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The last time VanRamblings fell as head-over-
heels in love with a country artist as we have with Miranda Lambert was when we first heard Allison Moorer on her 1998 début, Alabama Song.
Since then, it’s been something of a drought for us, although we’ve managed to get by quite nicely with Kasey Chambers’ rollickin’ début, not to mention, an occasional listen to Iris DeMent (who we also love), Julie Miller, Lee Ann Womack, the Kinleys, Lucinda Williams (great in concert!), Tammy Cochran, Tift Merritt and Alison Krauss.
Then along comes Miranda Lambert, who we first heard about from music critic for The New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones, when on a year-end music panel on The Charlie Rose Show he called Lambert “the best new artist of the year, rock, country or pop.” And we’ve been smitten ever since.
Like most traditional progressive country artists, Miranda Lambert sings from the heart, as she writes about what she knows, about the people travelling down the back roads of the southern United States. One can hardly imagine Britney Spears singing a song about a Greyhound Bound For Nowhere. Miranda Lambert sings roots music of the first order.
