Miranda Lambert has shared "Actin' Up" the latest release from her forthcoming album Palomino. The song, which Lambert wrote with Luke Dick and Jon Randall, is a bluesy number that namedrops Elvis, Tiger Woods and Ricky Bobby (of the comedy Talledega Nights), just to name a few.
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"Even Tiger Woods couldn't swing it this good," sings with a confident swagger. "I'm out in the Mojave, call me Ricky, call me Bobby/ Call me hotter than wasabi/ I'm actin' up."
Lambert announced the April 29 release of her eighth mainstream solo album just three days after being crowned ACM Entertainer of the Year for the first time in her illustrious career.
Per a press release, Lambert's 15-song collection, which she co-produced with Luke Dick and Jon Randall, allows "her inner stranger [to travel] lyrically from Fort Worth to the Mojave Desert; Battambang, Cambodia to Maine; the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield to the Rocky Mountains and beyond. In each destination and with every character met along the way, Lambert's freewheeling trek is a work of unbridled freedom and self-discovery without painful introspection."
"The making of this record has been one of the most fun and creative experiences of my career," Lambert shared in a press release. "[Nashville Songwriters] Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby and I went out to my farm in Tennessee in 2020 and started writing songs. We figured while we have time let's get out to the country and see what happens. The first one we wrote was 'Tourist' and that set us on a path to create something with a bit of a theme. Since we couldn't travel at the time, we decided to go on a journey through songs. I hope y'all are ready to travel with us wandering spirits and meet some cool characters with great stories."
"If I Was a Cowboy," a standout from 2021, made the tracklist, as did new recordings of three songs from Lambert's The Marfa Tapes project with fellow Texans Randall and Jack Ingram.
"I love everything about Marfa: some friends around a campfire, no fixes, no protocols, no filters. It was raw and real, and I wanted to take some of that with me," remarked Lambert. "'In His Arms,' 'Waxahachie' and 'Geraldene' got to go on this journey with us, cutting them with a full band - and usually the public doesn't get to hear that part, which I'm really excited about."
Surprises include a cover of noted country music fan Mick Jagger's "Wandering Spirit" (the title track of his 1993 solo album) and the B-52's appearance on "Music City Queen," which the press release describes as a "funky Deee-Lite meets Creedence Clearwater Revival trip down the Cumberland River."
Lambert paired the announcement with the music video for album track "Strange," a bluesy number about the value of self-care in the face of uncertainty.
"The song 'Strange' came together in a really cool, organic way," Lambert told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. "Natalie Hemby and Luke Dick and I were out writing at my farm and Natalie had this really cool idea and melody and just the song title 'Strange'. And we were talking about all the strangeness going on in the world at the time. We did write it in 2020. And so we kind of wrote it towards addressing some heavy things, but mostly we want people to take away from this song to be lighter on their feet and take a breath and play a song and do a dance and maybe fly somewhere fun, just kind of escape from a reality that isn't too good. So I hope people love this song, and I think we really brought it to life on the record. When I hear it, it makes me feel good and it has such a sing along chorus. So I hope y'all feel good."
Expect to hear songs from the new album when Lambert, co-headliners Little Big Town and opening act The Cadillac Three launch The Bandwagon Tour on May 6 in Houston.
Palomino Tracklisting
1. "Actin' Up" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Jon Randall)
2. "Scenes" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
3. "In His Arms" (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
4. "Geraldene" (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
5. "Tourist" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
6. "Music City Queen" feat. The B-52's (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
7. "Strange" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
8. "Wandering Spirit" (Mick Jagger, James Rippeto)
9. "I'll Be Lovin' You" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Jon Randall)
10. "That's What Makes the Jukebox Play" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
11. "Country Money" (Miranda Lambert, Aaron Raitiere, Mikey Reaves)
12. "If I Was a Cowboy" (Miranda Lambert, Jesse Frasure)
13. "Waxahachie" (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
14. "Pursuit of Happiness" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
15. "Carousel" (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
