Kerosene, Gunpowder, & Willie the Dog

One of my favorite singers is Miranda Lambert. She's from Lindale, Texas so I love supporting a Texas woman, and she can sing. That seems like an obvious statement, but a lot of people making the big time today simply have an image and good lyrics... but can't actually sing. The first song I ever heard by her was "Me & Charlie Talkin'" my freshman year of high school. That was the last remotely romantic song she released (and they don't even end up together in the song). She proceeded to steal our hearts with angry-woman-scorned songs, "Kerosene" and "Gunpowder & Lead". The song "Gunpowder & Lead" talks about a woman who is abused that is finally going to get her revenge- I learned that this was inspired by the fact that her parents took in abused women and took care of them while she was growing up. In the music video "Kerosene" Miranda proceeds to set a bed on fire out of spite. When we made a music video for a contest one time, one of my sketches for a possibility was "find an old mattress at a dumpster?? set it a-flame??" We went slightly smaller scale and tried to set pictures on fire instead.... tried being the key word... it's harder than it looks! Miranda then stopped setting things on fire and threatening to shoot people- and made our stomachs ache to "Bring Me Down" "More Like Her" and her most recent "Over You". I just learned that "Over You" is inspired by a song that her husband Blake Shelton wrote about the death of his brother when he was a teenager. The music video shows a little boy running around and her staring at a grave marker that says "Shelton". Listening to it now gives it a whole new perspective and in a way "humanizes" celebrities such as Blake that have real pain and struggles just like us. Miranda has also joined a female trio Pistol Annies. The harmony of their voices is beautiful and I haven't heard one song of theirs that I haven't fell for, the best being "Hell on Heels" and "Boys from the South".

Her most widely known song "House that Built Me" is probably the world's favorite because we can all relate. It's a song about the house you grew up in and how it had a hand in making you who you are. Me & my dad are famous for messing up lyrics.... (For example in a Pat Green song he says "like a cold front on the coast".....we thought he said "like a gopher in the cold") And in Miranda's "House that Built Me" she says "my favorite dog is buried in the yard" my father proceeds to sing "my dog Willie is buried in the yard". I can't hear it now, without thinking about poor Willie.