Miranda Lambert
"The Weight of These Wings"
(Sony Music Nashville (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK){)
Miranda Lambert hits the road in the first verse of the opening song of her sixth album. "There's trouble where I'm going, but I'm gonna go there anyway," she sings on "Runnin' Just in Case." And two discs and two dozen songs later, on "I've Got Wheels," the country star is still rolling, keeping a move on as she figures out where she's headed next on this quiet, unflinching, impressively crafted road map through heartache and its aftermath.
"Wings" is, of course, Lambert's first album since the breakup of her marriage to "The Voice" star Blake Shelton, and, as you would expect, it's more self-critical, compelling, and, well, honest, than her ex's 2016 effort, "If I'm Honest." Starting with the single "Vice," Lambert makes herself vulnerable in ways mainstream country stars don't dare. And rather than settle scores, the 33-year-old songwriter who used to be known for revenge songs like "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" is more likely to point the finger at herself ("Another bed I shouldn't crawl out of at 7 a.m. with shoes in my hand / Said I wouldn't do it but I did it again"). Lambert cowrote 20 of the tunes, including "Getaway Driver," with new boyfriend Anderson East, who also sings on the lovely, hopeful "Pushin' Time."
Divided into halves labeled "The Nerve" and "The Heart," "Weight" includes covers of Shake Russell's "You Wouldn't Know Me," and Danny O'Keefe's "Covered Wagon," the latter of which seems inconsequential compared to the quality of the writing that surrounds it.
_Dan DeLuca
