Miranda Lambert - Early Life

Early Life

Miranda Leigh Lambert was born November 10, 1983 in Longview, Texas, and raised in Lindale, Texas. Her father, Richard Lee "Rick" Lambert, is a retired police officer who in later life became a private investigator in partnership with her mother, Beverly June Lambert (née Hughes). Miranda was taught about guns by her father at an early age and later became an avid deer hunter. Her parents took her to a Garth Brooks concert when she was nine and this started her interest in country music. Her father wrote and performed country music and she soon began singing in talent contests under his tutelage. She started her career playing in local restaurants.

At age sixteen, Lambert began appearing on the Johnnie High Country Music Revue in Arlington, Texas, the same show that helped launch the career of LeAnn Rimes. Lambert quickly landed a recording session in Nashville, but left the studio after she became frustrated with the "pop" sound of music. She then went back to Texas and asked her dad to teach her how to play guitar so she could write her own songs.

While still in high school, Lambert made her professional singing debut with her band "The Texas Pride Band." fronted the house band at the Reo Palm Isle Ballroom in Longview, Texas, a long-running venue that has showcased Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and is where Brooks & Dunn started out as a bar room band.

Many people know that Miranda Lambert is an award winning country music artist, however, not many people know the inspiration behind some of her most famous songs or her fiery lyrics. Melissa Maerz, writer for Entertainment Weekly, stated, “Lambert’s childhood provided her with rich material for her music.” When she turned fifteen, her family opened their home to an abused woman and her daughter. "She had a black eye, and she was bawling," the singer remembers, her own eyes widening. "I had heard about domestic abuse, but that was when it became real. Obviously, that influenced the 2008 hit 'Gunpowder and Lead.'" Lambert is currently licensed to carry a handgun--on her forearm, there's a tattoo of two entwined revolvers emblazoned with angel wings--and she says that knowing she can defend herself makes her feel safe.”