Divorce quietly influences songs on Lambert’s new double album
Anyone who listens to Miranda Lambert’s latest record in hopes of a juicy slam of ex-husband Blake Shelton should stick to the tabloids.
The country-music couple with megawatt star power — a younger version of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill — split in 2015.
Shelton’s 2016 breakup album, “If I’m Honest,” includes a smattering of downhearted country/pop tunes about Lambert and several more love songs about current girlfriend (and fellow “The Voice” coach) Gwen Stefani.
A few months later, Lambert burst back from the heartbreak of the previous year with “The Weight of These Wings,” an understated 24-song double album addressing the divorce on her terms.
The result — with Lambert writing 20 of the tracks — won Album of the Year at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards.
She’ll perform from “The Weight of These Wings” during her co-headlining set Sunday at Buckeye Country Superfest. (She takes the stage at 8:10 p.m., followed by Kenny Chesney.)
Lambert admitted that she was terrified to put out an album this lengthy.
“Nowadays, we live in a singles-focused world, and releasing a full album with 12 or so songs can be pretty tough, let alone a double album,” the singer, 33, said in an email interview. “‘The Weight of These Wings’ kind of became a double album while editing the music to the songs that I wanted to put out there.”
She started with 70 songs, whittling them during the year she spent on the album.
“Those songs reflect a time of a lot of changes in my life, and it became clear which songs needed to be included
in order to tell my story,” she said.
The musically reined-in result is decidedly old-school country when compared with the modern standards of