Album Review – Miranda Lambert’s “Postcards from Texas”
They say that well-behaved women seldom make history. Let’s just say that Miranda Lambert has made quite a bit of history during her country music career. The opening song from her new album Postcards From Texas is about a doobie-rolling armadillo who hijacks her at gunpoint and demands she run from the cops. Or at least, this is the story presented as an alibi to explain where she was the previous night, with the inference being that the real reason is probably even more nefarious.
You won’t find many mainstream country music albums that start off similarly, but this isn’t your typical mainstream country music album. This is one of those albums that comes at a point in an artist’s career when they know big radio play is beyond their reach, the award shows have begun to move on, and it’s time to stop giving a shit—or to put it more aptly—to start giving a shit about the most important things.
For Miranda, this means heading back to her home state of Texas, saddling up with good friend and frequent co-writer Jon Randall as producer, and posting up at Austin’s legendary but comparatively quaint Arlyn Studios to make the album she wanted to make as opposed to an album to meet the expectations of anyone else. Not that Miranda has been a pawn at any point in her career. But her priorities have shifted for sure.
Postcards from Texas is still a Miranda Lambert record. It’s certainly more country than anything she’s done in years, but it’s not especially twangy aside from a few songs. She still displays plenty of the attitude that is her signature. “Wranglers” finds her lighting stuff on fire again, and the playful “Alimony” makes a play on words with The Alamo, reminding you of some of the sass of early Pistol Annies. “Dammit Randy” has that kind of immediate resonance that makes you think it could graduate to a country classic in a few short years.
But maybe some of the best moments of Postcards From Texas are when Miranda Lambert shows a bit more vulnerability, which is something she’s resisted at times in her career. The solo-written “Run” is arguably the best-written song on the album, and isn’t this how it always goes on these big mainstream releases? Here it’s Miranda Lambert pointing the ugly finger of blame on herself, and it’s hard to not wonder if this wasn’t written about her history with Blake Shelton (or Anderson East).
“Santa Fe” and “January Heart” give the album some sincere and tender moments in between the sass and frivolity. Great songwriters like Dean Dillon and Brent Cobb help bring these songs to life. There is a lot of texture and variety in this album. It doesn’t especially “sound” like Texas, but multiple songs are centered in the state. “Looking Back on Luckenbach” would have been better if it didn’t feel a little too “on the nose,” and wasn’t done before by Whitney Rose in 2017.
But one of the bigger issues with Postcards from Texas is the same issue that has persisted throughout Miranda Lambert’s career. She doesn’t really have a signature sound that she’s laid down into. She’s veered from country pop to slightly more traditional in a way that borrows more than leads. Her value of top-tier songwriters and songs has never wavered, but there is commonly at least some commercial calculation in what she chooses to record.
Postcards from Texas does find Miranda Lambert expanding her sound profile a bit, especially on the last couple of songs. Her cover of David Allan Coe’s “Living On The Run” is lights out, and reminds you a little bit of Little Feet. “Wildfire” written with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall might find the greatest country vibe on the record.
But we also know that Miranda Lambert is not a traditional country artist and never has presented herself as one. She’s Miranda Lambert. And the argument can be made that Postcards from Texas is the most Miranda Lambert album that she’s made in years, swear words and all. This is who she is. And whether you find joy in the album throughout, or in fleeting moments relegated to certain songs, it feels right to celebrate Miranda Lambert being herself.
1 3/4 Guns Up (7.8/10)
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September 17, 2024 @ 11:33 am
I am loving this album! The one thing you can safely say about it is that it’s exactly the album she wanted to release.
September 17, 2024 @ 11:44 am
I took Run as being more likely about her time with Anderson East than Blake. From her music and interviews, I don’t think she ever planned to be divorced from him, but I do think maybe she knew Anderson East was going to be a phase and not forever.
On that topic, I do tend to find her albums that are most personal to be her best. She’s very good at emoting through her own lyrics and those songs have so much conviction. When she’s seemingly happy and comfortable in her life (which she deserves to be), it seems to be more resourcing other artists and songs and stories and feeling less authentic. To her, not to country music. Despite that, I’m glad she’s having a good time making music and doing what she wants.
September 17, 2024 @ 12:21 pm
She said in an interview Run was almost 10 years old and she wrote it fall 2015. That was right after her divorce and before Anderson East. She also said she wasn’t able to sing it then but finally is.
September 17, 2024 @ 2:37 pm
She started dating Anderson September 2015.
September 17, 2024 @ 9:16 pm
She met Anderson East in Sept 2015. He didn’t ask her out until October or November 2015. His words to a fan back then. They didn’t come out as a couple until Jan 1, 2016, she posted. I watched The whole thing unfold.
September 22, 2024 @ 10:28 am
That would be after the divorce then. I remember I was going to see her July show in 2015 but then it was abruptly cancelled. Then the divorce announcement came out. When she played the rescheduled show in October she said on stage that she was in no place to sing for us in July. She actually still seemed raw about it that October.
September 17, 2024 @ 12:33 pm
Y’all very well could be right. I added a note in the review. I’m admittedly not boned up on Miranda’s relationship timelines. I do know the song is excellent and you can tell it comes straight from the heart.
September 18, 2024 @ 6:39 pm
Right. So she was either in a relationship with or had not yet started a relationship with Anderson East at the time Run was written. They certainly hadn’t parted ways. Clearly it’s not about him. There’s only one other person it could be about, especially considering she said at her pop up show Sunday the song was a solo write and she couldn’t bring herself to sing it at all until now.
September 18, 2024 @ 8:55 pm
It’s obviously about Blake this shouldn’t even be a question she’s basically said as much emphasizing the time it was written. Plus the lyric “I owe you a LIFETIME (of apologies)…” what they promised to spend together and didn’t.
September 17, 2024 @ 11:45 am
In a world full of Mirandas, be a Gwen Stefani
September 19, 2024 @ 12:57 pm
FYI this is a satirical take.
Trig take it down. It was dumb of me to post this
September 19, 2024 @ 1:30 pm
Hey Arnold,
My job is not to administrate your comments. Please think before you post. I think most people took it as satirical.
September 17, 2024 @ 11:45 am
Will have to check it out. I haven’t heard any new songs from it yet so it will be a surprise. One new Album from country stars of the past I’m not looking forward to, is Brooks and Dunns Reboot II. They keep doing opposite of what I’ve been hoping for. Which is going back to their early 90s sound. And they’re kind of turning into Garth Brooks with all the albums of previously released songs reimagined.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:03 pm
I agree, the first one had one or two that was ok but no where near the originals. This new one sounds like it’s gonna be even worse, no one that I’m really excited about other than Jake worthington. It’s a shame as they’re one of my all time favorites. I really wish they’d try one more original album with their old sound kind of like Ronnie’s last solo album. I’d like to see them write some songs together, their best tunes were written by the two but along the way they seem to quit writing with each other.
September 17, 2024 @ 11:47 am
I prefer “Postcards from Anaheim”
September 17, 2024 @ 12:16 pm
Her most vulnerable songs end up being her best songs. “Vice” comes to mind. And I’ll never understand the attraction to Jack Ingram. Easily one of the most bland and generic artists to ever come out of the Texas scene. His Nashville attempt is case in point as well.
September 20, 2024 @ 11:34 am
I would have loved to see her lead with “B*tch on the Sauce”as a single. That’s the Miranda I love!
September 17, 2024 @ 12:45 pm
Life was better when we could believe she was Lorrie.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:03 pm
Randy and Wade have to be kicking themselves that they didn’t take this version of “Armadillo” for themselves. Right up there with Ashley’s “Brenda put you Bra On” as a completely silly yet insanely fun song. “Wranglers” doesn’t bother me as much in the context of the album as it did as a single. It’s fine being the only rock song on the record. This album is a top 5 for me so far this year. Miranda nailed it. Great review Trig but I’m giving it an 8.1. It’s really good.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:08 pm
“Wranglers” doesn’t bother me as much in the context of the album as it did as a single.
I agree.
September 17, 2024 @ 4:27 pm
Armadillo is definitely my favourite off the album. It’s just goofy fun. And that’s the sort of thing that’s needed right now.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:24 pm
Solid album. I like all the songs you mentioned along with “No Man’s Land.” But I’ve been more captivated by Ella Langley’s album, “Hungover.” Wonderful voice and a deft way around a lyric. It’s looking like her duet with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me,” has exploded on soial media and in streaming and will likely be a monster radio hit once the summer bangers fade away.
Speaking of bangers, and in a good sense, what do you think of “What Kinda Man,” the new song Parker McCollum dropped last week? I can’t get enough of it; it gives me boozy Jerry Jeff Walker vibes, especially in the chorus, and I am very much looking forward to hearing more from him over the coming weeks, and eventually an album.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:40 pm
Glad to see PM on this album. I’m hopeful he can release some new stuff soon and get more of the recognition he deserves in this new radio environment that should be more friendly to his sound.
September 17, 2024 @ 1:35 pm
Rick Trevino had a song called Remember the Alimony that’s a fun honky tonk song with the same twist. Although I never find myself captivated by Miranda Lambert, I like her enough to go listen to this record. Thanks for the write up Trigger.
September 17, 2024 @ 4:43 pm
Looking back on my attitude on newer country music, it feels weird to think that Miranda lambert is an older, aging out artist as opposed to a newer one
I think I unfairly threw the baby out with the bath water since she was a contemporary of (and guilty party to via Blake Shelton) the problematic bro country and generalized dumbass era (see ‘old farts and jackasses and bro country in general)
That is to say: in the court of my opinion on country music, as an artist recording county music between 2010 and 2020, she was guilty more of damaging country music than contributing to it,
And with some maturity, and the knowledge that the era of bro country fans repeating small minded mantras about change has ended and the public perception of country music has been realigned (and in my own music career I now no longer have to explain “I like country music but only the older stuff” since I’m now working on my own material and everyone knows I play the music from the forties fifties sixties and older and country music as a talking point simply doesn’t come up in conversation)
I am able to look back and realize I was unfairly down on Miranda lambert more for her being present during the problem than being part and parcel to it.
Yes, I was unfair to Miranda lambert throughout the 2010s and didn’t give her material objective consideration
Anyway, this looks like an album even I might enjoy
September 17, 2024 @ 6:00 pm
This is nothing I would ever listen to, but she has one heck of mandible. I would imagine that her mandible comprises 27.5% of her success thus far. Love me a brachycephalic gal.
September 17, 2024 @ 6:21 pm
I think this is my favorite Miranda Lambert album in years, Marfa Tapes aside. You skipped my favorite track, “I Hate Love Songs” (written in Marfa with Jack Ingram IIRC). It fits with “Run” and together they elevate the album. “Wranglers” felt like an attempt to get back to “Gunpowder and Lead” and like others, I think it works much better in the context of the album as a whole.
Much to love here and I hope she takes a few CMAs home for it. If nothing else she’s putting herself back in the conversation and reminding us she deserves top billing and always has.
September 17, 2024 @ 10:56 pm
I love how “Kill her husband” girl-country really just means “yells and is rude to waiters.
September 18, 2024 @ 8:29 am
she’s still fine as hell.
September 18, 2024 @ 10:44 am
For me, this is her best album since “The Wright of These Wings.” Palomino and Wild Card were huge disappointments for me. Both albums had a few good songs, but overall they felt a little phoned in. This one though feels like a Miranda Lambert album should feel.
Absolutely love it from beginning to end.
September 18, 2024 @ 11:26 am
Same score as George Strait’s new album.
OK.
September 18, 2024 @ 11:30 am
Strait’s has better songs for sure, but also some really pedestrian songs. Lambert’s is more consistent throughout.
As I always say, ratings are not meant for side-by-side comparisons, only a quick reference of whether it is recommended. The review carries the true feelings on the album.
September 18, 2024 @ 8:08 pm
Loved hearing her cover David Allan Coe, but to change the “I killed me a woman in Tennessee” line to “I loved me a woman in Tennessee” was a mistake. That hard line makes the song!
September 18, 2024 @ 8:27 pm
This sounds like a more matured, reflective and calm version of Miranda. She sounds at ease. Her vocals are great here. Run should be sent to radio if not to be played then at least for attention on streaming.
September 19, 2024 @ 8:43 am
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this album! I think it’s better than her last. I think my favorites are “Armadillo”, “I Hate Love Songs”, and her cover of “Living on the Run”. The only one I don’t care that much for is the lead single, “Wranglers”. I do think “Run” would have been the better single, but maybe it was a bit to personal to come straight out the gate with that one.
September 19, 2024 @ 2:18 pm
I agree with Alison. I’ve never been a huge Miranda fan, but I’ve been enjoying this one as it’s just a pleasant listen. Might or might not make the morning drive rotation, but I’ll give it a few more spins and see.
September 19, 2024 @ 7:01 am
Vulnerability is great for songwriting. At some point in your career, you have to make the album that you want to make.
I’m happy for Miranda . I love to see her working with new artist as well. Like Jake Worthington. It shows a hunger or as I Call it the addiction. We need more country divas. I’m here for it all day long.
September 20, 2024 @ 11:08 pm
Interesting the last few paragraphs makes me think of Linda Ronstadt who always had GREAT songwriters she was pulling from but her biggest hits, for my money, were her weakest efforts. I mean how does one top Roy singing Blue Bayou? But the album cuts seem to be where they both really shine.
And in Ronstadt case she deliberately records “hits” so people would by the albums and be exposed to the deeper sides and great songwriters of her era. I’d like to think Miranda is doing a little of that herself.