Miranda Lambert Admits Why She Hates Encores

Postcards from Texas , Miranda Lambert’s highly anticipated new album, is out now and she went back to her roots to create it. It’s her first album since the first one she made when she was 17 that she recorded back home in Austin, Texas. Her previous album, Palomino , was all about traveling and stories you find on road trips, Postcards from Texas is all about home. She shared three fundamental things people need to know about her are that she’s from Texas, she rescues dogs, and she likes Tito’s vodka.

One of the songs on the record, “Dammit Randy” she wrote during a time when she was going through some things that no longer served her and she needed to shed and let go of. She described it as a song if you need a moment to flip someone the bird and then move on. As of now, it’s her favorite song on the record. “Bitch on the Sauce (Just Drunk)” was originally called “Just Drunk,” but she already had the song “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)" so she changed the title. She opens the album with a song called “Armadillo” because she thought it was a great way to set up the record. It was the first song she heard that she wanted to cut and liked that it was a very Austin, Texas style song. One of her goals for each project she works on is that there is humor, and she felt that song really captured that. The final song on the record is a cover of a David Allen Cole song called “Living on the Run” and she chose to do that because it felt like it was setting it up for whatever comes next.

Last year, Lambert left her long-time label home at Sony Music Nashville and earlier this year she joined Republic Records with Nashville’s Big Loud.  Joining a new label, she felt like she needed to go back to her roots where it started with both her sound and art. She wanted to get back to what inspired her to start her music journey in the first place.

“Run,” is the only song on the album she wrote completely by herself. She wrote it in 2015, when she was going through a rough time personally and needed to put it on paper. She never found a home for the song because she didn’t feel like it fit anywhere until she was putting together Postcards from Texas. It felt like it landed on this record more than any other one, also she felt ready to finally sing it. She explained how sometimes you hold things close and how every song you write is not for the world and every moment and it can find its moments, especially if it’s extremely personal. For Lambert, it was important to save that song until it was the right moment to put it out into the world. She thinks the song tells its own story and that the whole record is her story with a melody behind it. For her, songwriting is her therapy, and she hopes it becomes that for people who listen to the songs. That’s why she does it, to write a song and hope that someone can relate to it so much they feel like it’s their story too. They want to know they aren’t alone with what they are going through so she thinks it’s important to have a lot of different kinds of songs on records so hopefully everyone can find something to relate to. She used her song “The House That Built Me” as an example. She did not write that song, but every time she performs it, someone cries which in return makes her emotional. “Little Red Wagon” is her favorite song in her entire music catalog right now and she always closes her shows with it. She does not believe in encores because they seem fake to her when you announce it’s over, but then come back on stage shortly after. People start to leave, and she wants to make sure everyone is present for her show, so when she’s done on stage, she makes sure the house lights and music goes on immediately to signal to people that she’s not coming back out.

Lambert celebrated her 40th birthday at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Texas on a Monday night when they were closed but they opened it for her. Since she had played there so many times, they let her have the building to celebrate and they line danced and had so much fun.

Lambert is playing a special benefit show in Nashville on Oct 5th to celebrate MuttNation’s 15th Anniversary and raise money for shelter pets! She also has guest stars coming out to perform and she’s excited because it’s her passion. If she has a platform, she’s always going to use it to give it a voice to the voiceless. Tickets are on sale now!