I admire it from a distance. Some of the best country artists of today do sing about traditional 9-5 style jobs and life in a Red State, but with a wink of irony. It won't surprise anyone to reveal the majority of my music purchases of the past ten years has been on the indie side. And if there's one thing that is in abundant supply for indie music, it is irony. As much as I like Panda Bear and have a begrudging respect for Dirty Projectors, it is sometimes annoying that some of their songs need a two-hour college-level round-table group session to identify the meaning of the lyrics. As a journalist, there are sometimes I just crave concrete. Enter Miranda Lambert.
On the song "Maintain the Pain," she opens with the frank line "I put a bullet in my radio."
Lambert is an odd character. She first achieved fame in the most inauthentic of ways - winning a reality series. But she has surrounded herself with some truly authentic talent. For her new album, she covers a John Prine song, a lyricist who's on par with Billy Bragg. The violence of the opening line doesn't solve anything. I certainly wouldn't do it. But there are days when you're in your car and talk radio, preprogrammed Clear Channel pop and classic rock stations want you to do just what the opening line says.
