I’ve done a lot of theme weeks this year (dedicating six weeks at a time to my decade lists) but I haven’t done a good old-fashioned single-artist chronological theme week in a long time.
Well, who better to get me back in the swing of things than my favorite country artist — and one of my favorites all around — Miranda Lambert?
Conveniently, Lambert has released exactly five studio albums, a perfect fit.
Kicking things off is her 2005 debut, Kerosene. Recorded when she was 20 years old, a year after she placed third on Nashville Star (the country version of American Idol), this album proved right out of the gate that Lambert was not just a pretty face and voice but a formidable songwriter as well.
She wrote or co-wrote all but one of the album’s 12 tracks and there isn’t a weak song in the bunch. Critics expecting a processed package from a wannabe TV star were surprised by her maturity and charm.
Kerosense is about evenly split between lost-love songs and songs about leaving small-town Texas for bigger things. Lambert has said that the heartbreak songs weren’t really based on personal experience but the songs about spreading her wings clearly were. And it’s no surprise that those are the highlights of this record.
‘Mama, I’m Alright’ is one of my favorites. It’s a lovely portrait of a small-town God-fearing woman and the daughter who is leaving her behind as gently as possible. The song’s final lines never fail to choke me up: “I felt it every time you prayed for me… I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be.”
Population plus one minus one
A new grandma rocks my sister’s kid just like twenty years ago she did
The same thing in that same chair, she said “this one’s born to run”
Every day at noon like a chapel bell, find her Jesus, keep her well
Help her do more right than wrong at the end of the day
I’ve got five good gears and a tank of gas, fifty watts and Johnny Cash
A guitar and a broken heart just full of things to say
You taught me how to stand those tests and trials
But you can’t see a desert sunrise in the Bible
She loves me more that anything
And she wants the world for me
Her west dropped of in El Paso
And her north in Abilene
Mama I’m ok out here
I’ve seen how hard the world can be
My step is sure and I know my name
I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be
I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be
If I’d have done what you and daddy done, would have never lost and never won
Or gotten myself kicked when I was down
I would not know how to travel well, a hundred bucks and a cheap motel
I would not know how to fight for my own heart next time around
Now don’t you cry another night about me
In this city I’ve got angels all around me
She loves me more that anything
And she wants the world for me
Her west dropped of in El Paso
And her north in Abilene
Hey Mama I’m OK out here
I’ve seen how hard the world can be
My step is sure and I know my name
I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be
I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be
I felt it every time you prayed for me
I’m strong just like you prayed I’d be
Meet Me In Montauk 
Looking forward to this theme week, as “this is country music” (to quote Brad Paisley, who I thought would give Miranda some competition in your country music title holder). This is quintessential country music, and I actually love it. Not sure if that’s a change that’s happened over time, or if I always would have loved it but just never listened to it all that much. Meanwhile, as I’m listening and writing, Dana just walked by and said, “that’s the exact type of country song I hate,” so I’ll be eager to read his comment today 😉
Well, as Amy said, I am not a fan of this type of country music. First of all, I find her voice entirely too twangy. Also, that ubiquitous 3-5 harmony, present through much of the song, but most obvious in the chorus, just does nothing for me. While the lyrics may be touching enough, in this package, I pass.
Ah, the ubiquitous 3-5 harmony!
I knew I would catch flack for that one:)