‘CLASSIC’ MIRANDA LAMBERT BRINGS ‘WILDCARD’ TOUR TO ALLENTOWN FAIR
Lambert, coming to the Allentown Fair, hopes playing a career ‘Wildcard’ will be a jackpot for her
Miranda Lambert’s last album, 2016’s “The Weight of These Wings,” was an unqualified hit.
Her sixth straight album to hit No. 1 on the Country chart, it also crossed over to No. 3 on Billboard’s all-genre Albums chart, sold platinum, and produced two platinum hits in “Tin Man” and “Vice.” It won her four Academy of Country Music Awards, including Album of the Year, song of the Year for “Tin Man” and her ninth consecutive Female Vocalist of the Year, and got her four Grammy Award nominations.
But the album also was the perhaps the most serious of Lambert’s career, mirroring, if not chronicling, her painful divorce from fellow country star Blake Shelton and her subsequent failed relationship with R&B singer Anderson East.
So when it came time to record a new disc, Lambert says she was ready to change direction and record something less weighty and, as she says, more “classic Miranda.”
The result is “Wildcard,” her new album, which she announced last week, and which is due out Nov. 1.
Lambert is likely to play several of her new songs when she headlines Allentown Fairground grandstand at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug.30.
Lambert, 35, says that after using producer Frank Liddell for her entire career, he and she — while remaining “really good friends” — agreed “that maybe I try something new.”
Lambert chose Jay Joyce, known for producing country acts Eric Church, Zac Brown Band and Little Big Town, but also Emmylou Harris, Halestorm and The Wallflowers. Lambert says she has known Joyce a long time and he played on some of her records (he’s a guitarist who has played with Crowded House, The Wallflowers and others).
“It was a scary change,” Lambert says in a phone call from New York, a brief stopover between summer festival shows before she formally starts her tour Sept. 13. “I kind of gave him the reins and just said, like, ‘Push me. Push me out of my comfort zone.’
“And he did, you know? He kind of, like, found the initial kind of getting back to me, what I wanted to do. But then he also was able push me. So I’m really proud of it and proud of working with someone new.”
The disc’s lead-off single, “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” which already was already was in the Top 20 last week, is a fun, sassy return to the Miranda Lambert fans fell for on hits such as 2008’s double-platinum “Gunpowder & Lead” and 2009’s platinum “White Liar.”
Two other more recently released songs, “Locomotive” and “Mess with My Head,” indicate a return to the rock vibe of her 2005 platinum debut “Kerosene.”
The disc’s newest release, “Bluebird,” which dropped just last week, is a slower but still upbeat tune, the lyrics of which give the album its title: “Don’t like where I’m at/34 was bad/ So I just turned 35 … I got a wildcard up my sleeve/And if love keeps giving me lemons, I’ll just mix them in my drink.”
Lambert says people have made it a point to call attention to the rock vibe on “Mess With My Head” and “Locomotive,” but she says she was a country rocker for most of her career before “Weight of These Wings.”
“You know, it’s interesting, because I was listening to … Spotify or Pandora, and ‘Mess with My Head’ came on, and then ‘Kerosene’ came on, and I thought that was interesting because there wasn’t a huge difference in the two.
“And I hadn’t thought about it before, and this just happened like two days ago. And I thought, ‘Oh my goodness! I’ve always had a rock edge.’ It’s just I don’t really think I had that on the last record, and so it sounds, like, really fresh to everybody coming from me. But you kinda look back, I’ve always had a little bit of a rock ‘n’ roll vibe in some of the songs.”
She says “It All Comes Out in the Wash” was chosen as the first single because “it’s kind of fun to me. It’s like I call it ‘classic Miranda.’ It’s kitschy and it’s got some, you know, sarcasm in it,” she says with a laugh. “It’s honest. … I guess an easy way to put it is [stuff ] happens, you know what I mean?
“So I feel like, I don’t know, it’s not too heavy and kinda lighthearted and fun, and felt like the good one to release first, ‘cause I hadn’t had a fun song like that out in a while.”
Lambert says the new disc also will have “some stone-cold country songs” on it. “I’ll never get away from country music because it’s, like, my core and what I love the most,” she says. “So I think there’s something for everybody on here. It’s like 52 minutes of music that, hopefully, will speak to your life.”
That broader approach to music is part of what has made Lambert so successful.
In a 15-year career, she has had 18 songs that sold gold or platinum, including “The
House That Built Me,” “Over You” and “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
Twelve of those hit the Top 10, with four No. 1 hits: “The House That Built Me,” “Heart Like Mine,” “Over You” and 2014’s “Somethin’ Bad” with Carrie Underwood.
Lambert won the Country Music Association Awards’ Album of the Year twice in a row, making her the first woman to do that. And she won nine Academy of Country Music Female Vocalist of the Year awards in a row — the most consecutive wins in that category — beating out Reba McEntire.
“Which is insane,” Lambert says with a laugh. “I mean, maybe only in the ACMs. I’ll never surpass Reba.”
Lambert was nominated for a 10th time this year, but the honor went to Kacey Musgraves.
“I’m fine with it,” Lambert says. “I’m thankful that I‘ve had all the wins that I’ve had and also happy to pass the torch to someone else who’s out there doing just the same amount of work that I’m doing. … I’m appreciative and it’s nice to be nominated and of course it’s nice to win, but I feel like spreading the love is more important than taking home a trophy.”
But even after all those accolades, “The Weight of These Wings,” with its seriousness, was special for Lambert.
“That album was perfect for the time in my life. That needed to be, that album. It had a lot of a journey on it – for the last … since 2015, really. … I’m always pretty honest in my music, so when people ask me what’s been going on, I’m like, ‘Well, you can hear it all,’” she says with a laugh.
“When you got through things in life and you’re a songwriter, the news is you can use it as therapy and write about it, you know? And hopefully it’s other peoples’ story, too. But you can’t live in that moment, and I think [the new] record has taken me from that phase to a new phase.
“I was actually just excited. I was ready to make new music, I was ready to have more fun and kind of get back out there on the road, ‘cause I took some time off. I feel like, if I had to choose a word that would describe making this record, it was just ‘excitement.’”
In between “The Weight of These Wings” and “Wildcard,” Lambert has even more success: Her band The Pistol Annies with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley in November released its third disc, “Interstate Gospel,” and saw it hit No. 1 on the Country chart.
“I’m such a fan of the Pistol Annies,” Lambert says. “I’m in it, but I’m just like giddy about it ‘cause those two girls are like my sisters. And when we get together and write songs about our lives and then people respond, it just means the world.” And Lambert says the group will continue. In fact, the group will be part of the fall tour. “Oh yeah. It’s a passion project for sure,” she says.
Just as her music has turned away from the subject matter of “The Weight of These Wings,” Lambert’s life also has become more positive.
In January, she married New York City police officer Brendan McLoughlin. Asked about her newlywed life, Lambert says excitedly, “It’s going great!”
Asked if her new husband is familiar with what life will be like with her on tour, she laughs. “Well, he will be.”