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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/02\/arts\/music\/miranda-lambert-popcast-interview.html?emc=edit_nn_20261002&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227407",
    "parsed_content": "PopcastHow Miranda Lambert Went From \u2018Gun-Toting Redneck\u2019 to \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019 and JoyPopcastHow Miranda Lambert Went From \u2018Gun-Toting Redneck\u2019 to \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019 and JoyCredit...Supported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTShare full articleBy Jon Caramanica and Joe CoscarelliVisuals by Katie McCurdyOct. 2, 2026VideoHow Ella Langley & Miranda Lambert Made History With \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019Watch the full conversation with Miranda Lambert. Edited excerpts from the interview are below.CreditCredit...Katie McCurdy for The New York TimesFor 24 record-setting weeks, Ella Langley\u2019s \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d has topped the Billboard Hot 100. Which means that for 24 weeks, Miranda Lambert \u2014 the veteran singer-songwriter who made the track with Langley \u2014 has had a front-row seat to a version of country music success that\u2019s virtually unprecedented. And given Lambert\u2019s own experiences, might even seem unfathomable.More than two decades ago, Lambert, 42, began her run as one of the genre\u2019s only female superstars of the modern era, a tough-talking spitfire with a keen ability to write bracingly detailed songs about the seamier sides of life. Women with Lambert\u2019s level of success in Nashville were few and far between in the 2000s and 2010s. She was a steady hitmaker (\u201cGunpowder & Lead,\u201d \u201cKerosene,\u201d \u201cBluebird\u201d), but also something of an enigma, never fully acceding to the demands and boxes the industry placed around female performers.\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of time in my career burning people\u2019s houses down and waiting behind the door with a shotgun and cigarette. And then, you know, crying to \u2018House That Built Me,\u2019\u201d Lambert said on Popcast, the New York Times pop culture show. \u201cI felt like I lived a lot of the stories that I\u2019ve written about, but I\u2019ve never really gone full joy.\u201dThat turn has arrived on her 10th solo album, \u201cCrisco,\u201d out Friday, which is far more playful than her most fiery or introspective releases, and leans in to some of the ecstatic up-tempo country music of the 1970s and 1980s. It\u2019s a new sound \u2014 complete with strings and beats to roller-skate to \u2014 following years of winningly ragged and rousing storytelling country.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThis lightness and openness reflects a new, broader perspective for Lambert. She executive produced Langley\u2019s album, \u201cDandelion,\u201d her first time in that mentorship role. And she recently had a rapprochement with Kacey Musgraves, a childhood acquaintance with whom she\u2019d had a frosty relationship as they traversed Nashville\u2019s obstacle course on parallel tracks. Earlier this year, they united for a clearing-the-air duet, \u201cHorses and Divorces,\u201d on Musgraves\u2019s \u201cMiddle of Nowhere.\u201dWhile sipping from a mug of self-poured \u201ccharm juice\u201d \u2014 Tito\u2019s and soda \u2014 Lambert spoke with Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli about country music\u2019s long-running cold war with female performers; letting go of old grudges; and just how far not being manageable can take you.How Ella Langley & Miranda Lambert Made History With \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019Listen to the full conversation.Listen \u00b7 1 hr 11 minJON CARAMANICA We seem to be in a moment of truly ascendant female performers in country, with the success of Ella Langley and many others. We\u2019ve lived through far worse decades \u2014 everything from Tomato-gate all the way back to issues about what women can sing about in the \u201960s and \u201970s. I wonder if you could talk about what it was like to be a female star in the 2000s. What were the limitations that were put around you, even ones that you may not have realized until later?AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMIRANDA LAMBERT I wanted to be known for my songs, not for being the pretty girl or wearing crop tops. In the early 2000s, that was kind of the thing: It\u2019s like, dress sexy and be a pretty girl. And I was like, I\u2019m a gun-toting redneck, you know what I mean?ImageElla Langley, left, and Miranda Lambert share the stage at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2025.Credit...Chris Pizzello\/Invision, via Associated PressI was always a pistol. And I wanted to make sure that it didn\u2019t get lost in translation. I think that\u2019s why Ella \u2014 I see a lot of myself in her. I was wearing vintage Waylon Jennings shirts. I\u2019m wearing wife-beaters \u2014 I can\u2019t call them wife-beaters anymore.And then in the 2010s era, there were no females at all. Carrie Underwood and I made it through pretty much a solid at least seven years of only guy artists. And now I feel like it is really balanced. And I think a lot of that has to do with the way music is consumed, with social media and with streaming, and how there\u2019s finally room for every-damn-body.JOE COSCARELLI Was there any part of you that at the time felt prideful that you were the exception?LAMBERT Yeah, I mean, I feel like we should get a ribbon for surviving that. That was a hard time, honestly. Carrie and I went to each other\u2019s residencies in Vegas, and it was a really cool bonding moment because, first of all, her show was incredible, and we had never seen each other. You know why? There were only two girls for so long. We weren\u2019t playing the same shows ever. Like, one over here, one over there. So it was kind of crazy that just three years ago we finally saw each other\u2019s show for the first time.It\u2019s gotten so much better, and I\u2019m so thankful that there\u2019s room for a crowd now. Everybody has something different. I feel like all the voices can be heard, all the messages can be heard. You don\u2019t have to love them all, but at least there\u2019s a way to hear them. All the power now is with the fans.COSCARELLI How did you come to the Ella project, especially as an executive producer?LAMBERT I mean, that girl knows what she wants. She knows exactly who she is. Ella stopped me on a red carpet at the ACMs probably five years ago and was like, I want to talk to you about producing my record. She doesn\u2019t give you a choice. I mean that in the best way ever.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAnd so we started writing, rented a house outside of Nashville and stayed for two days, and \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d was one of the songs we wrote. I just really loved that she was so strong in her vision. I saw so much of my 19-year-old self going to Nashville saying the same stuff.ImageAnd so I was like, I\u2019m down, I\u2019ve never done it, so we\u2019re gonna learn together. There were hard parts of it. Creating a record is a long journey, and it\u2019s a lot of emotions, and I did tell her, If we don\u2019t fight by the end of this, we probably didn\u2019t do it right.COSCARELLI So you guys were butting heads?LAMBERT Yeah, we did a lot, and I think that\u2019s important because we needed to. I wanted it to be right.COSCARELLI Was there anything on \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d in particular that you guys disagreed on?LAMBERT That one is just like a piece of our DNA, so no. There\u2019s this nostalgia to it, and her love for country and my love for country. It was like, this is what it\u2019s supposed to be. Let\u2019s let it be, you know?CARAMANICA Do you think that ease of construction is what people connect to in the song? What is the thing that you think people are drawn to?AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTLAMBERT A few things: I think it is easy to listen to. I think that \u201csig lick\u201d at the top \u2014 the intro. You know exactly what it is. It\u2019s like when I hear \u201cAmarillo by Morning,\u201d and when I hear \u201cBoot Scootin\u2019 Boogie.\u201d And what I love about the story in \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d is that she loses. He didn\u2019t really do anything wrong. She just didn\u2019t win. And I like the vulnerability of that.ImageCARAMANICA This new album, especially compared to the last two or three projects, feels playful. The production is obviously hearkening back to some \u201970s and \u201980s tempo-driven country music, which went away for a long time and then came back in bastardized form in the 2010s. But now I feel like we\u2019re really back to the brass tacks of how it was 40 years ago. Why did you choose this sound for this album at this time?LAMBERT I have a song that I wrote with Chris Stapleton and my friend Jesse Frasure called \u201cA Song to Sing.\u201d We put that out and we filmed the video at the Brentwood skate rink in roller skates. It was very, very \u201970s, \u201980s, hard-core, go all the way there, and it really kind of set us on this journey.And in the meantime, someone had said to me, \u201ccountry disco is Crisco,\u201d and I was like, I love that. That is real country. And also my grandma had that in her kitchen my entire life, so I was like, you know what, we should just write a few more, just for fun. I feel like 23 years, almost, in the industry earned me some creative freedom, I hope.There\u2019s a lot of different layers to this record. Most of it\u2019s joyful. There\u2019s some Patsy and Tammy moments \u2014 there\u2019s a few of those tear-in-your-voice ballads \u2014 but the majority of it is just a groove. It mostly makes you want to skate.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCOSCARELLI It\u2019s both an au courant sound \u2014 newer listeners to country know Kacey Musgraves and her blending of country and disco \u2014 but then, if you go a little deeper, and especially on \u201cCrisco,\u201d the title track, you reference \u201cIslands in the Stream\u201d by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. This isn\u2019t new \u2026LAMBERT It\u2019s absolutely not new. \u201cIslands in the Stream.\u201d Glen Campbell was such a big inspiration for this, too. And it\u2019s got some Bee Gees vibes. It\u2019s got Rosanne Cash. We have a Jim Croce cover on this. It\u2019s one of those places in country music I\u2019ve never personally explored. I\u2019ve been more of a three-chords-and-the-truth, Merle Haggard girl.ImageLambert performing in 2007. Credit...Rahav Segev for The New York TimesCOSCARELLI The other thing you did with this album, to go with the fun sound, is you made little videos for every track. There\u2019s a track called \u201cCowgirl Curtsy\u201d and there you are, in a honky-tonk. Is this a concession to TikTok and country music\u2019s success in new mediums?LAMBERT I mean, if y\u2019all are new here because of \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas,\u201d welcome and stay a while, right? I\u2019m so happy about that, but I\u2019m trying to not be a dinosaur about it and go, OK, I can lean in, but do it my way so I don\u2019t feel cheesy or uncomfortable or weird.It\u2019s just hard to keep up, you know? Everything changes constantly with content and what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not. I started in 2003, really, and I was stapling my concert posters to phone poles outside dive bars. It was just a completely different landscape. I am a really pretty introverted, private person. I just have a public job.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCOSCARELLI You had your own interesting pathway into the industry, because you came up in part through a reality competition show, and had so much success so soon. What did you see about fame then that made you decide to take a different path, back into your personal privacy and maybe one half-step out of the spotlight?ImageLAMBERT I was on a TV show called \u201cNashville Star.\u201d I did not win, which was a blessing looking back. I did three years of honky-tonks before that, though. So I got my chops the super old-school way.I\u2019d never flown on an airplane by myself at this time, and I feel like I learned that the cameras and the lights and all that \u2014 you have to make some choices around that to live a really good life and make sure that you stay rooted. Not everything is for everyone to have. Some of that\u2019s just for you, and I think that\u2019s OK. But I\u2019m willing to give most of it in my songs. So if you need to know something, go through the catalog. It\u2019s in there. It\u2019s honesty, but it\u2019s maybe not in an in-your-face kind of way.My other tip, or what I live by, is don\u2019t surround yourself with yes people, because that doesn\u2019t end well. You need to have truth-tellers in your life: your family, your friends, your team, your management team, people working with you every day. I just feel like it\u2019s so important to have people tell you, \u201cThose jeans look like [expletive] on you,\u201d which is my mother. \u201cThat\u2019s not my favorite song,\u201d or \u201cWe don\u2019t think this is a good career move.\u201dMy manager Marion, she has a tiny, tiny Porsche. She would take me in her car and park at the park and lock the doors, so we\u2019re this close, and she\u2019s very tall and German and commanding, and be like, \u201cYou\u2019re not being manageable.\u201d And I\u2019m like, Oh no, I\u2019m in trouble.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCARAMANICA What were you doing that was making you unmanageable?LAMBERT I was being wild, going honky-tonking all the time, not focusing, not getting enough rest, getting sick on the road \u2014 just, as we say, bucking it out. I\u2019m really strong-willed.COSCARELLI Now that you\u2019ve come out of that wilderness, it seems like you\u2019re maybe more openhearted, more willing to try things. You and Kacey Musgraves have this amazing duet this year called \u201cHorses and Divorces\u201d about the things you have in common, and about how maybe you guys weren\u2019t so nice to each other in the past. What has it been like to get to the other side of that rivalry mind-set?LAMBERT I think it\u2019s important, and also, does it matter, really? What even was it? Some dumb girl drama we don\u2019t even remember.COSCARELLI Some weird meme from an award show.LAMBERT Whatever, who cares? We don\u2019t have to be best friends either, but I respect her, she respects me, and literally, I\u2019ve known her since she was 10. We grew up together. Very similar paths, basically the same hometown. I really want us to be there for each other as artists in general, as songwriters, as humans, and especially as female artists. We have the most amazing job in the world, but that does not mean it\u2019s easy, ever. It gets sticky out there sometimes. It just felt good \u2014 as we say in the song, whiskey under the bridge. I don\u2019t have the energy anymore to be so grudgy and hold on to things that don\u2019t matter.CreditsPopcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli and produced by Sophie Erickson, Kate LoPresti and Felice Leon. This episode was filmed by Daniele Sarti, Tyler Scheffler and Pat Gunther. It was edited by Amy Marino with help from Rebecca Blandon. Our theme music is by Elisheba Ittoop. Nick Pitman is our audio engineer and Amanda Webster is our photo editor. Brooke Minters is our executive producer. Header video cinematography is by Avery Munson Clark.Special thanks to Sarah Bonn, Dahlia Haddad, Mike Cordero, Nicole Huber, Aaron Byrd, Carl Mazurek, Zach Caldwell, Maddy Masiello, Brad Kimbrough, Craig Hettich, Andrew Wilcox, David Malitz, Elena Bergeron, Sia Michel, Nina Lassam and Sam Dolnick.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
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    "ai_headline": "How Miranda Lambert Went From \u2018Gun-Toting Redneck\u2019 to \u2018Choosin\u2019 Texas\u2019 and Joy",
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