Miranda Lambert Paying the Cost to Be the Boss

Miranda Lambert obviously knew that getting into the music business meant a lot of performing, but she quickly discovered there's more to being a country singer than just singing! "There's so much more business in the music business than I thought," she tells The Boot. "I thought it was all music and a little business but it's mostly business and a little music. At least that's how it seems some days."

What first drew the native Texan to play the clubs and honky-tonks in her home state was a simple desire. "I wanted to sing songs and play my guitar," she says. Today, she finds herself spending time trying to balance the books and find cheap fuel, all the while writing songs and touring.

"I'm running a business. Suddenly I'm the boss," she says, perhaps more surprised than anyone of the responsibilities facing someone her age. "Sometimes I tell people, 'I don't know, ask somebody that's not 25 because I don't know the answer.' But that's the way it is. I've really learned a lot about how to run a business and about being good to your people and they'll be good to you. Luckily I've been on a lot of good tours and learned a lot from the greats, so we're doing alright."

Alright, indeed. Miranda is part of Kenny Chesney's Sun City Carnival Tour with Lady Antebellum this summer, and she's getting ready to release 'Revolution,' her third album, in the fall.

"I'm so excited about the new record," she enthuses. "I got to know myself better making this record, both as an artist and as a person. All my influences I've ever had, both musically and in life, came together on one project."

Miranda does have one caution for fans when they hear the new disc. She wants them to be prepared listen to it in its entirety. "It's a record that's a vibe record. It's not something where you listen from song to song or buy one song on iTunes. It's really something that people need to buy as a whole thing, because it all goes together, each song flows to next."

Miranda adds that the album is "a little grown up, more than the crazy-eyed kid with guns in the corner, hiding. But there's still some of that on there. There's still classic Miranda killing people. Don't worry!"

So far 'Revolution''s only casualty is 'Dead Flowers,' the first single. The album is due in stores on September 29.