Lone Star

An appreciation post for Miranda Lambert. I was making a new iTunes playlist and I realized that Miranda's in almost every playlist I have because that's the kind of amazing artist she is - real, honest, and all-encompassing of the human experience. Of the feminine experience. For those from all backgrounds and types - in her songs she covers everything that's awesome, annoying, and hard about being a woman. I can listen to her and feel inspired when she belts out one of her anthems about being strong and independent from a man and screw what everyone expects from you, and be there with her when she quiets down into a sombre elegy about a love lost or hurt and all the vulnerability that's left. Anyway, instead of going on any further I'll let her lyrics say it all for me. I'll link to the songs they're taken from for the corresponding pictures!

 

If I'd have done what you and daddy done, would have never lost and never won

Or gotten myself kicked when I was down.

I would not know how to travel well,

A hundred bucks and cheap motels

I would not know how to fight for my own heart next time around.

Now don't you cry another night about me

In this city I've got angels all around me

Hey Mama I'm OK out here, I've seen how hard the world can be.

My step is sure and I know my name,

I'm strong just like you prayed Id be.

It's half past ten
Another six-pack in
And I can feel the rumble like a cold black wind.
He pulls in the drive
The gravel flies
He don't know what's waiting here this time.

Well, his fist is big ...

But my gun's bigger

And he'll find out when I pull the trigger.

She's beautiful
In her simple little way
She don't have too much to say when she gets mad.
She understands.
She don't let go of anything
Even when the pain gets really bad.

Guess I should've been more like that.

I should have held on to my pride
I should have never let you lie
I guess you got what you deserve
I guess I should've been more like her.

Me and Charlie boy used to go walking
Sittin' in the woods behind my house
When being lovers meant a stolen kiss
And holding hands with nobody else around.
Charlie said he wanted to get married
But we were only ten so we'd have to wait.
He said we'd never let our love run dry like so many do these days.

 Now and then I sometimes think of Charlie
And how we thought we new it all back then.
Now I'd give anything to feel love from a child's heart again.

You don't need a girl like me
I got bruises you can't see
And when the lights go out,
I won't be around
You don't need a girl like me

'Cause the rule remains unwritten
I still break it from time to time
If you're fool enough to listen
Then I'm fool enough to lie

You can't change the way I am
You don't need a girl like me

Sometimes I wish I lived in an airstream
Homemade curtains
Lived just like a gypsy
Break a heart
Roll out of town
'Cause gypsys never get tied down

Unanchored in the storm
Or safely on the shore
If this is all I need
Why do I want more?

I know they say you can't go home again ...
I just had to come back one last time.
Ma'am, I know you don't know me from Adam,
But these handprints on the front steps are mine.
And up those stairs, in that little back bedroom,
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar.
And I bet you didn't know
Under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard.

You leave home,
You move on,
And you do the best you can.
I got lost in this ol' world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here its like I'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I'll leave
Won't take nothing but a memory ...
From the house that built me. 

Well I've been saved by the grace of southern charm
I got a mouth like a sailor and yours is more like a Hallmark card
If you wanna pick a fight, well I'm gonna have to say good night
I don't have to be hateful, I can just say bless your heart

So let's shake hands and reach across those party lines
You got your friends just like I got mine
We might think a little differently
But we got a lot in common you will see
We're just like you

Only prettier.

Well, I'll keep drinkin' and you'll keep gettin' skinnier
I'm just like you -
Only prettier

Cheap red wine straight out of a coffee cup.
One more down,
Drink you off my mind.
Lord knows I've tried a thousand times to give you up,
But it's closing time.
And we both know why.

I'm just too selfish, I guess
I know you're tired and restless
It's no surprise we've come undone
But I can't unlove you just because it's better
In the long run

Maybe somewhere a little down the line
I'll get a little better leaving us behind
Maybe someday
I'll be fine

I see the blue lights, we better run.
Throw out the bottle and I’ll hide the gun
If he pulls us over I’ll turn on the charm
You’ll be in the slammer and I’ll be on his arm.

Ain’t no use in trying to slow me down
‘Cause you’re running with the fastest girl in town

Ain’t you baby?
Well I told you I was crazy.
No I ain’t no body’s baby.

It's the same old you when you get to drinkin'

The same old you when you're on the town

The same old you in church on Sunday

Gettin' high when the sun goes down

Well your mama's gonna cry her eyes

There ain't gonna be no wedding day

What's she gonna say

When I tell how how I had no choice?

Same old you couldn't even raise your voice and ask me to stay

I wouldn't anyway.

So you can keep your ring,

And I'll keep my daddy's name.

Living alone
Here in this place
I think of you
And I’m not afraid

Your favorite records
Make me feel better
Cause you sing along
With every song

I know you didn’t mean to give them to me.

But you went away
How dare you.

I miss you.

They say I’ll be OK
But I’m not going to
Ever get
Over you.

It really sinks in, you know
When I see it in stone.

Ilsa was an acrobat who went and fell in love with that
Horatio the human cannonball.
A wedding 'neath the big top tent
With barkers, clowns, and elephants
Sideshow family oddities and all.
The dog-faced boy howled out with joy
As the tattooed lady was crying.
Ever since the beginning to keep the world spinning
It takes all kinds of kinds.

Thomas was a congressman with closets full of skeletons
And dresses that he wore on Friday nights.
Phyllis was a pharmacist
A dab of that, a pinch of this
Concocted to suppress her appetite.
When the children were fiddlin' she'd slip 'em some Ritalin
And wait for Thomasina to arrive.
'Cause ever since the beginning
To keep the world spinning
It takes all kinds of kinds.
All kinds of kinds.

When I play this old guitar from children's shows to smoky bars
I take a break and think about the past.
When I stood up in geometry and everybody stared at me
And I tossed my test into the trash.
I scratched off my number while hitching out under
That bush league population sign.
Ever since the beginning to keep the world spinning
It takes all kinds of kinds.

Now some point a finger and let ignorance linger
If they'd look in the mirror they'd find.
That ever since the beginning to keep the world spinning
It takes all kinds of kinds.
All kinds of kinds.
All kinds of kinds.

Boots & Hearts

Long time no see!

So in the midst of all my friends going to Digital Dreams and VELD and all these EDM festivals, guess which one I went to?

A country music one, of course!

Boots and Hearts is a pretty new music festival in Canada celebrating country music. It's a three-day fest that offers campgrounds for you to stay on so you don't have to make trips back and forth from Bowmanville, which is a bit of a drive, especially if you're from the city like my friend and I were.

This year they had some really impressive big-name artists on their weekend lineup. Last year's roster was pretty darn solid (with names like Carrie Underwood and Tim McGraw) but this year saw the arrival of country super stars Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, and the one and only (and this blogger's personal favourite) Miranda Lambert! Even supporting acts like Dierks Bentley, Dean Brody, and Aaron Lewis are no small time newbies to country fans.

So my friend and I got there Sunday afternoon around 3-4 pm, at the sunny peak of the beautiful day (though it did get pretty chilly as the day went on. Brr! I tried to buy a sweater but alas, they were all sold out. It would figure, I imagine the rest of the weekend before also got pretty nippy at night!) Music was blaring, crushed beer cans and hay were everywhere (ah, that country charm ;)) and there were TONS of people. I was genuinely surprised at the turnout, though I don't know why I was. It was also kind of funny noticing that, while there were definitely a lot of "redneck"y people there, there were also quite a few that I would classify more as the EDM-concert types, decked out in neon colours and looking like they made a false turn and ended up at the wrong festival but decided to make the best of it anyway xD

We had a good time walking around checking out all the different booths they had set up. There were even a couple amusement park rides set up that really added some cool visual depth to the layout of the grounds. The festival also had multiple stages set up, the main one for bigger acts and smaller ones off to the side for more up-and-coming groups. A good excuse to walk around, and a guarantee that you'd find music wherever you went! The food stands were also understandably tempting, with the sinfully delicious aromas of sizzling BBQ and fried food wafting from the line of different vendors - all with their own 20+ man lines waiting to order. My friend and I opted for Mexican food, and even though I was disappointed they ran out of nachos my fish taco was quite tasty and made up for it. We also got an onion blossom because why the heck not, right?

So after some amusing encounters with several drunk people, nearly losing $60 to an ATM, and much walking and basking, we made it to the growing crowd of people gathering in front of the main stage for the act of the night - my woman crush, Miranda Lambert. And boy, did she not disappoint. Words can't express how ecstatic I was, and how amazing she was. While her songs were kickass as always, one of my favourite things about Miranda is the message she sends not only through her music but in her being. About a half dozen songs in she took a minute to speak to the crowd about individuality and always striving for more. "I'm looking in the crowd and I'm seeing all different kinds of people out there. White people, black people, everything in between, tall people, short people, big people, small people. If I can be up here living my dream, you can do whatever you want to do, because it takes all kinds of crazy people to make this world go around." Then she introduced her latest single, which happened to be one of my favourite tracks from her latest album, which everyone should take a second to check out because it's really a great song. Click the bottom picture to listen!

Suffice to say, I had a great time! My experience was overall very positive, though I have heard on the grapevine that the festival COULD use a little more organization to better control the rowdy drinking and driving and campground logistics. Hopefully they take these concerns and improve on it next year because I'm definitely going back and want to have a good, safe time! I only went for the Sunday lineup this time around because Miranda was headlining, and I bought my ticket pretty late so it was pretty expensive on its own anyway. Next year, however, I'm definitely going for the full weekend. And I'm bringing more people with me, 'cause doggone it it's a party and what's a party without friends? :)