Miranda Lambert Continues to Revel in Her Own ‘Revolution’
Miranda Lambert is riding high with her recent success, having taken home not one, but three ACM Awards, including the Album of the Year for 'Revolution' and Top Female Vocalist. It's the second time she's captured the ACM's Album of the Year prize, and the first time a female solo artist has accomplished that feat. She also earned her wings when she flew straight to the top of the country charts -- for the first time -- with her hit 'White Liar' earlier this year.
Miranda is now experiencing another first -- dipping her toes into the headlining pool. The feisty yet feminine performer has top billing with her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars tour, which winds its way around the Midwest this month. She says the tour has "exceeded her expectations," with many of the shows being sold out.
On Sunday (May 9), the Texas native performs on an episode of the popular ABC series, 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' along with Sheryl Crow, who sang with Miranda on her latest smash hit, 'The House That Built Me.' (Tune in on Sunday at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.)
The Boot caught up with Miranda at a Nashville studio, to talk with her about her recent ACM wins, one of the coolest things she's ever received from an artist she looks up to ... literally, and how her life is changing in an unbelievable way. She also talks about relationships -- her friendship with Carrie Underwood and her love for boyfriend Blake Shelton ... even though she "stole" a valuable gem from him.
Were there any notes or gifts from other artists that stand out, following your wins at the ACMs?
I got a telegram from Alan Jackson. I don't even know how to send a telegram! It was the coolest thing ever. Just saying, "Congratulations on your awards, Alan Jackson." 'That's the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. And my manager said, "Someone wants to send you a telegram, where do you want that sent?" I said, "How do you send a telegram? What is that?" But a million texts and a million congratulations, and you don't get tired of hearing that!
So you're still riding high now, a few weeks later, from those wins?
I'm one of those people that will milk it to the last drop when I win something. I'm still talking about Album of the Year that I won two years ago! If Blake's been bad, I say, "You can't talk to me like that, I won Album of the Year!" I have a lot more leverage; it is awesome [laughs]. Album of the Year is something that I'll always hope for. But getting Video of the Year was great, too, because my whole family, band and crew was in it, [and] my best friend from third grade. But Female Vocalist of the Year is something I never even really dreamed about winning. I never considered myself up there with Reba [McEntire] and Martina [McBride] and Carrie. First of all, I started crying ... I'm usually the non-crier. I sometimes go, "Am I rude because I don't cry? I'm too excited to cry!" But that one really broke me.
Right now you're on tour with a bunch of boys, but you've said you would like to put together an all-girl tour some day. With your close friendship with Carrie Underwood, are you any closer to making that happen?
I think so. I would love to tour with girls. And I think Carrie would push me as a singer and I would open her mind up to more rockin' stuff, because I'm more of the rocker and she's such a great singer, so put the two together and we would be a force, for sure ... And what will be really good training to know if it would be a cool girl thing to do, is Lilith Fair. It's such a great opportunity to know if that's something that I would enjoy and something that would work. Carrie's the first one that comes to mind every time I think of it. I saw a Country Weekly poll this week -- 75% of people are looking most forward to her tour. I said, "Alright! Go for the girls."
At the ACM Awards, everybody got to get a glimpse into the respect you and Carrie have for each other and how much fun you have together.
Carrie and I kind of came from the same world. She's from '[American] Idol,' and I'm from 'Nashville Star.' I don't think either one of our careers rely on that at this point; we both set ourselves way apart just by making good records. The friendship comes from just two girls that really understand what each other is going through. The only person that really understands every aspect of what you do as an artist is an artist, especially a female. And when we first met, I don't think we loved each other per se, we were just kinda like, "What are you about?'" But over the past five years, it's cool to respect somebody and to also like them as a person and to see them succeed. We both just really respect each other and are genuinely happy for each other. I mean, it's girls' time! It's been a while ... And Carrie's really shy -- she's shy by nature, and I'm not. So I sometimes feel like I force myself on her. I'm like, "Come on! We're gonna have a shot together! We're gonna drink a glass of wine!"
Being a female headliner, you have decided to take some pretty good-looking guys out on tour with you. So, who is the best eye candy?
David Nail, James Otto, Chris Young [and] Eric Church ... they are all so horrible to look at. [laughs] People keep asking me, "Well, why did you decide to bring these different guys out?" It's such a different dynamic, and it's a little bit of eye candy for everybody. I mean there's a girl and a guy, and if you come as a couple, you can all have something to look at! I am excited, too, because every guy that has been out so far has such a different dynamic. James Otto, I don't want him to ever ever come out with us again because I don't want to follow that. He was really, really good. We were out there and all of us were like, "Oh my gosh!" My booking agent was standing there, and he says, "He gets the ax, he's too good."
We heard that you actually stole 'The House That Built Me' from Blake. Is that true?
'The House That Built Me' was for Blake. Scott Hendricks [Blake's producer] had given that song to Blake, and we heard it together. My reaction was just crying for two hours. He probably felt, "Just take whatever you want" because I was saying, "When I grew up, my dog ..." [fake sobbing], and I was telling him all these stories. That song just does that to you. And I said, "I love this song," and he said, "I've never seen anyone have a reaction to a song like that, just from first listen. Do you want that song?" And I said, "Yeah I really do want it." So, he called his producer right then and said, "Can you switch that song off hold for me and put it on hold for Miranda?" Last week, Blake wakes up and looks at All Access [a music industry trade publication] and reads me the charts and lets me know where everything is ... He was telling me about how it made a huge jump on the chart, and he said "You know, I'm gonna need that song back now." [laughs] Little late now, bud.
You and Blake joke about the competition between each other, but you truly are supportive of one another. Is it a delicate balance between the relationship and the careers, with no jealousy involved?
I just respect him so much as a person, and then in a whole separate way, I respect him as an artist and a businessman. He's running a business and he has for ten years, and I've learned a lot from him and his decisions. But because we love each other, we're happy for each other and support each other no matter what. But it's so fun right now to both have success at the same time, because I know that's not gonna last forever. And we're gonna have times where he's doing great and I'm not, and I'm doing great and he's not. But I've really never had any jealousy at all as far as on my side, of him. He's had a bunch more No. 1's than I have, and I was happy for him. And I think that he would say the exact same thing. And then the other part of that is, it's great to go to the ACMs together and be on the red carpet and celebrate awards ... And then we go home and the next day, and he's out on a tractor and I'm playing with my dogs and planting flowers. We're really normal. We go back to our life, and this isn't what we dwell on because all this will go away one day and we'll still be planting flowers.
You recently had a pair of famous faces, John Fogerty and Jamie Foxx, reveal that they are fans of yours. How surprised were you by these two very different people singing your praises?
The fact that they even knew who I was was a big deal to me. Jamie Foxx invited me personally, called a few times, because we hadn't RSVP'd to come to his after-party at the Grammys. So I said, "Of course, we will!" And we walk in, and he's the nicest person, he just starts singing 'White Liar,' and he said he had some country-format songs he wanted to write. And so I wrote a hip-hop song in the limo on the way home. My brother was in the car, and he said, "Don't ever, ever sing that in public. It's awful." And I replied, "OK, well at least I wrote a hip-hop song." I'm breaking into that world. [laughs] But anyway, Jamie is such an amazing, talented person -- music and acting, and he's also really nice. I love people like that.
And then John Fogerty. CMT actually played me a piece of an interview they did with him, and [he] just went on and on and said that he was a fan, and he heard 'More Like Her' and thought it was from 20 years ago. And he said he started downloading my music. He actually called me two days ago and told me this story on the phone, and I was about to throw up I was so nervous. I thought it was Blake because it said "blocked call." I said, "Hello ..." He said, "Hello is this Miranda? This is John Fogerty. "I was like, "Um ... hold on." Oh my God! I was freaking out. But he's the nicest person and he said, "I just want you to know I found you," really sincerely, "and I love your music and I thought that I had discovered you, but then I Googled you and realized I hadn't." That just meant the world. I asked him if he would try writing with me sometime, maybe on my next project, and he said he would. That would be amazing!
Have you begun writing for that next project?
I'm going to start writing for the next album in the fall ... which seems crazy, because I feel like this one just came out! Once I finish a record, I usually don't write for a really long time because I'm burnt. But this time I have been writing so much, just all kinds of songs with all different people. I'm really excited! But you'll probably ask me this a year from now, and I'll be scared to death because of all of the greatness going on right now. Putting out a new record it's like, "Will it live up to what 'Revolution' did?" I'm gonna try not to compare myself to myself, but it's hard not to sometimes. But I'm just really excited in general now -- I have everything in line for once, and it's awesome. My personal life, my music, and I feel more creative than ever. I guess success brings on that creativity because it's working, so I want to do it some more.
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