Song Review – Miranda Lambert’s “Roots & Wings”
Well it’s about damn time.
When we first heard the sumptuous, but oh so brief minute-long snippet of Miranda Lambert’s song “Roots & Wings” back in January as part of a Ram truck commercial, it was all we could do to contain ourselves from wanting to feast our ears on the whole thing. What an ass backwards country music world we live in where you get clued into a great new song through an advertisement, while radio continues to descend into a wasteland. But that was the fate of “Roots & Wings.”
Now Miranda Lambert and Ram have released the full thing, or actually two separate extended versions: one in a 3-minute video that is similar to the original minute-long release, and a full 4:55-minute studio version that is available through all the major digital outlets like iTunes and Spotify.
What’s so great about this song is summed up in the “I’ve got roots, I’ve got wings,” lyrical hook. Such a simple country song sentiment, but one we surprisingly haven’t really heard before, especially in this type of context. This is what country music is supposed to be all about: deep feelings simply stated. The verses also rise to support the idea of being both grounded in who you are, yet allowed to soar in life by following your dreams. On paper all of this may seem a little hokey, but that’s not the way “Roots & Wings” comes across at all. Miranda’s delivery is strong, and not too twangy or attitude-driven which can sometimes taint her music.
The separate versions of “Roots & Wings” presents two slightly different musical palettes. Both are rich with acoustic guitar and dobro/resonator, but of course some Joe Perry-inspired rock guitarist has to stop by to play the solo. However in the video version, the guitar solo is much more subdued under the rest of the instrumentation, whereas the studio version it’s cranked to 10.
After the video version rests at the 2:58 mark, the studio version keeps going, giving an extended opportunity to what I’m sure was an elated dobro player who’s used to only getting 7 1/2 seconds at the beginning of songs to prove how “country” the song is. This extra two minutes of hanging on the melody in the studio version was likely ordered by producers so that Dodge could have a vocal-free music bed to use in future commercials that would still refer back to the memory of the “Roots & Wings” chorus.
Miranda Lambert wrote this song herself, and though you can find some stuff here and there to nitpick (the guitar solo, the superfluous “ooos” maybe), it’s not a bad offering at all, and at least as strong, if not stronger than any of the singles released from her latest record.
And why not release “Roots & Wings” as a single, at least the video version? Why do we have to coax this song out of its handlers and piecemeal it to the public? It’s Miranda for crying out loud, and it’s a hit. If she released it and didn’t have a #1 with it, I’d eat my hat, and it would probably at least get nominated for some awards show hardware.
Miranda Lambert’s “Roots & Wings” is a song that can win a wide appeal beyond the truck buying public, including with more rootsy country fans who she left behind after the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend era. In a word, “Roots & Wings” is songwriting.
1 3/4 of 2 Guns Up
May 26, 2015 @ 6:30 pm
Now she’ll release it on an album where it will be buried in 20 tracks where about 12 of them are good like this and the rest are pop country trash.
May 27, 2015 @ 7:19 am
If we could get 12 good songs out of 20, that would be a vast improvement over a bulk of the crap that gets put onto many of today’s releases as “filler.”
May 26, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Simple sentiments in a simple song…may the next trend will be simple
May 26, 2015 @ 6:43 pm
KISS – Keep It Simple, Stoopid – (not Gene Simmons et al.) is the real secret to good songwriting ~ like any writing~ showcase the story not the teller~ Give the vocalist and musicians room to shine, and everybody wins… Worth keeping fingers crossed…
g
May 26, 2015 @ 6:43 pm
Saw her at bayou country super fest this weekend. She sang through rain and lightning for about 30 minutes. It was awesome.
She’s hot too that’s gotta count for something as well.
May 26, 2015 @ 6:49 pm
I saw her there too I can’t ramber I was to drunk on French wine
May 29, 2015 @ 6:50 am
Her being hot or not really should count for less than nothing. That’s a big reason the genre is where it is right now.
May 26, 2015 @ 6:52 pm
Trigger not to be to nick pickey but it’s just ram now not Dodge Ram
May 26, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
I don’t know that the extra two minutes would have been ordered by Dodge. Miranda has always featured her band more than most mainstream solo artists.
While you say the guitar solo is much more subdued on the video version, I say buried. You say cranked to 10 on the studio version, I say featured. Semantics, I know.
Anyway, I think this is a very good song, either version, but I prefer the studio. Just hope it sees the light of day on radio, either version.
May 26, 2015 @ 6:55 pm
This is the miranda that I love.
I wish she would stop with the LRW garbage and go back to her solo simple songwriting days…I miss them!!
Glad to see is climbing the Itunes charts hopefully sales will be good that this has some chance to make it to radio?
May 26, 2015 @ 7:12 pm
I think the prospects of this being released as a single solely have to do with her label’s current single strategy, and how that fits into it. My guess is her label is going to want to feature another song off the album so they can sell more albums, and they don’t want a non-album song out there competing with it. Also, to put a single on country radio, someone has to put some money behind it. Would Ram be willing to do that, or would Miranda’s label as a proxy?
That’s why country radio sucks these days. Everything is so calculated as opposed to just finding the best songs and putting them out there for the public. They figured out how to screw up Kacey Musgraves’ “The Trailer Song,” and we may get the same with “Roots & Wings.” This is the type of female song leadership country music needs.
May 26, 2015 @ 7:26 pm
Except the next single that was confirmed on twitter by a radio programmer was smokin and drinkin’ and looks to be released mid-June. But I follow a lot of Miranda fans on twitter and I remember on the day they announced it they were up in arms about her poor single choices even they were done. I mean if she doesn’t have her biggest supporters backing a single (LRW didn’t have fan support) it wont do well. I wish Sony would open their eyes and notice that.
But I understand them wanting to get platinum ‘platinum’ status its has completely flatlined lately so one more single should get it back in the top 10, to get the sales it needs. I think its in the 700k area now.
I just wished Platinum had these kinds of songs. I just hope that all the praise platinum got with the ‘raving’ reviews. Miranda wont make another album like it that she will go back to this type of songwriting…and after the patty miranda duet special, I am in serious need of a studio duet between those two.
May 26, 2015 @ 7:37 pm
You realize that her album was one of the top sellers. Aldean and Church haven’t truly gone platinum either. It will take a little longer but it hasn’t even been out a full year- her CDs usually get to gold quick and then take their time going to Platinum. Her cd was only out sold by Aldean, Church and Gilbert by the way for new albums in 2014, so calm down. She sure outsold Blake, Tim, Kenny, etc.
May 26, 2015 @ 7:57 pm
I am not sure why are you saying calm down?
I know all of this information. I am a big fan of Miranda’s and I love to follow the charts closely.
I also know none of them have really sold a million copies (Garth I am looking at you as well) of their album, but RIAA certifications usually come around the 715-800k range. So one more album single would easily boost her back up there, like Trigger said….but what does your reply/comment have to do with what I was saying?
June 3, 2015 @ 2:31 pm
Guys:
Aldean, Church and Gilbert, this is the kind of NO Talent Hacks that people keep worshiping, maybe some day you guys will wake up and send them packing back to their real day Jobs!
May 27, 2015 @ 10:07 am
“Smokin’ and Drinkin'” is a terrible single choice. It’s not a particularly great song, AND it’s not a commercial hit.
May 26, 2015 @ 6:58 pm
I have consistently said that Miranda is the real deal. I’ve loved her since her debut album, which she wrote almost by herself. She is not perfect, and she has made some mistakes in her songwriting choices. But this is far better than almost anything that I am currently hearing on “country” radio.
This morning, I heard Jake Owen’s new single, “Real Life,” which is a “funky” rendition of Sam Hunt. Pathetic. Last week, I heard Randy Houser’s new single, “We Went,” which is just as bad and probably worse. This is simply bro-country with a funky vibe. In other words, it is worse than bro-country! And, surprisingly, both Owen and Houser had two of the best singles from last year: “Like a Cowboy” and “What We Ain’t Got.” Nashville will suck the soul out of even the best artists.
May 27, 2015 @ 8:11 am
“Last week, I heard Randy Houser”™s new single, “We Went,” which is just as bad and probably worse. This is simply bro-country with a funky vibe. In other words, it is worse than bro-country! ”
Like many , Houser had some GREAT writes on his first album ( check out ANYTHING GOES )but , like many , he ran out of ideas …and backbone !
May 27, 2015 @ 8:07 pm
Even my husband has left “country” radio and gone back to his old Hard Rock days. It took so long to bring him around to good country music, all for naught. When we’re driving now, it’s either that assault on my ears or bro country. What am I to do? Change the channel to NPR? Oh, the horror. If the truck weren’t so old, I’d get SiriusXM. Next vehicle.
June 3, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
Kathy:
I had the same opinion about the Crap that comes out of Nashville today till I heard a couple of guys, Whitey Morgan & the 78’s and Cody Jinks, they renewed my faith in Old Honky Tonk style music, give them a listen, hopefully you will agree!
May 26, 2015 @ 6:59 pm
Truly disappointing that this is not a lead single from an album. I can’t think of where I read this or who said it but ”“ “Good songwriting is either taking something simple and making it complex or taking something complex and making it simple.” I’ve always loved that quote.
May 27, 2015 @ 7:19 am
“Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.” -Pete Seeger
May 27, 2015 @ 12:03 pm
Seeger was right.Just listen to just about any Smokey Robinson song from the Motown era. Simplicity and elegance.
May 26, 2015 @ 7:16 pm
I hope she would release this as a single. Her last 2 singles was crappy.
May 26, 2015 @ 7:20 pm
We are giving her too much credit https://youtu.be/gvt7r0YpJPE
May 27, 2015 @ 12:39 pm
Okay, besides sharing the same title, what am I missing?
May 26, 2015 @ 7:31 pm
Many Miranda fans have stayed w/ her thru her current album- did ya miss the heart of the cd? Bathroom Sink, Old Shit, All That’s left w/ The Time Jumpers, Gravity’s a Bitch and Babies making Babies are excellent. Do her best songs get released as singles – no but her ok songs are still 10x better than the crap on the radio now. Anyway I would like for it to be a single but radio has never truly been on her side. Many of her songs never get to top 5 even when they sell.
May 26, 2015 @ 9:17 pm
Good review, but I do have one little nitpick about this being her first song that appeals to rootsy country fans since Crazy Ex Girlfriend. Heart Like Mine (which I think is better than Roots and Wings) and the House that Built Me (which I didn’t care for) have somewhat similar themes and music.
And while Crazy Ex Girlfriend was a great album, the title track and songs like Gunpowder and Lead set the “Hot Mess Grrrl Power” type songs which became pretty formulaic with Lambert (Fastest Girl in Town, Hell on Heels, etc.) and her imitators.
May 26, 2015 @ 9:25 pm
Point taken, but I wasn’t trying to draw a rigid delineation marker with the “Crazy Ex Girlfriend” comment as much as making reference to her earlier career when Miranda was a favorite of critics but wasn’t the alpha female of the entire genre like she is today. Perhaps I could have been more clear on that.
May 26, 2015 @ 11:06 pm
Mike, I agree, Heart Like Mine and The House That Built Me were two of her best singles.
While I didn’t care for “Gunpowder and Lead” and the rest of her “Hot Mess Girl Power” songs, I gotta say it was a business savvy move for her. While Taylor and Carrie were vying to be America’s sweetheart, Miranda carved out a niche as far away from that as possible, and owned it. She positioned herself as the country female who recorded songs for country music fans (though she has strayed from that in recent years), and as the artist who had the guts to “do something for women” while other mainstream females were sticking to the formula and selling stereotypes.
Prior to this new song, I’d been a little frustrated with Miranda’s music since she married Blake and seemingly won Female Vocalist by default.There were 1-2 years when she deserved the award, but she didn’t deserve to win every year.
May 26, 2015 @ 11:19 pm
I’m not too upset about Miranda winning Female Vocalist every year. She has the most textured and most country voice of all of the currently popular female artists in the genre (admittedly a small list).
It is actually Blake who is riding on his wife’s coattails in winning the Male Vocalist award every year.
May 26, 2015 @ 11:30 pm
That’s a good point. Blake is very overrated. The other day I heard Blake’s “Cowboys of the Southwestern World” on KRTY and I was reminded of how annoying that song had been when it was released in 2003. Then I realized it was basically an early precursor to the bro-country songs. It’s actually more country than today’s bro country, it tells a story albeit a very sophomoric one, but I found Blake’s frat boy attitude in the song very off putting. “Austin” was ok, but I don’t care for most of his other hits.
May 26, 2015 @ 11:47 pm
Actually it was “Playboys of the Southwestern World”. I recall that the song made me lose respect for Blake as an artist. It is possible for a song to fall within the country genre, but still be a bad song, “Achy Breaky Heart” being a good example of that.
May 26, 2015 @ 9:29 pm
A song advertising trucks that doesn’t mention trucks, beer, moneymakers, or parties in cornfields, and is actually a great country song. What???? At least TV has enough sense not to play a bad bro-country song. Maybe they have, I don’t know, but not this commercial.
May 27, 2015 @ 2:45 am
You say: “What”™s so great about this song is summed up in the “I”™ve got roots, I”™ve got wings,” lyrical hook. Such a simple country song sentiment, but one we surprisingly haven”™t really heard before, especially in this type of context”
Isn’t it very similar to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jesus and Gravity’?
“I’ve got something lifting me up
Something holding me down
Something to give me wings
And keep my feet on the ground
I’ve got all I need, Jesus & gravity…”
Trust Dolly to get there first 😉
May 27, 2015 @ 7:54 am
Yup …Dolly did it a couple years back with Jesus and Gravity…terrific tune . But then its DOLLY , for God’s sakes …what would we expect ?
FYI …Up here in Canada we’ve had a program on CBC ( National radio ) for years called ROOTS AND WINGS featuring some wonderful , honest music mostly from Canadiana / Americana / Folk / Indie genres .
May 27, 2015 @ 10:10 am
I’ve seen numerous folks compare this song to iconic country songs from the 80’s and 90’s and from artists like Dolly, and then conclude that’s why it’s unoriginal. NO! That’s why it’s good, BECAUSE it is like those old iconic country songs, yet it is being released in 2015 by the biggest female in country music at the moment. It doesn’t mean this song doesn’t have warts, but I don’t see any reason for true country fans to not celebrate this song being released.
May 27, 2015 @ 4:28 am
This is the Miranda that I loved back in the early part of her career. Already bought this on iTunes.
Now that we’re discussing this gem of a song written by a female artist, I would like to bring up this interview given by radio consultant and “expert” Kevin Hill for Country Aircheck. The most sexist and myopic remark I’ve ever encountered lately. Here is the link to the interview:
https://www.countryaircheck.com/pdfs/current052615.pdf
May 27, 2015 @ 4:37 am
Still sucks. It starts with the same old dirt road pickup truck bullshit. Rock and roll drum beat, heavy metal guitar. Can’t polish a turd. It’s sad that popular music is so bad, that this seems ok to you.
May 27, 2015 @ 5:10 am
I don’t think he has been riding on her coat tails, I think he is winning purely on popularity. I think one of her problems has been trying to be too much like him, she sees how popular he is, in all the magazines, commercials and wants to be in that lifestyle a little more. I think for a while she will chase this and eventually come back to the more traditional side when that has run its course..
May 27, 2015 @ 5:21 am
Plus she listens too much to his advice lol. For instance for her duet with Carrie Underwood her original plan was to have the two of them write a song together, something along the lines of “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” type of song, but Blake suggested that she choose a rockin’ type of song hence the abomination that is Something Bad.
May 27, 2015 @ 6:13 am
I just heard Aaron Watson’s July in Cheyenne on a country station. I couldn’t believe it.
May 27, 2015 @ 8:15 pm
Where? Outside Texas or Oklahoma?
May 28, 2015 @ 11:07 pm
Oxford, Mississippi. Sorry I’m late.
May 27, 2015 @ 7:04 am
If I wasn’t so tired of Miranda and all the adulation she gets, I could have been interested
May 27, 2015 @ 7:42 am
A good, solid song with a neat lyrical hook. 🙂
May 27, 2015 @ 9:01 am
WTF? English please.
May 27, 2015 @ 8:06 am
Mr. Shelton is the luckiest man ever given breath . Not only does he have the shittiest songs go to number one every time out , it seems , he gets to share his life with a REAL artist . Miranda is a vocal force to be reckoned with …character , emotion , perfect pitch , a variety of subject matter in her songs and moving performances across the board. AND the woman writes and/or co-writes some of the best stuff around . She just does . Wouldn’t you think that would be enough to inspire Blake to reflect on what HE tries to pass off as good music ?
This , to my ear is a pretty good country song …country being the key word here and that counts for a lot . It works …its easy on the ear , its not ‘ bro ‘ but I think Miranda has written more original things. I understand that RAM is involved so it has to be an inoffensive , accessible , masses-friendly message kinda song that is a metaphor for their truck , somewhat . Hence the cliched nature of the lyric . Its what most of North America still believes mainstream country music to be ….or wishes it were .
The song is very reminiscent of Gwyn Patrow’s ” Country Strong ” in melody , groove and in sentiment .
May 27, 2015 @ 8:39 am
It’s sounds kind like “landslide” by the Dixie chicks
May 27, 2015 @ 11:55 am
“Landslide” was written and performed by Stevie Nicks on a Fleetwood Mac album. The Dixie Chicks covered it.
May 27, 2015 @ 10:13 am
Didn’t have time to read the comments, so I apologize if someone pointed this out already. The sentiment here is very similar to a line from Granger Smith’s “Bury Me In Blue Jeans” (I know there isn’t much love for Granger her and that’s understandable given how far downhill he’s gone, but “Blue Jeans” is excellent, country or not), “[I’ve] got roots of an oak and a tumbleweed’s soul.”
I love that line and what it means, I think a lot of people can really relate. Anyway, this song just kinda reminded me of it.
On topic, not a bad song, although it isn’t enough to make me a Miranda fan.
May 27, 2015 @ 10:27 am
Pretty standard song, wouldn’t consider it good.
May 27, 2015 @ 1:17 pm
This is a very nice song. Something about it makes me want to dig out my Buddy Miller solo albums.
May 30, 2015 @ 10:05 pm
It’s not hip-hop, so it has no place on radio. I can’t even watch a so-called “country” awards show anymore.
May 30, 2015 @ 10:34 pm
Oh look, another Eric 😉
BTW, I agree with you that this song will unfortunately get little to no play on the radio.
June 3, 2015 @ 2:17 pm
Guys:
Her and the rest of the current Nashville Idiots are what’s wrong with Country music today, just goes to show , if you put a microphone in front of a hack, they think they have talent. Just my opinion
June 9, 2015 @ 6:59 am
Trig, looks like Miranda’s next official single will be Smokin’ and Drinkin’, the one with Little Big Town. How I wish that Roots and Wings will be the next one instead. Will you be posting a review on Smokin and Drinkin? Thanks.
June 9, 2015 @ 7:04 am
I might. Lots of songs to review, and that one is pretty tame. Poor choice of a single in my opinion.
June 10, 2015 @ 6:03 am
Thanks Trig. Agree regarding this being a poor choice for a single. There are much better songs left on the album.