Miranda Lambert- Postcards From Texas
Label: Big Loud
Producers: Jon Randall and Miranda Lambert
Her tenth studio album, Postcards From Texas serves as Miranda Lambert’s first record released under a new upstart record deal with Republic Records/Big Loud Management, after spending two decades as one of country music’s mainstream headliners on RCA Nashville’s roster. Couple this departure from the major labels with the fact that it’s the first album Lambert has crafted in her home-state of Texas since the launch of her national career and the narrative practically writes itself. It’d be easy to peg this as the moment where a Music City superstar finally asserts her own creative independence after being set free from the industry chains. Except for the fact that this is Miranda Lambert that we’re talking about. This is the same artistic maverick who participated in side projects like Pistol Annies and The Marfa Tapes, penned a double album about her divorce from one of country’s leading men, and upheld the standards of classic country songwriting all during her stint in the majors. And while she’s made the occasional misstep that anyone recording as long as she has will be prone to, she’s unquestionably amassed one of the country pantheon’s most consistently stellar library of albums, in the same vein as women like Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Trisha Yearwood before her. Therefore, it’s more logical to expect Postcards to be yet another moment of excellent music in a long line of it, perhaps with the added novelty of launching a new era in the career of one of today’s best creative voices. That’s not to say the album doesn’t lean into its Lone Star surroundings with an added spice of Texas spirit. There are joyfully unhinged Southern moments like album opener, “Armadillo”, sassy mountain romp “Bitch on the Sauce (Just Drunk)” and the comedic divorce anthem, “Alimony”. She nods her hat to vintage 70s Outlaw sounds on the gorgeous steel showcase, “Lookin’ Back On Luckenbach” and with a thrilling, left-field cover of David Allan Coe’s “Living on the Run”. Meanwhile, she unites with another Red Dirt-rooted hitmaker in Parker McCollum on “Santa Fe”, a lilting duet from the stellar Texas father-daughter songwriting duo of Dean Dillon and Jessi James Dillon. All of these highlights certainly provide plenty of hometown flare to the proceedings, but the fact that they all feel like the natural trappings of any great Lambert record again just speaks to how authentically rooted her music has been all along. She still gives into her rock leanings and fiery caricature tendencies on a track like “Wrangers”, which actually succeeds far better within the body of the album than it did as a standalone single; we can safely state that any worry about stagnation that the song originally suggested upon release this spring was indeed a false alarm. As with any album in her canon, it’s the fabulous moments of restraint and heartbreak that truly give Postcards its full-bodied identity. And these are among some of the finest of her entire career, from the bittersweet reflections of “Dammit Randy” to the devastating restlessness and fierce feminine independence of “Run” and “No Man’s Land” respectively. At a time in a musical career where it’d be commonplace and understandable to see an artist start to coast or slow down completely, Miranda Lambert offers a project indicative that she is merely just beginning to unveil what she has to say as a musical storyteller. How fortunate are we as the listeners. It’s the kind of perseverance and creative longevity that will officially cement her name among the greats she has long emulated up to this point, and surely make for a long and fascinating legacy act in the years and even decades ahead.
Track Listing:
- “Armadillo” (Aaron Raitiere, Jon Decious, Park Twomey)
- “Dammit Randy” (Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall, Brendan McLoughlin)
- “Looking Back on Luckenbach” (Lambert, Natalie Hemby, Shane McAnally)
- “Santa Fe” featuring Parker McCollum (Lambert, Dean Dillon, Jessi Jo Dillon, Jesse Frasure)
- “January Heart” (Brent Cobb, Neil Medley)
- “Wranglers” (Audra Mae, Ryan Carpenter, Evan McKeever)
- “Run” (Lambert)
- “Alimony” (Lambert, Hemby, McAnally)
- “I Hate Love Songs” (Lambert, Randall, Jack Ingram)
- “No Man’s Land” (Lambert, Luke Dick)
- “Bitch on the Sauce (Just Drunk)” (Lambert, Jaren Johnston)
- “Way Too Good at Breaking My Heart” (Lambert, Randall, Frasure, Jenee Fleenor)
- “Wildfire” (Lambert, Randall, Ingram)
- “Living on the Run” (David Allan Coe, Jimmy L. Howard)
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