BY LESLEY HASTINGS
I defy any fan of country music to not have at least one female revenge song among their favourites. Whether it’s The Chicks “Goodbye Earl”, Carrie’s “Before He Cheats” or Patty Loveless and “Blame It On Your Heart”, we all seem to love hearing about someone getting the comeuppance they deserve.
Miranda Lambert is of course no stranger to a tale of a women scorned striking back as she has demonstrated over the years with tracks such as “Gunpowder and Lead”, “Crazy Ex Girlfriend“ and “Kerosene”, and last Friday we saw her add to this list with the release of her latest single “Wranglers”, her first new music since parting ways with Sony and signing a new deal with Rebublic Records.
Written by Audra Mae (who adds background vocals to the track too) Evan McKeever and Ryan Carpenter, the track was co-produced by Miranda alongside frequent collaborator Jon Randall. The female empowerment anthem was debuted live shortly before release date at the ever-popular Stagecoach Festival in California, where Miranda co-headlined. And what a fun song this must have been for her and the band to perform as you can see from the video footage below.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned“ we are (obviously correctly!) informed as the song opens, a moody track with its fair share of vitriol which paints the most vivid picture of a wife finally able to leave her abusive, loveless marriage. For some reason we don’t learn she needed to stay but is now in a position to break free …. and before she walks away has the satisfaction of setting fire to all her partner’s possessions, the brilliant tag line telling us that if she’s learned only one thing from the relationship it’s that “Wranglers take forever to burn”. Incidentally I love the apt description of her eyes being “blue jean” in colour.
Searing electric guitar, including a great solo, cuts through the explosive (no pun intended) accompaniment and Miranda’s vocals are as strong and expressive as always, I just adore her Texan twang.
I’ve heard unconfirmed rumours that there is a new album on the way from Miranda later this year, always good news as far as I’m concerned, and if this is a taste of what we can expect then I’m even more excited.
Stream/ Download “ Wranglers” here https://ml.lnk.to/wranglers