Miranda Lambert

• Genre: New Traditional
• Hometown: Lindale
• Miranda Lambert Website

About

While most country starlets grow up in a musical family, Miranda Lambert was raised by the prerequisite musical father (he played country guitar) and a mother who ran a detective agency, which may be one of the reasons why her own songs are loaded with rich narrative intrigue. At the ripe age of 16, Lambert entered country music singing contests in Arlington, Texas and a year later she was playing guitar and writing her own songs. Further talent show contests garnered her a spot in a potato chip commercial and led her to form her first band, The Texas Pride Band. While most aspiring bands cut demo recordings in hopes that local venue promoters will add them to a bill, Lambert's father-funded demo actually landed her two songs on the Texas music charts. Of course that meant she had to stop everything and move to Nashville, which she gladly did in 2003, appearing (and taking third place) on Nashville Star. It wasn't long before Sony snatched her up, which isn't as impressive as the fact that they let her pen 10 of the 11 songs on her debut album, Kerosene.

- Eric Shea