm branching in that way. I know, I always, I'm fine to say my truths in songs.

It's just harder to do just, you know, saying it out there.

But I think it's important either way.

So I don't know.

My goals are like, what's next?

Let's do something that scares us.

Let's do something that's, you know, makes you grow and makes you learn.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's true, huh?

Yeah, sometimes it's so, I feel like when you're involved in some part of the arts, kind of, you know, people call them. And some people just call them music and comedy and painting or whatever.
But it's weird to also kind of evolve because it's like you age, right? We age. And you're like, well,, if I, some songs I can't even really sing anymore.
Some jokes I can't even really, I could tell them still, but is it really going to be true to where I'm at? You know, I find that that's interesting about art itself is you have to, and then you're, but then you're like, but if I change, will I still have the people who like this thing? It's like, how do you keep the common thread and keep reinventing? It's a tiny little fine line you have to walk. Yeah.
And it's scary because what we do is very public. And what we signed up for and what we started saying or the jokes we told at 20 or the songs we wrote at 20 are not the same life space and we're not in the same lane anymore.
So it's like figuring out how to do that gracefully, but still keep that common thread of where you've been and where you're going, but kind of walk this line of staying authentic to the true you that started this whole journey. And comedy is the hardest thing in the world.
I think that would be the literal hardest part of the arts of any art i really do really yeah i just respect it because it's the most vulnerable like standing up there in front of people and just telling jokes and hoping they like that it lands you know and there's no band there's it's just you yeah oh god i wish somebody would pull up with a drum sometimes start playing a drum solo immediately if you're like no this one didn't happen take it away henry you know you don't have anybody to like lean on yours up there by yourself like emotionally naked oh in the beginning it's so scary i think god i can't even believe something you think back and i don't mean it like i'm not trying to fill my own ego. But when you think back, I don't know if I'd go do it now.
But, yeah, you get up there that first time and you're just like, this is going to be good. You don't even believe yourself.
You're just screaming that to yourself in a car. You know, in a Ford Taurus.
You're like, this is going to be good. Like in your best Chris Cornell voice.
Beefing yourself up. I don't.
The fact that you said you don't know if you'd do it now. I think about, I knew like three.
It makes me nervous. I know.
I just got anxiety. I think about like, I knew three chords and I was like walking in these bars.
Like, can I play at the set change? Like, I just, I got to get some experience. And you know, it's that thing of like, how do I get experience if you don't let me play? But then you say, I can't play because I don't have any experience.
Just put me on set change then, and I'll play my three songs that I just learned yesterday. Like not good, but just being brave anyway.
I don't know. We did it.
That's a good point. Yeah.
I know the ones that hurt too. Do you ever show you remember that really just kind of burned you when you're just like, God, this is hard.

Oh, yeah.

Like a birthday or anything.

Like you ever get played one of those Arab birthdays or something?

You're like, what is it?

Private parties.

I'm so thankful for private parties.

I love them.

I would love to play your private party.

But some of them can be hard.

Yeah.

You know, where it's like I did.

I played a Sweet 16 one time.

And this thing was the most extravagant party I've ever seen in my life. And it was a bunch of 16-year-olds.
And they only wanted me to do four songs. Michelle Branch was part of it, Leigh-Anne Rimes, and me.
And we each did four songs. And like, this thing was like legit.
It was in Washington, D.C. And these kids were dressed to the nines.
They all had on like everything designer.

I was like, I was working at Bells

when I turned 16.

Oh, I don't rob those bastards. We were dressed to the threes, honey.

Okay?

Exactly.

The three of us combined, we was a nine.

I mean, that was one that sticks out

in my mind. I'm like, oh, Lord, this is

bougie. Oh, yeah.
We remember

I had hand-me-downs from damn women.

I was like, I don't have an older sister. I was wearing

and I'll see you next time. I mean, that was one that sticks out in my mind.
I'm like, oh, Lord, this is bougie. Oh, yeah.

We remember I had hand-me-downs from damn women.

And I was like, I don't have an older sister.

I was wearing shit.

I was like, whose shit is this?

Just stuff that whatever was around.

My mom was like a big thrifter.

So big thrifter.

I'm like, I found, but this is awesome.

So like it was in the Doc Martin,

like heyday and we couldn't afford those. It was very, those were very nice.
They were very nice. God, that's where Mother Hubbard lived in one of those.
I heard they were fancy. We went to Goodwill a lot.
And like, I found a pair of Doc Martins for $7 and they were like new. And I went to school and my mom's like, just tell everybody you got them at GWs and say it's like a nice store in Dallas.

So They were like new. And I went to school and my mom's like, just tell everybody you got them at GW's.
And say it's like a nice store in Dallas. So I forever was like, these are my Doc Martens I got at GW's.
It's a nice store in Dallas. Just flat out live.
And I was like, $7 Doc Martens. Like, that's a score.
That's $3.50 a foot, honey. Let's party.
That's the rest of the threes. Oh, that's like putting damn each foot into a dang Sher sheraton that's really nice sheraton's have very good beds you know what i do notice as uh after touring and going to hotels and stuff i get one thing that bugs me it now is if the mattress is too soft and i don't mean it in a negative way but it's like your back starts to fall apart and you start to realize how many bones you have in your body as you get older and you're like this is not a this isn't holding anybody up you figure out like what like but is your continental like breakfast like just fruit loops or is it like hot breakfast oh no those things you start to like really appreciate on the road like y'all have real eggs are they powdered eggs because you can't say hot breakfast if it's powdered eggs.
That doesn't count. That's fair.
Doesn't count.

Yeah, that's more MREs.

It's like MREs, but with a television that's on ESPN.

They'll have that set up.

Yeah, God.

I think, yes, I remember we used to go to the Continental Breakfast,

and we would pretend like the people there were waiters or whatever.

We weren't even supposed to be there.

We weren't staying there at the Holiday Inn,

and we would go up there and eat up there. My stepdad would take us up there.
But you're not staying there. Huh? Uh-uh.
And we'd go in that bitch and die, honey. You know what I'm saying? And when they have happy hour, and it's in a box, but I'll take it.
It's fine. Box wine.
Sounds great. Let's do it.
Do you have a favorite party, like birthday party that you ever had so far? I know you just turned 40, you said.

I think it was this one.

Was it?

Yeah.

Did y'all go back to the casino?

No.

We went to Billy Bob's on a Monday.

Billy Bob's like the biggest.

Oh, in Texas.

In Fort Worth.

Yeah, in the stockyards.

My friend Gwen, she sings with me in my band for 13 years.

And she was like, where do you?

Because I was like, I don't know what to do.

There's so much pressure on that birthday. Yeah.
You know, like the big, those zero ones. You're like, I don't, I just would rather do nothing.
Like I shut down and she was, we were getting our hair done and she was like, it was typical getting your hair done in the foils. So she's like, where do you want to turn 40? And I was like, she was like, I feel like you want to turn 40 at home in Texas.
Go back to the root, full circle. i was like i do i think and so um billy bobs gave me the bar on a monday because they're closed and we had barbecue and a bunch of my texas friends uh randy rogers and wade bowen adam hood played and it was just a big old honky tonk night and it was like it felt like man this is like this is like why I started this in the first place.

Like, I've been playing Billy Bob's for so long and going there to see shows.

And so I think that was my favorite birthday so far.

That's perfect.

Well, that's the most recent one, you know.

What else was I thinking about?

Anything in the news that we could think of?

We'll get you out of here soon, too, Miranda.

I know you guys have a show.

You have a show tonight.

No, I don't.

Tomorrow.

Oh, tomorrow night.

Yeah.

Oh, lucky.

Tomorrow night.

Yep.

Thank you. we could think up let me just pull it we'll get you out of here soon too miranda i know you guys have a show you have a show tonight no i don't tomorrow tomorrow night yeah oh tomorrow night yep for singing for the doggies oh for your pups music for nut music for mutts yeah it's a benefit for my nation music for mutts and how what qualifies a mud actually just us probably uh i don't know like I have just rescue animals and like they're just all just mixed little puppers and I started a foundation in 2009 called Mutt Nation Foundation with my mom with your mom yep that's her and we've raised over 10 million dollars since then.
$10 million? $10 million. Wow.

We raise awareness for adoption, for spay-neuter, for adopt-don't-shop.

And like right now with the Hurricane Helene, we're doing a lot of work with Tractor Supply Rescue Relief and with Greater Good.

People are first, obviously, but there's tons of shelters down there that were already overcrowded and got hit.

And so there's a lot of moving parts. So really what our foundation does is kind of meet the need, whatever the need is, you know, whether it's lifting up shelters, giving them grants for renovations, natural disasters, we kind of run the gamut, but our main focus is to encourage people to adopt.
And once someone creates something like this, this foundation, right? Yeah. So this is a nonprofit organization.
How do you raise funds for it? Obviously, you can do fundraiser shows, you can put your own money into it. And then how does I'm just curious, how does a nonprofit even? Well, I guess those are the ways you put money into it, you do fundraisers.
Yeah, we've done fundraisers. I sing for the pups.
I mean, we haven't done a music one, but like for my Vegas residency, we gave a dollar a

ticket and I was there for two years.

So a dollar ticket, we've done that on tour where a dollar ticket goes to Mutt Nation.

And then this is our first benefit show in a couple of years.

So I'm excited.

I got some friends coming out to sing, some surprises.

Really?

Yes.

It'll be fun.

Can any of the animals ever tune in? Any of them ever hit a B sharp or something? Have you ever trained any? My mom has this terrible shitty dog, though. His name is Rhodey.
He's just like my dad. I know.
My dad found him on the side. Was he held back in school? Yes.
He has an underbite and he's a Chawini. It's like the worst of all the world.
What is that? He's like my little shitty brother now and that's what she calls him because me and my brother my real brother are like god sibling of ours is terrible and he will sit there my dad plays guitar and write songs and it's specifically george jones he saw loving her today when dad starts singing that that thing howls and it's like this screeching awful noise and you have to put it away like you have to put the dog in the house, and it's still, you could hear it howling. And then that part where they go, ooh.
You stop loving. That thing howls, and it's just like, and my parents think it's cute, which is even worse.
Oh, God. I know.
It's the worst. So, yeah.
They could be, some dogs sing. Do you want them to? Absolutely not.
But if you could organize them. Well, yeah.
We could do like a family choir. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
Yeah. Get you a little batch of hounds in those church gowns or whatever.
Yeah, we could do it. I mean, anything can be done.
We could ask Chad. Yeah.
Chad will do it. Ask Chad, GPT.
Hey, organize these mutts, guys. Was there two pieces of news? Anything else in the news? What were the top two news stories that we had in there? Oh, yeah.
We don't have to talk about this either if you don't. It's an awkward thing.
Yeah, Garth Brooks got accused of harassment. Did you ever know him as a bad guy? I always heard the nicest things about him.
I don't know him. I just heard this today, so I have not been down the news rabbit hole of this.
So it's fresh off the press. I have nothing to say about it, but I want to read it.
I mean, I'm going to read it like everybody else. I'm going to read it.
I want to know. Yeah, no, I've always heard the nice things about him.
He's always seemed kind of mysterious to me in a way. He always seemed like he's done his own thing i guess you know he was the biggest artist when i was a kid he was my first concert was he yep when i was 10 years old not two at texas stadium and he flew in he like dropped out of a helicopter and they when he did standing outside the fire and they lit the whole stage on fire and i was like and i okay this is bad but i had braces but only two because i had a gap so i had to do the gap close the gap on the front two just those two yeah who haven't even heard of that well this was a while ago they should never do this to a child ever again now they have like invisalign it's not it's not fair kids these days don't have to be ugly like we were ugly we had to just, I had scrunchy hair and Jesus and braces and all things.
But I had the two braces when I saw that Garth Brooks show. And I had on my Rockies.
Do you remember those jeans that were, like, real high-waisted with no back pockets? Oh, it's a— Everybody's butt looked real long. And it had a—the label was black and white lettering? Rockies, yeah.
Yeah. And I had on those, and they were red.
And I had on my Roper boots. And I was so excited.
My flame was so excited my flame shirt i was like my brush popper like and he came in and dropped out of that helicopter and i was just like cards i was like screaming and i was like waving but i only had the two and i had like pink rubber bands on them so just like totally and it was in that area where you would like curl one bang up and one down and tease it and it would look like a big cloud. Oh, that was never an era, but tell me more about it.
It was so bad. It was so bad.
And I just was so excited, and I was like, I'm going to be a country singer. It was epic.
Standing outside. Oh, I was just singing all of it.
And I would get so excited when I could say, damned old rodeo. My mom would be like, that's cuss word.
And I'd be like, well, Garth said it said it. So I get to say it.
Dude, the beaches of Cheyenne. So many good songs.
So many. Yep.
That No Fences record. I bought the tape.
I'm older than you, but I had the cassette tape. I don't know if you are, and we used to play that tape together.
Oh, we used to play. They used to have this thing called Crying, Loving, or Leaving on the radio.
Do you remember that? Yes. I loved that.
Did you record the countdown? Lux, same. And you had to push the button at the exact right time.
Yeah, but for two years, the number one song was Whitney Houston. I was like, gee, can we just do something? Can't Red Hot Chili Peppers do something? Why can't we do scar tissue? It was the number one song for so long.
I was like, something's gotta happen, man. We need a war in this country.
You know, I was just like, we got it. We needed something new in there.
But yeah, that was, and that's when all the music, some of the channels, even it was all of the, it was all one, that top 40 was anything was in there. Yeah.
Everything. Cause it was Casey Kasem.
Yeah. So it was like all of the songs.
Like it wasn't just one genre. Crying, loving, or leaving was it though.
Hey, Ernie, where are you? And he's like, yeah, I'm over here in Davenport, Iowa. First time caller.
He'd be like, you crying, loving, or leaving, Ernie? And he'd be like, I'm loving. I want to see if we could like find that and listen to it.
Like I wonder if it exists somewhere on YouTube or something. I would totally listen to that.
Yeah. Oh, I called in.
I called in two times. Got through.
I called in 60, 75 times. What were you doing? Crying, loving, or leaving? I was loving one time, and then I was leaving one time.
I was going to leave home. I was going to go to the post office and mail myself somewhere else.
That was my goal. And they're like, you can't do that, buddy.
You're going to mail yourself somewhere else. Yep.
That yeah that'd be kind of cool up here oh i rode my bike all the way over there and it was closed i thought it was open 24 hours a day i'm like what the hell can you guys can even but just learned a lot that year but yeah cry and love and leave and play one of them real quick for us if you can. It exists.
Perfect one to pick by the way. Perfect.
Perfect. There's no way we did not.
That is so perfect. Brennan, I swear to God God that was one of them uh we did not pick that on purpose I had no idea that was actually perfect my first wedding song guys let's play that was it really I'm sorry you believe me though that we did not do that on purpose? I love it.
We did not do that on purpose. We just manifested all of that.
I would never do that on purpose. We're crying, loving, and leaving now.
Bye. Leaving.
Okay. Done left.
Yeah. All three.
We need to do a new spinoff of it. They should have it.
I wonder if Kix Brooks does something like that, because I know he has a weekly show or something. He should.
But that was it, man. When you were a kid waiting to hear if somebody was crying, loving her, leaving, you didn't even know.
I'm going to listen to these. Not that one particular.
Where people were. And if they did that on purpose, I'm sorry.
It's pretty funny. I don't think they would do that.
It's pretty funny. They're too nice of guys to actually do that.
About the new album, what else? What's new about it? What feels new to you about it obviously you have new tunes and um and that sort of thing but yeah like what feels like exciting to you about it or anything different well i made it in texas it's the first time i've recorded in texas since i was 18 okay so we're back to your roots back to the roots yeah i wanted to go to austin and just like really it's really honky-tonk record i mean it like my childhood. It sounds like the music I grew up on.
And I think it's just because I have a new chapter, a new label, a new decade ahead of me of like whatever's going to happen. And I wanted to like go back to the root of where the whole passion started to begin with, which was like playing those honky tonks in Texas.
Like I think I had that sort of awakening when I had my birthday at Billy Bob's. And I was like, I'm turning 40, one of my favorite places on earth in my home state at a honky tonk listening to country music.
And that's just where my heart lives at the end of the day is a honky tonk listening to country music. Yeah.
So it felt right to like make my own music that way this time, you know? Yeah, it's hard for your heart to kind of get back home when your life gets busy like

that in a way.

It is.

And I have Austin, Austin.

I spend a lot of time in Austin.

I love Austin.

Me too.

My little brother lives there.

And I just, I don't know.

I always say I'm a TNT state girl because my heart's half in Tennessee, half in Texas.

But both places that I live revolve around music. And I love that.
Yeah, it's like sometimes your life gets so busy, and then you're like, it stops at a certain point. There's a special day or a moment.
You're like, okay, I can get a look at where I'm at. Yeah, it's good to have enough time to stop and look at where you're at because I didn't for so long.
I mean, when you're young and you start young following your dream and then you just sort of are a horse with blinders, then you stop and you go, okay, now what? I made it, now what? And it's kind of a weird spot to be, but then once you embrace it, which is where I feel like I am right now, just embracing what I've done so far, but what else can we do? I still feel really inspired and excited. I definitely don't have the same energy for long, 150 days a year on the road or anything, but I'm still so inspired to write songs.
I love the music. I can't.
It's my life. I life I dedicated my whole life to it it is funny you kind of yeah you do when you get busy and your career gets busy you a lot of you gets dedicated to what it is it's like I spend most of my time like I there's I have some close friends I don't even get to talk to that much and I know it's sad to say people like well you work instead of talk to them but it's almost like you up your dream and, but then your dream takes a lot of responsibility.
Yeah. You know, nobody tells you what to do when you have done it.
Like, there's not like a manual. You can like, there's not like a podcast.
You can like go back and look at me like, so now what happens at this point in my career at this age with this, these accolades, like what happens now? You just figure it out as you go. And, you know, I'm like working with younger artists now and like newer artists, I have a label called Big Loud, Texas.
Oh yeah. Partnership with Big Loud.
And, Oh, your part, that's your, so you guys have a branch there now. Yep.
Oh, that's awesome. And it's, you know, keeping that, keeping that.
Steven Wilson Jr. on Big Loud too? He's on Big Loud.
Let's go. Yeah.
So he's playing in Nashville. Patches on patches on patches.
So good. Yeah.
Torn Cigarette. Oh, when he said.
Is this song called Torn Cigarette? It's called Patches. Oh, that lyric that he says.
I'm a torn cigarette. My patches got patched.
It's so good. But he is playing in Nashville.
Everyone. December 4th.
Tethered. So good.
My father, son. Drain my blood.
Dude, God. It's like the, it's one of the greatest records that's come out in a decade.
That's our audio slave, man. It really is.
Because it's all of it. It's hillbilly, and it's rage, and it's sad, and it's funny.
And even as a Native American, some of the beats, some of the drums that he uses have a very like native sound to me. It's great.
It blows me. It blows me.
And I keep finding new songs on it that I like. That's what's always amazing about it.
Like you keep going back and re-hearing them. And you're like, oh, now this one I like.
Now this hit me weird. Yeah, let's get fucking weird, buddy.
Anyway. I also like the dude wears his little vest.
He just wears his little vest in all his videos. He's just sitting there freaking slaying the guitar.
He's just like his little puffy vest. Yeah.
Just cozy. I love it.
There he is in his puffy vest. I love it.
He looks like a lifeguard at Woodstock kind of in a way. You know what I'm saying? He has a very safe but risque vibe, dude.
He's so sweet, by the way the sweetest you can tell like uh i've just listened to some interviews and stuff with him and just listen to his music i got to see him play one night at um whiskey jam yeah at whiskey jam and that was so cool but yeah it's amazing um him red clay strays i've been listening to um so much good music out there. So much.
So many great.

Lainey Wilson, I know you talk to her.

I love her so much.

God.

If they had 11 Lainey Wilsons.

Good gal, pal.

You'd be in there in the donut box with 11 Lainey Wilsons.

Because there would, dude.

Yeah.

Yeah, and you'd be the cop.

I would.

Well, no, well, look.

Like, what are y'all doing?

Hey, what are you doing in there, huh?

With the New York accent.

I got to work on that.

Hey, what are you doing in there?

Anyway, Miranda Lambert, thank you so much for all the beautiful music. Thank you for spending time with us today and just sharing a little bit of your life.
And yeah, and thanks for just like the inspiration and just being a space of like, hey, this is where you are. And now let's see where we are and let's make the best stuff yet to come.
And yeah, I just really enjoyed my time.

Well, thank you.

We got deep and it was good.

I liked it.

Yeah.

We talked about some good songs too.

It's nice.

Yep, we sure did.

Your new album is out.

It is?

It is.

Called Postcards from Texas.

Postcards from Texas.

And yeah, we'll be listening to it. And you got to check out Aaron Ratier.

Okay. You're going out Aaron Ratier Okay

You're gonna like him

Okay

Quirky one

Yeah

Yeah

Alright

I'm in

Thank you so much

Thank you

Yep

Now I'm just floating

On the breeze

And I feel I'm falling

Like these leaves

I must be

Cornerstone

Oh

But when I reach that ground

I'll share this peace of mind

I found I can feel it

Thank you. I'll share this peace of mind.
I found I can feel it in my bones, but it's going to take a little time.