Miranda Lambert Reflects on ‘Longer Road’ to Success as a Woman in Male-Dominated Texas Country Scene

Miranda Lambert’s 24-year career started off with quite a few hurdles, as she reveals in a new interview.

Speaking to Texas Monthly, Lambert looked back on her start breaking into music calling it “a longer road” to success for women in the male-dominated Texas scene. “It’s not a bad thing or a good thing. It just is what it is.”

Lambert recalls cutting her teeth at dive bars and rodeos until she started opening for bigger acts, often as the only woman on bills. 

The 40-year-old singer recalls booking agents being hesitant to book her for shows, telling her parents, “Well, we don’t hire girls. Girls don’t draw.” Lambert’s father allegedly even gave people “50 bucks to let me get onstage.”

But she found kinship with a familiar country name, Kacey Musgraves, whose family was friends with the Lamberts. Musgraves’ grandmother, Barbara, even recommended Lambert audition for Nashville Star’s first season, where she placed third. Her time on the show is what landed her first record deal with Epic Records. 

“It’s not been a pretty road for me,” Lambert told Texas Monthly of her uphill battle for radio success. “There’s been some highs, and then there’s been some knock-down, drag-out battles that I didn’t win, that my songs just couldn’t win. Certainly, for male artists, it’s just a different path. I’ll watch it, and sometimes I’m like, ‘Damn, that happened quick.’'”

Postcards from Texas is Lambert’s first album recorded in her home state since staking her claim in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s also her first album since departing from RCA Nashville to Republic, in partnership with independent label Big Loud. “I just signed a new record deal at 40 years old,” she told a crowd at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas celebrating the new chapter. 

Now, Lambert boasts the most ACM Awards wins in history (35!), taking home the female vocalist of the year award for nine consecutive years, inching out Reba McEntire. She’s also received three Grammys and 14 CMA Awards.

Most recently, Lambert took home the second-ever Country Icon Award at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards. She was recognized for building “an authentic, female-forward brand of country that has shaped the industry.”