I can’t call it a surprise when Miranda Lambert puts out an excellent album. This year’s Platinum is her seventh in a row, counting her work with Pistol Annies, and they just keep getting better.

What I love about Lambert is the confidence she has exuded right from the beginning.

It first manifested itself in tough-girl anthems written in defense of the battered women who shared her home when she was growing up. Now it shows up in the laid-back soulful groove of a song like ‘Smokin’ and Drinkin’,’ the sort of thing you’d never expect to hear on country radio.

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