Miranda Lambert says that she's pushing hard for some 2018 music from the Pistol Annies, but the much-anticipated reunion is slowed by the many directions that the three members, Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe, are running in right now. The Highway's Storme Warren caught up with Lambert recently and asked her point-blank how close the band was to a new album -- and fans of the trio will likely be a little disappointeed.

"Well, we're not close yet," Lambert says -- but it's not for lack of motivation. "The other night, I had a song that just kind of came out of the air to me," the star shares, so Lambert sent the new music out to Presley and Monroe as a group text, "and within three minutes, I had a full song."

Lambert began hinting at a reunion album during the summer of 2017, and in January, she posted on social media that she was working on music for the project. It will be the first music from the trio since 2013.

"Everybody is kind of in different directions, which is why the Annies always takes a while," Lambert tells Warren, adding that she is pushing hard to at least get the music written this year. "We're very much in the spirit of the Annies right now," she says.

The process is one that Lambert looks forward to, whenever it happens: "It's like a slumber party, and you get to actually write songs with your friends."

The trio formed in 2011 and released their debut album, Hell on Heels.

"It happened so randomly and organically," Lambert admits. "I guess that was seven years ago, and it's just been a fun ride. We get on the bus and paint our nails and write songs."

Warren also asked Lambert where she finds the drive to work on a new project after the emotionally driven double-disc The Weight of These Wingsreleased in 2016.

"I am in absolute ass-kicking mode right now," Lambert says. "I just feel this energy and this excitement about what's coming next -- the Annies and my own solo stuff."

The country star notes that her craft is the thing that brought healing and new passion after a stormy season in her personal life: Bad things happen, and music is therapy and medicine," Lambert shares. "It honestly gave me more strength to go, 'Alright, I got through that, I'm happy, let's move on, let's do something new.'"

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