For another generation, Texas continues to double down in Tennessee

Welcome to The Pick, The Tennessean music staff's weekly email conversation about all things you need to know — hot insider takes from Music City's legendary creative community, plus the who, what and where impacting our communities from Lower Broadway to Leiper's Fork and beyond.

I'm Marcus K. Dowling , The Tennessean's country music reporter.

Miranda Lambert's back — and more than ever before, she's bringing her home state along for the ride.

"Postcards from Texas," Miranda Lambert's ninth studio album — and first as an artist signed to Republic Records — will arrive Sept. 13.

As of November 2023 , Lambert has been announced as having moved from her 18-year home at Sony Nashville to becoming a Republic Records-signed artist and co-founder of the Big Loud Texas imprint alongside previously mentioned frequent collaborator and singer-songwriter Jon Randall .

The album promises acoustic guitar performances, ballads, rockers and yes, plenty of fiddle and steel guitar.

"Lambert continues making music that speaks to the heart of women who love hard, live out loud and are fearless about how they take on the world around them," adds a press statement.

Lambert visits Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater Oct. 5 for a special "Music for Mutts" benefit concert to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her MuttNation Foundation. The organization has raised nearly $10 million to support its mission to advance and support the welfare and adoption of shelter pets nationwide.

Before you do anything else: Check out my colleague — and USA TODAY's Beyoncé reporter — Caché McClay's reflection on the 25th anniversary of Destiny's Child's 1999 album "The Writing's on the Wall." Her reporting features exclusive interviews with Beyoncé's father and the group's manager at the time Mathew Knowles, songwriter Kandi Burruss and producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri, among many.

Thing You Must Try To Do This Week

• Check out Charley Crockett at the Ryman Auditorium
  • The Texas-born Americana Music Association award-winning performer plays a two-night stand at the Ryman Auditorium July 26-27. Tickets for Crockett's tour are available via CharleyCrockett.com .
  • Recently, he dropped album No. 14, "$10 Cowboy Chapter II: Visions of Dallas." The album accompanies "$10 Cowboy," his critically acclaimed release from April.
  • His November 2022 Ryman appearance received so much acclaim that it was released as a live album in 2023.

Artist Spotlight: Kenny Chesney

It's 2024 and 33 No. 1 singles, and Kenny Chesney shows no signs of showing down three decades later.

The superstar artist and touring icon will be joined by Grammy winners the Zac Brown Band, emerging star Megan Moroney and Chesney's multiple-week No. 1 "When the Sun Goes Down" duet partner Uncle Kracker — himself known for the hits "Follow Me" and "Drift Away" — for an Aug. 3 date at Nissan Stadium.

Two dozen dates in, the tour recently hit Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium and via back-to-back nights played, achieved success only matched by The Rolling Stones at the half-decade-old venue.

Like Chesney, Kelsea Ballerini — another Knoxville area native and his "half of my hometown" collaborator — appeared at the event.

This moment follows one month ago when his single "Take Her Home" hit the top of Billboard's Country Airplay chart.

"These songs hold pieces of actual lives inside them; they're more than hits (and help) people see themselves on the radio. To me, that's why I started doing this," added the performer.

Song You Need To Hear

• Shaboozey feat. BigXThatPlug - Drink Don't Need No Mix - Let's keep the Texas theme rolling with Shaboozey's likely official follow-up single to his double-platinum-selling single "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," from his two-month-old album "Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going." Featuring rising Houston rap favorite (and proud Texan ) BigXthaPlug, it doubles down on the style that's keyed success for artists like himself, plus bar-partying, hip-hop-loving boot-wearers like Post Malone and Morgan Wallen.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: For another generation, Texas continues to double down in Tennessee