Miranda Lambert is a no-nonsense kind of country music star. She presents herself exactly as she really is. Lambert, 41, was a guest recently on the Joe Rogan Experience. A Longview, Texas native, she spoke very candidly about just how tough it was for her to get a foothold in the country music industry. The "Kerosene" singer capitalized on a natural aptitude for music and always kept her ambition burning brightly. And never quit working super hard to realize her dream.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Lambert Worked Her Way up the Ladder
Per Country Now via the Joe Rogan Experience, Lambert said, "I wasn't in a spotlight at first. I was playing [expletive]holes...I don't know. I feel like that, I didn't have a choice. It's the only thing I've ever been good at. Everything is hard. Everything else is hard to me. But music was the only thing that I was like, I guess that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm actually good at it. it comes naturally."
Maybe luck or fate or destiny played a role in Lambert's success as well. She acknowledged, "I see so many people that are so immensely talented that just didn't happen for, and you don't know why. You don't know if it was one little factor of a period in their life or just not seeing at the right time or chasing the right thing at the right time. And I don't know, I feel very thankful for that."
She Started Small
The glamorous aspects of stardom were far in the future for her. Lambert says she trudged her way to the top of the heap, one step at a time. "I was stapling my posters to a phone pole when I started. I did it old-school, boots on the ground walking up to the radio station, knocking on the door saying, 'Can I play a song?' Me and my mom in her Ford Expedition driving around all over Texas, me going, 'I'm a singer, songwriter.' And now I'm like, damn. I'm jealous of the way that people can do it now."
Social Media and Other Technologies Have Been Radical Game-Changers for Musicians
Social media, plus streaming platforms, have clearly revolutionized the music industry for newcomers. Goodbye shoe leather, hello Spotify.
Lambert added, "I'm also like, well damn, these kids, they just post something like a hundred million people see it in a night. Like what's happening?" Lambert continued, "Mind boggling. I can't even put it into words thinking how you could get your chops and how you did it fight by fight. You did it stage by stage...it just happened so fast and it's like then you still have to pay the dues, but it's just backwards."
Lambert isn't trashing social media. Far from it. She actually finds it useful. "I'm thankful for it too, by the way. I found some great talent and learned some really cool recipes and get to talk about rescue dogs. There's the good things about it."
