Miranda Lambert Toughs Out Illness for Memphis Audience

by Julian Spivey

Julian Spivey Photo

Miranda Lambert gave it all she had on Saturday, May 24 at AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball team, in Memphis, Tenn. after being “sick as shit” all week and wanting to show up for fans who’d already had the show rescheduled once due to weather last fall.

​You could tell throughout the evening that Lambert wasn’t at her best, with moments of coughing fits that led to the packed crowd having to sing portions of songs and her veteran backup singer, Gwen Sebastian, taking over at times. But for the most part, Lambert sounded pretty damn good for being under the weather and certainly didn’t let her fans down.

Lambert’s set began, right at 9 p.m., with “Fastest Girl in Town,” off her 2011 album Four the Record, followed by a raucous performance of “Kerosene,” off her 2005 debut album of the same name that immediately showed Lambert would be a force to be reckoned with in the future of country music.

What followed for the remainder of the night was a showcase of some of her biggest hits over a career that has already seen her become one of the most-awarded artists in country music history at only age 41.

Each of her nine solo studio albums would have at least one song featured throughout the evening, with 2009’s Revolution and 2011’s Four the Record having the most representation with three songs.

Revolution, which may very well be her greatest career achievement, saw performances of “Heart Like Mine,” “The House That Built Me” and “White Liar,” with “White Liar” being one of the biggest standouts of the entire show. For my money, “The House That Built Me” is the most outstanding recording of Lambert’s career (and one of the all-time great country music songs), but it was in the middle of this performance Lambert had one of her coughing fits and had to let the audience perform half the song on their own.

Four the Record saw performances of “All Kinds of Kinds,” which she remarked the world needed, and everybody should be exactly who they are, the previously mentioned “Fastest Girl in Town,” and a terrific, rip-roaring performance of “Mama’s Broken Heart,” another highlight of her set.

Some of Lambert’s ballad performances during the evening were among my favorites (and my favorite songs of hers, in general). This included “Vice,” the only cut on the evening from The Weight of These Wings, and “In His Arms,” one of two cuts (the other being “If I Was a Cowboy”) from Palomino.

The biggest shock of the night was that her latest album, last year’s Postcards From Texas, which was released around the time this show was initially scheduled, only featured two performances: “Run” and “Dammit Randy.” I would’ve thought there would be more performed from the new album, but honestly, it wasn’t a big deal for me, as I didn’t know it was her best work, though I wouldn’t have minded hearing the song “Wranglers.”

Lambert doesn’t do encores but had quite a wallop of a finish to her Memphis show playing: “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” and “Little Red Wagon” in a row to finish out the night. Those last two aren’t among my favorite Lambert tunes, but it was a crowd-pleasing effort.

Lambert managed to pack 19 songs in just under 75 minutes, which is kind of crazy. On one hand, you’d expect for a headliner to perform a longer show, but around 20 songs is pretty much a typical headlining set. 
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Julian Spivey Photo

Marty Stuart & his Fabulous Superlatives put on a fantastic opening set, though I wonder if it played well to the audience of younger listeners. I couldn’t tell, as most of the crowd was behind me this time. There were folks surrounding me incredibly pumped to hear Stuart classics like “The Whisky Ain’t Workin’ Anymore” and “Hillbilly Rock,” I can say that with certainty.
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Stuart and his band’s rockabilly flavor made for the perfect atmosphere for a Memphis show, as Memphis is the home of rockabilly and Sun Studios. At one point, the band was almost upstaged by 11-year-old Ben Scruggs, the son of bassist Chris Scruggs, who came onstage to perform the rockabilly “My Gal is Red Hot,” to uproarious applause from the crowd. That kid, who felt like he was plucked right out of the ‘50s, is going places – but when you’re part of one of the dynasties of country and bluegrass music, you ought to be.

Stuart’s bandmates always get their time to shine on vocals and did so with aplomb on Saturday night. Guitarist “Cousin” Kenny Vaughan performed his usual “Country Music  Got a Hold On Me,” while “Professor” Chris Scruggs and drummer “Handsome” Harry Stinson performed songs that were new to me but fit the vibe of the setting.  

My favorite performance of Stuart’s set was “Tempted,” his top-five country hit from 1991. Its smooth sound made it sound like a Roy Orbison classic. The band also put on one helluva performance with their finale of “Time Don’t Wait,” off 2017’s Way Out West.  

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