Enjoy Her While You Can

You better enjoy Miranda Lambert's music before the Nashville machine screws with her. Her debut, Kerosene, brought a fresh young voice with songwriting skills. Now on her second album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, she does it again. Co-writing 8 of 11, it's a fine sequel. And Lambert is getting noticed by the Rock Press that usually doesn't pay attention to what's charting Country. But I wonder if she can keep it up, at least on the songwriting front. She's already expressed frustration with finding time to write and constant touring (which is where the real money is for Country singers). And considering that no single from her debut went Top 10 and the title track from this one tanked, I can see the Nashville suits forcing her to do songs she doesn't like just to get her on more stations. But Lambert is just spunky enough to rise above all that. She might give in on future albums, but the best songs will be her own. On the new one, "Gunpowder and Lead" is tougher than anything from the mouth's of today's Country hunks. But I bet you never hear it on your local station. So, let's enjoy her while we can.