Song Review – Miranda Lambert’s “If I Was a Cowboy”
Any time Miranda Lambert releases the lead single to what is (presumably) an upcoming album, it’s worth stopping down and discussing, because it’s commonly a leading indicator as to what direction this modern queen of country music will point the brim of her Stetson.
At times that direction has been more along the lines of modern traditional country bolstered by strong songwriting, like on her early albums and The Weight of These Wings. Other times it’s been in a more pragmatic and pop direction similar to what’s found on her albums Platinum and Wildcard.
We already received a new Miranda Lambert album in 2021, but it was a bit more of a side joint in her acoustic/work tape offering The Marfa Tapes with songwriters Jon Randall and Jack Ingram. Those tracks were something more for Miranda’s core audience and songwriting junkies who like to burrow beneath the veneer of popular music, and for a good handful of listeners, it’s what they prefer compared to some polished studio effort.
But “If I Was a Cowboy” is the first taste from an album that will compete for big awards and be the talk of country because of Miranda’s track record. A Western-themed song presenting a female protagonist that refuses to be tamed or tied down, “If I Was a Cowboy” is a country enough-sounding track with faraway-set and subtle yodels that will stoke the imagination of listeners, and impart them with a moment of enjoyable escapism. Who wouldn’t want to saddle up and gallop away from everyday drudgery like an old school cowboy?
Co-written with Jesse Frasure, we don’t have any confirmation yet who Miranda Lambert is working with as a producer. Any time you hear “ooh ooh’s” in a song, it’s a good indication Jay Joyce is at the helm, and he produced Miranda’s last record. But Jesse Frasure is a producer too, so we’ll just have to see. (UPDATE: According to Luke Dick on Twitter,he co-produced the track with Jon Randall.)
I’m not sure if the lyrical hook, “If I was a cowboy, I’d be the queen” sinks its barb as deep as it wishes to, but it’s catchy enough where you can see the song working on radio, which for a Miranda Lambert lead single, is what you’re looking for.
“If I Was a Cowboy” won’t set the world on fire, but it should be well-received, and wet the public’s whistle for a new album on the way, which hopefully will include more of these Western-themed tracks with wafts of steel guitar, which is what you hope for from Miranda Lambert as a country fan.
1 1/2 Guns Up (7/10)
October 15, 2021 @ 9:57 am
I love this song and I love Miranda, she is such a great singer, cannot wait for her new album, when ever it comes out.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:11 am
Not listening on a high end system, BUT…is that Auto-tune i hear on her vocals? There is definitely a hint of something artificial or manipulated going on with her voice during the chorus. In the old days they used to put some echo behind the lead vocal to sweeten it and give a fuller sound. This sounds subtle but its there. Of course in Pop music its common to really distort the vocal and give that “robot” vocal effect, and i think its done with Auto-tune.
Its a fine song for what it is. And compared to the Musgraves fiasco, this is sounding pretty good .
October 15, 2021 @ 10:37 am
I don’t hear the auto-tune thing on this song but generally speaking this video is really interesting:
https://youtu.be/NNXg5dIVC1M
…
October 15, 2021 @ 10:39 am
I’m not hearing any Auto-tune on this, and I think my Auto-tune radar is pretty sensitive. Certainly there is some filter on the chorus, but I’m taking it to be some Reverb/Chorus/Echo settings that is trying to impart a sense of distance and space on the vocal track.
October 15, 2021 @ 11:50 am
Not to be argumentative, but I think Kevin is correct. The vocals seem too precise and even in the chorus to not be autotuned. It’s not over the top but after watching enough of those Rick Beato videos on youtube, I can hear it.
October 15, 2021 @ 12:17 pm
Well, I’ve written dedicated articles calling out artists that are much more traditional than Miranda Lambert for using Auto-tune, specifically George Strait and Cody Johnson. Maybe there is Auto-tune on this track, but I’m just not hearing enough of the indicators to make that accusation.
And by the way, Auto-tune is used all the time in the studio, including by many of your favorite artists. It’s simply a studio tool to help save production time and make the recording process easier. If you have an excellent performance, but one slightly sour note, I see no problem tuning it up instead of re-cutting the entire thing, no different than moving a snare hit that might be slightly off tempo. That was the original purpose of Auto-tune. When people started using it as a filter to run entire performances through from inferior singers, that is when it became a problem. Then others started using it as a type of vocal effect like reverb. Then people started accusing any artists they didn’t like of using Auto-tune like it’s a euphemism. Then Jay-Z is singing “Death of Auto-Tune” with Harvey Keitel appearing in the video.
October 15, 2021 @ 1:36 pm
I wish they’d come up with art auto-tune next. Get rid of all those ridiculous brush strokes in Van Gogh’s paintings…shit…I think I just pulled an eye rolling muscle…
October 15, 2021 @ 12:12 pm
They sound tuned to me, pretty distinctly.
October 15, 2021 @ 12:41 pm
I think there may be in the mix with the vocal layering that gives it that sound but it’s not as distinct to my ear. Stylistically this gets close to the pseudo rap stuff with the click track that makes so much pop country sound like the same thing. It’s better than that stuff but the mix is evocative of it.
October 15, 2021 @ 3:45 pm
I’m not talking about it as an effect. The pitch just seems unnaturally stable to me. I could be wrong, but a major label produced vocal not being tuned would be the more surprising scenario.
October 15, 2021 @ 9:44 pm
So many inexpensive automatic vocal processing tools available now… pitch correction, compression, saturation & exciter effects, de-essers, etc. to make it all radio-perfect. Easy to get carried away and lose the human touch.
October 25, 2021 @ 11:52 am
She is just an absolute bore. Unappealing at best!
February 11, 2022 @ 4:59 pm
I agree. Awful song.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:13 am
I think Miranda is gonna be the first artist who debuted in the 21st century to become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. She’s been putting out solid material for 15 years (with some duds every now and then), she’s got the hardware (CMAs, ACMs, Grammys), the recognition, the sales.
October 25, 2021 @ 11:42 am
MIRANDA Lambert puts out solid music but as an artist she is just not as captivating to the country music market as a whole. Im trying to understand why her music does not translate to solid album sales or why her arena and touring numbers are so low. She is talented yes….but shoving an artist down peoples throats and handing her awards doesnt mean success. There are other good female country artist. They need to get airplay and given a chance. The Miranda/ Carrie/ Maren awards and airplay is getting tiring.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:26 am
I might be in the minority but this sounds more like an album track than lead single worthy. Dunno
October 15, 2021 @ 11:06 am
From what I read, she wrote this song with the Detroit native DJ who mixed her dance version of “Tequila Does” (Telemitry Mix). She might think “If I was a Cowboy” isn’t album worthy, but might owe him a favor.
October 15, 2021 @ 11:27 am
That Detroit DJ is a country radio #1 writer. ????
October 15, 2021 @ 11:47 am
I never heard of him… here’s Miranda’s quote
In August, she worked with DJ Telemitry (the Nashville producer Jesse Frasure) to produce the first remix of her career, the Wildcard track “Tequila Does.”
Lambert wrote “If I Was a Cowboy” with Frasure. “We met doing the remix of ‘Tequila Does’ and he and I just got together one afternoon for a write and this is what came out of it,” Lambert said in a statement. “It’s funny, he’s a Detroit boy and I’m an East Texan, but somehow we wrote a song about the Wild West together.”
She’s making Detroit thing a talking point.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:08 pm
Harlan Howard was from Detroit.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:59 am
I think the story here is if this song is attached to an album or not and there’s been no indication it will be (despite a press release usually including that information when a single is sent to radio). Is this the canary in the coal mine? That’s the story from the queen of country. We’ve seen a lot of singles lately – good ones – get released without any attachment to the archaic album model.
October 15, 2021 @ 11:08 am
I would be very surprised if this song isn’t ultimately attached to an album. But I guess you never know. Miranda’s released lead singles before without the hard details on the album to come.
October 15, 2021 @ 12:22 pm
Now that I think about it, she’s due to be inducted into the “cowgirl hall of fame” on October 26. Yes, that’s a thing!
October 15, 2021 @ 11:16 am
“Modern queen of country.”
That is as prestigious as being the last Roman Emperor. An empty title meaning nothing.
October 15, 2021 @ 11:23 am
????
October 15, 2021 @ 11:36 am
Nope.
October 15, 2021 @ 11:56 am
It’s not that good.
October 15, 2021 @ 12:03 pm
It seems to me like a “safe” song that has elements of traditional country while trying to mesh in with a more modern sound. And for that reason, it seems like it doesn’t stick. That said, and we are back to relativism, better than most female offerings in mainstream, with the exception of Lainey Wilson. She is the one I am rooting for if she stays true. Time will tell.
October 15, 2021 @ 12:09 pm
I can’t help but feel if this was on Fore the Record or Revolution, it would be the 9th track and never be released as a single or probably played in concert. It’s fine as a piece of a traffic album, but still pretty ordinary. I think all 15 songs on Pearce’s album are better.
October 15, 2021 @ 1:05 pm
I don’t hate it.
October 15, 2021 @ 1:18 pm
She released Marfa Tapes and has Pistol Annies album coming out next week, I was unsure if this would be the beginning of a new album…
October 15, 2021 @ 2:58 pm
I feel like this song got a good score just because it’s Miranda and not really that good of a song. It’s not bad but it’s bland and forgettable. I do have to praise Miranda for trying new things like getting into dance and pop music but something is just a little off since Weight of these wings era. Im no expert in auto tune but her voice is sounding so thin and tinny lately and it’s especially noticeable on Snow Globe. Not my favorite era.
October 15, 2021 @ 5:03 pm
If you got a 70 on a math test, did your parents take you out for an ice cream sundae? I think the grade is very fair, especially since it was graded as the mainstream country radio single that it is.
October 15, 2021 @ 5:14 pm
I think miranda’s voice is actually higher than people realize b/c we think of songs like Gunpowder, Kerosene etc. But then she’s songs like How Dare You Love that this doesn’t sound any higher or different than.
October 15, 2021 @ 6:25 pm
7 out of 10 for this song is taking it out for ice cream, a drink and leaving $50 on the bedside table in the morning.
October 15, 2021 @ 6:42 pm
Go listen to some of the biggest songs on country radio at the moment like Walker Hayes “Fancy Like” and Old Dominion’s “I Was On a Boat That Day,” and tell me this doesn’t fit within the 70th percentile among its peers.
October 15, 2021 @ 7:05 pm
Again, back to relativism. If that is what we are judging songs on, my dog’s fart tunes should score quite highly.
October 17, 2021 @ 1:43 am
That’s a C minus bro.
No honor roll. No ice cream.. More like a Whooping of the @$$
October 15, 2021 @ 3:42 pm
Boy. This just sucks.
It doesn’t even sound like a human being. It sounds like a teenaged computer singing.
And lyrically….let me just say that Miranda stole this from TK as bad as TK stole “Bullets in the Gun” from REK.
It makes it time to put Toby’s “Shoulda Been a Cowboy” in the vaunted Library of Congress permanent collection.
October 15, 2021 @ 4:01 pm
Auto-Tune = lazy.
Like an almost orgasm.
Not quite the real thing
October 15, 2021 @ 7:08 pm
Di,
You do have a way with words.
October 15, 2021 @ 7:18 pm
Tried not to, but couldn’t help myself : D
October 15, 2021 @ 4:40 pm
miranda released an entire album of raw vocals 5 months ago I hardly think she’s that concerned with auto-tuning her voice. She sounds normal to me here, and I like the layering toward the end. Snow Globe was WAYY more off than this now THAT sounded weird.
October 15, 2021 @ 4:43 pm
that’s right, she has the cowgirl hall of fame in a few days! this makes sense then.
October 15, 2021 @ 4:46 pm
if miranda does as she hinted and puts a couple produced marfa cuts plus some of the previews we saw in the marfa film on the next album then this could very well be one of the more radio-friendly, commercial songs on her album, which I think is a good thing.
October 15, 2021 @ 5:11 pm
I give her credit for going a bit towards a more traditional leaning sound with this one, but it still has too much of an overly sterile modern pop country feel to it for my liking, especially in the vocals, the drums, and those chiming synthesizers after the yodeling parts. I do like the Western theme, the catchy melody, and the electric guitar parts, though. Overall, while not great, it’s still promising, and I wouldn’t mind her going further in this direction, both sonically and lyrically. They need to lose a bit more of the sleekness in the production, though, imo.
I also have to agree with Luckyoldson, that “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” covers similar ground with the cowboy theme much better.
October 15, 2021 @ 10:50 pm
sonically and even melodically this coulda been a track from musgraves’ Golden’ album . just a bit too busy for my ear . kinda forgettable too imo
October 16, 2021 @ 4:31 am
This cowboy song of Miranda’s is awful. Could not even listen to the whole song cause it was soo bad. It deserves a 1/10. Even though Miranda and Adele are in different music genres I couldn’t help but compare the two cause both of their songs dropped on the same day. Unfortunately for Miranda. Adele is a brilliant vocalist with amazing vocal range. Great song by Adele. ???? Miranda is overrated. A mediocre at best female cm singer/songwriter with a nasally whiny flat twangy annoying voice with absolutely no vocal range. Miranda is very boring live in concert. ????It’s not fair to other female cm artists that are far more talented than irrelevant Miranda that she gets promoted by Nashville music critics and music executives over them. I like Walker Hayes. He also seems like a great guy and a family man. Great to see his songs doing so well. Miranda is not a nice person. Ask Staci Felker. Maybe Miranda is Queen of Cheaters. ????
October 16, 2021 @ 8:10 am
Truth, Saying you like Walker Hayes makes me dismiss everything else you said. Any valid points you made were erased with that abomination of an admission.
October 16, 2021 @ 10:21 am
That’s fine if you don’t like Walker’s music. I “get” it. My point is although Walker isn’t my favorite I like his music better than Miranda’s.????♀️ I stand by my comments about Miranda. Interesting that I’ve never seen a review here of Miranda’s song with Elle King. That really awful Drunk song that’s on the alternative rock song music charts but was performed at the ACM awards. Not even country and that song is where Miranda has gotten all her streams from this year. Other more talented female cm artists need to be promoted. Not Miranda.
October 17, 2021 @ 1:41 pm
Took longer than I thought for someone to bring up the “gossipy” aspects of ML.
Coupling that with the author’s praise for Walker Hayes tells you all you need to know about how much value said comment holds.
October 17, 2021 @ 3:58 pm
That’s not gossip. Anyone can google Miranda and Evan and Staci Felker to get the information. It’s public information and Staci confirmed it herself on her live IG. Walker Hayes actually has led a more conservative country lifestyle with his wife and six children than Miranda ever has whether you like his music or not.????????♀️ That’s a fact. I prefer the music of Carly Pearce and Carrie Underwood and Reba and Ashley Mcbryde and many other female cm singers over Miranda.
October 17, 2021 @ 3:02 pm
Loved this song, very well done. I’m not a fan of all her songs but this one I would buy…
October 16, 2021 @ 10:16 am
Just found out, miranda just announced a holiday album with the pistol Annies. So great news.
October 16, 2021 @ 11:36 am
I wouldn’t get too excited. ???? Have you listened to Snow Globe? It’s the first song off their Christmas album. I’m being nice here. It’s just not that good. I will leave it at that.
October 20, 2021 @ 6:22 pm
I actually like the song. I do wish it was more acoustic . A little too much studio polish for me but still I like it better than a lot of new stuff out.
October 28, 2021 @ 11:37 am
Excited??? Bahaha. The woman is a bore. People are not flocking to see her in concert and her box office numbers pale in comparison to Chruch, Underwood and a Luke Combs. Her latest album sales are embarrasing. WHYYY are they trying so hard to make her into something thats she not? Handing her useless awards for nothing. SMH
October 16, 2021 @ 11:05 am
Miranda is a hit and miss singer but this song for me is just not that good. This one is a miss for me.
October 16, 2021 @ 11:37 am
Whether you like it or dislike it is your right to feel as you do. Miranda Lambert has to have something there for a lot of her songs to put her where she is at today. Give the Lady some credit. She can sing, can you? Just because you listen to music doesn’t mean you truly know anything about it. I wish I could carry a tune but I can’t
October 16, 2021 @ 4:31 pm
I feel as if the song is pretty well-written, but nothing ground breaking. “Marfa Tapes” was, for me, a much better direction for her. Also, the acoustic version of “Bluebird” is as good as it gets. Listen to it many a morning before work.
October 16, 2021 @ 11:07 pm
laundry list “pop” song with the millenial woop! WTF
October 17, 2021 @ 12:02 pm
Not understand her new avenue she is taking, bring back the old Miranda stuff the new stuff is trash. Then again all new country out there is trash , what would Waylon , Willie and Johnny cash say about where country music is going.
October 18, 2021 @ 10:46 pm
Listening now. Will never listen again. Maybe it’s Mumford and Rustlers if all involved get lucky.