The 2014 album release schedule is still a bit murky (as it always is at this time of year) but so far there aren’t a ton of upcoming records I’m excited about.
Interestingly, the releases I’m most looking forward to are all by female artists. Shakira’s new album is out this week, Lily Allen’s long-awaited third record is due soon, Taylor Swift will aim for another smash hit sometime this year and Aimee Mann is releasing a duet with indie performer Ted Leo in April.
But the record I’m most anticipating is Miranda Lambert’s fifth full-length album, Platinum. Lambert has just gotten better and better with each release so I have very high hopes for this one.
The first track, ‘Automatic,’ is a pretty basic “remember when” mid-tempo power ballad, in the same vein as opening singles from her previous records. It’s perfectly lovely, but based on her history it will be the least interesting cut on the album.
Drying laundry on the line
Watching Sun Tea in the window
Pocket watch tellin’ time
Seems like only yesterday I’d get a blank cassette
Record the country countdown ’cause I couldn’t buy it yet
If we drove all the way to Dallas just to buy an Easter dress
We’d take along a Rand McNally, stand in line to pay for gas
God knows that shifting gears ain’t what it used to be
I learned to drive that 55 just like a queen, three on a tree
Hey, whatever happened to waitin’ your turn
Doing it all by hand,
‘Cause when everything is handed to you
It’s only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seemed so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic
If you had something to say
You’d write it on a piece of paper
Then you’d put a stamp on it
And they’d get it three days later
Boys would call the girls
And girls would turn them down
Staying married was the only way to work your problems out
Hey, whatever happened to waitin’ your turn
Doing it all by hand,
‘Cause when everything is handed to you
It’s only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seemed so good the way we had it
Back before everything became automatic
Automatic
Let’s pull the windows down
Windows with the cranks
Come on let’s take a picture
The kind you gotta shake
Hey, whatever happened to waitin’ your turn
Doing it all by hand,
‘Cause when everything is handed to you
It’s only worth as much as the time put in
It all just seemed so good the way we had it
Back before everything became, automatic
Meet Me In Montauk 
On our long drive up the turnpike recently, I brought up the fact that, within 5 to 10 years, cars will be driving themselves. This notion sent waves of horror and was manifestly rejected by Amy and Maddie, who swore they would never surrender control of the car.
This segued into my pointing out Amy’s historic resistance to technological advances and that she is often a late to never adapter. She still rejects the notion of an electric can opener and she clung to her typewriter as the world turned to the PC. She has yet to use cruise control and doesn’t even trust the automatic windshield wiper. So, it is understandable that she blanches at the thought of the car driving itself.
I suspect, given the sentiment of today’s song, Amy and Miranda have much in common.
As for me, I’m looking forward to taking a nice nap on a long drive while the car drives itself. Frankly, I’m pretty sure the computer driven car will do a far better job than I do (and better than most drivers do as well)
I wonder if the automated car will respond to Amy’s second “brake” she taps on the dashboard to assist the driver.😄