Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Miranda Lambert, Vanner Records/RCA Records 2019.
It’s not my usual practice to review singles but I’ve made an exception in this case.
It’s not the case that this single is too remarkable to ignore but more that it offers a glimpse of a new sound for American Country music.
I know very little about Miranda Lambert but have discovered she is the nine-time winner of AMC Female Vocalist of The Year Award and has also won two Grammy Awards so she’s pretty good.
What captured my attention with this release was the quality of this two-track single.
The A side is the title song but I’m going to start with the B side.
Locomotive is a full-on country rock track that really lives up to its name as it bounds along.
Amanda is backed by a crack band and the cut is so tight that if it were a pair of jeans you wouldn’t be able to bend over.
Amanda’s great vocal shows why she has won all of those Vocalist of The Year awards.
It’s reminiscent of some of rock’s greatest female singers such as Joan Jet and particularly Suzie Quatro.
It All Comes Out in The Wash is far more traditional country, especially in the vocal, but there are still elements that make it stand apart from most country fare that comes my way.
Firstly, it’s a really well written song, not that most country songs are poorly written, but lyrically it’s more interesting than most.
Secondly, it’s musically diverse and this is its real strength.
The track contains multiple elements that are straight out of the sixties/seventies rock play-book such as a really catchy and melodic guitar hook that introduces the song and re-occurs as a familiar motif.
It also contains an underlying Hammond organ sound that not only harkens back to earlier times but gives the track great depth.
It’s these elements that made me give the disc multiple listens and for a country double-sided single that says a lot.
