Miranda on Miranda (Or, Some Golden Interview Outtakes)

Miranda Lambert is having one of the most successful years of her career...as Ella Langley's producer, co-writer and mentor. It's bittersweet for the longtime Ran Fans (I believe both Marissa and I would count ourselves among them), who've been fighting for Lambert — one of the preeminent country voices both as a singer and a writer of this era — to get this kind of attention and recognition for ages. She's getting it finally, sort of, just as more of an elder statesman and behind-the-scenes figure...and the reasons for that aren't exactly rocket science (sexism as usual etc.).

I was lucky enough to speak with Miranda two years ago ahead of her much ballyhooed return to Texas album Postcards From Texas for a Texas Monthly profile (how many times can we say Texas in one sentence)...ironically the interview was in Nashville :) She was extremely candid and gracious. As these things go, only a small fraction of her quotes were in the final piece (which of course I'd love for you to check out); so I thought I'd share some of them that I found particularly illuminating with their full context. Again, this interview was two years ago (July 2024, to be specific); not claiming at all that these are new quotes, or that she'd say the same things today! Enjoy!

Miranda on country radio

I'm really thankful that we're stepping back into that space, because country radio for country musicians is a thing — more than almost any other genre, it's just still such a part of our DNA and how we go out and play shows and how people get our music. But it's not been a pretty road for me. There's been some highs and some lows, and there's been some amazing supportive people in radio over the years — and then there's been some knockdown drag outs and battles that I just didn't win, that my songs just couldn't win. So it's frustrating, and I'm anxious, because I know that it matters. 

People have said to me, "We need you on country radio, we're glad you're back." And I appreciate that, but there's certain things I'm just not willing to do anymore to like, claw my way. I have to set some boundaries for myself, because it's been a 21 year journey with that battle. I'm very thankful for people who are on board and who go, "She's been doing this a while, she's…" — I'm faithful to country music. I'm here, I love it so much. I love my Nashville community. I love country music as a whole, all of it. But I've kind of set myself mentally and emotionally, like, "Here's my music. If it works, that would be great." But I will take it to the people live, and I will take it to the people in all the other ways we have, which is nice to have other platforms now. So now's a great time. It used to be that we only kind of had one way to get it out there, and it was a *grind*. I'm a very hard worker, but some things I'm just not willing to do anymore. But I'm also willing to pivot, and I'm learning so much every day about streaming and DSPs. It also changes literally every day, and they're saying all these words about these social platforms that I don't even know what they are but I'm like, "Alright, well, let me learn. I wanna stay cool and hip."

NW: I'll say as a fan, it frustrates me sometimes to see new artists come in (especially men) and just have instant success with seemingly little dues paying — headlining stadiums in no time at all etc. when you've been delivering so consistently and having to fight harder for less.

ML: It's part of it. You see it, the fans see it — and good for them. It is interesting the way it happens now, where it's almost like, instant, and then [clap] it's the stadium tour. I mean, I was opening for people for like 12 years before I could ever get to like headlining arenas, you know what I mean? That way's just the new way. No matter what, there's still dues to pay on either side of that, whether it's on the front end of your success, or you get there quickly, and then you have to live up to that. It's just a different way — certainly for male artists, too, it's just a different path. I'll watch it and sometimes I'm like, "Damn, that happened quick." But I appreciate my experiences, and the longevity and the hours and years and days it took for me to learn how to be where I am now, and to sit in my space comfortably and now, to be a mentor to other artists, with being a founder of a label. I don't think if I had had any other path that I would have the knowledge and insight to be here.

NW: What kinds of advice are you giving the younger artists you're mentoring? 

ML: The first question is like, "What are your biggest, wildest dreams? Where do you see this?" When I was asked that question early on, by my manager Marion, I said, "I want a career like Emmylou and Dolly and Reba. I want to be able to play as long as I physically can. I want longevity, but most importantly, I want the songs to lead, and I want the art to be the centerpiece, and all the other stuff can be the stuff but I want it to be led by music." I like to ask those questions to artists, like let's start there. Let's shoot for the moon and then find the path to get there. Yeah. And also I'm big on like, "Are you willing to do the work?" Because it's a lot. It's a commitment. It's your life's work. It's hard. Especially with the female artists, I'm like, "Let me tell ya what you're looking at here." Because I'm gonna work just as hard for them as they're as they're willing to work, because that's what my team has done, and it's important. 

[Miranda on the Chicks]

Is there a female artist that is not influenced by them? Or just a female from age 25 to 45? I learned so much from them. I'm obviously still a huge fan. I would just like, wait by the door for my dad when they had a new record coming out, to go buy it at Hastings. I would read all the liner notes — just the paper of the CD booklet, how it felt and smelled. The Chicks were very much like...they were rebels, but they were girly. They sounded like Texas, but they were bigger than that. And that was from day one. It just felt like they were very authentically themselves, and that is the most important thing to me. 

That's the other thing that I say to artists. My biggest advice is the advice my mom gave me, which is know who you are and stick with it. You have to know who you are, because if you don't, no one else is gonna believe you. So The Chicks, to me, were so authentically themselves from day one that I just believed every word. They're like these beautiful blondes, but they play instruments, and they write songs, and they sing their asses off. Natalie was not like this tiny, thin little Barbie. She was, like, a woman. I was like, whatever that is, I want to be that. I saw them at the State Fair of Texas when I was 16, early on when they were still playing in daylight. Before Big Tex burned, way back. But I was literally just awestruck. I was so awestruck by them because of their truth telling, and the way that they could deliver a message. They were beautiful but they had grit, and that was everything that I wanted to be. 

NW: How has your relationship with your image and all the work it takes to project "Miranda Lambert," the persona — how have your feelings about that changed? Where are you at with it now? Obviously and unfairly, it weighs so much more on women than men.

ML: Yeah, it does. God, keeping up with the maintenance is a full-time job, between nails and hair and bleach and just girl stuff that you have to go through. It's just a lot, and I really have never cared about the fame part of it. I'm thankful that my music is out there and that people know who I am, and that they actually feel like they know me because I am who I say I am. I'm no bullshit. Whatever you see is what you get. There is Miranda Lambert, brand, and then there's me as myself, and they're not that much different. Just sometimes there's a lot more hair and makeup, you know what I mean? 

I've struggled with ups and downs with my weight over the years, and just...you don't get to call in insecure to work. Just go do it anyway. It teaches you a lot of stamina and discipline and grittiness. There are days that you are going through something personal, or you feel terrible, or you don't feel good about your body and there's a show so you gotta go do it. I've never shied away from letting my fans know that it's not all sunshine and rainbows, guys. Today's shitty. 

Throughout getting more popular and going through a very public divorce, that was a whole different light that I did not ever count on. I had to really learn to navigate that part of it too, and also realize that what strangers have to say about me is really none of my business. I don't really care. If you don't have love to give or some truth to tell me, because I don't surround myself with yes people, then I don't need the negativity. I don't need random comments. I've just really learned how to navigate that. And it still affects you — of course it does. But I'm also like, I am whatever size I am. I'm here raw and real. Some days, I'm really confident and I'm in a very happy place. Some days, I'm going through it. That's just life. And luckily, what I do is music, and the way that I've told my story through my catalogue, I've never shied away from the truth. I don't feel like I ever have anything to hide from my fans or from the public. But I also don't feel like the public needs to know everything. There's something to be said about mystery and about keeping some things just for you, some memories just for you, some photos just for you — some things in your life that are not for the world.