01x03 - Miranda and Bev Lambert

[bunniefuu]

♪ M-T-V

[birds singing]

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I went to a baby shower.

You know how everybody puts
a note in the jar

to help the mom,

like, "Don't let the baby
sleep in the bed,"

and all the little stuff
you tell people.

And one of the notes said,

"Raise a child
according to its bend."

I was like, this is the best
piece of mothering advice

I have ever seen in my life.

- Raise a child according
to their bend. B-E-N-D.

In other words, when you latch
on to what their heart is,

and their desire,

you do everything
you can to help them.

- It completely changed
my mothering.

I thought, "I'll never know
what their bend is

if I don't let them try."

So once we discovered
Miranda's was music,

I tried hone in all of
our resources, our money.

I took her out of dance.
I took her out of everything.

I'm like, "I'm not gonna
keep her in dance lessons

that I cannot afford if this is
not her mission in life."

[soft upbeat music]

We kept our head down
and did our job.

♪ ♪

And I think the day
I don't do a good job,

I'll probably still get fired.

But I'm just gonna keep
doing a good job. It's easy.

[upbeat rock music]

♪

[cheers and applause]

[upbeat music]

♪

- The Lambert family has lived

in the small Texas town
of Lindale for over 30 years.

♪ ♪

Bev's experiences
with Miranda

reminded me of
an uncertain time in my life,

when David dropped out
of high school

to pursue a career in music.

♪

Bev and I have both been at a
crossroads with our children,

whose passions led them

into completely uncharted
territory.

♪ ♪

- Hey.
- Hey.

- How are you, my friend?
- I'm good, I'm good.

- So great to see you.
You look fantastic.

- I'm so happy to see you.

- We're having such a good
time.

- Thank you.

- We're having champagne,

and we're just having
the best time.

Don't you love the rooster
in the background?

- I do love it.
I do.

- Wish I could--hey, rooster,
can you pipe down down there?

A guy just pulled in and said,
"Where's Dave Grohl?"

Apparently, he put
two and two together.

Like, why would Dave Grohl
be in Lindale, Texas?

- I said to Miranda, "I bet you
can't go out of the house."

- She goes to the diner
and eats.

- Does she?

- Every time she's home.

She goes in there and eats.

But she's Miranda,
and she's from here,

so I think people go,
"Oh yeah, there's Ran.

I guess
she's in town for something."

- Yeah, yeah.

- But, you've got to realize
we're a town of four thousand.

They grew up with her,
so it's not as...

- That's good.
- Outstanding of a sighting

as Dave Grohl would be
in Lindale, Texas.

- Or should would be in L.A.
- In some other city.

- Yeah, right.
- Yeah. For sure.

♪ ♪

- Okay.

- We are in my mother's
bar area

at my mother's house
in the middle of nowhere.

But when I come home,
I feel like I'm at home.

And sitting here,
even talking to you,

I'm still in my mama's house,
and my dad's still gonna make

fried eggs from the chickens
tomorrow morning.

- What are your memories
of growing up here?

- I had probably one
of the most normal childhoods.

Went to church every Sunday,

and Sunday night and Wednesday
nights to youth group.

My mom worked,
but she was usually home

by the time we got home
from school.

So, I mean, it was
a very simple way of living.

- How was Miranda as a kid?
- Quiet. Never said a word.

They would call me,
the school, and say,

"We don't know
if she's getting this or not,

because we can't get her to--
she doesn't talk."

She never spoke, at all.

- I was really shy.
I'm still very shy.

I wouldn't even order, like,
nuggets at McDonald's.

I was just too scared
to talk to the people.

[chuckles]

I'm a very private person.

So I think I picked
the wrong job.

[upbeat rock music]

♪

- I'm here with one
of the hottest rising stars

in the world of country music.
Her name is Miranda Lambert.

She has the number one
country album.

- ♪ I'm giving up on love
'cause love's given up on me ♪

♪ You can't ride
in my little red wagon ♪

- And the buckle goes to...
- And the buckle goes to...

- And the buckle goes to...
- Miranda Lambert!

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you so much!

- And the Grammy goes to...
- Miranda Lambert!

- I'm so thankful for this.

♪ I'm going home,
gonna load my shotgun ♪

♪ Wait by the door
and light a cigarette ♪

- Miranda Lambert dominated

last night's Academy
of Country Music Awards

in Las Vegas
and won the most awards.

- Miranda Lambert's only
27 years old,

and Sunday,
snagged her second win

for Album of the Year.

- ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, ♪

I'm a songwriter.

I poured my heart and
soul into this album.

It's a part of who I am.

And thank you
for appreciating it.

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- When did you realize
that she had musical talent?

- There was a song at the time
called "Meet Me in Montana."

And it was, you know,
a country hit, whatever.

- Remember singing
in the backseat

when I was about, like, four.

♪ ♪

- And she was singing
the harmony part.

- And my dad was like,
"She's singing harmony."

And my mom's like,
"She doesn't know what that is.

She's not singing harmony."
And Dad's like, "Listen."

- "Maybe she's just
off-key here.

I don't know."
It's impossible, right?

So Rick started playing it
on his guitar,

and she would just sing,
word-for-word,

the Marie Osmond part.

I'm like, "Geez, Louise.
This kid's got something."

- I remember the conversation.
Even though I was tiny.

You know, Dad being, like,
"You're singing harmony."

Which I was like,
"What's harmony?"

You know what I mean?

But, just,
music was always all around.

I didn't really know how
all that was gonna look--

[chuckles]
For a long time.

♪

- They have a talent show
in our town, and she said,

"I'm gonna enter
the talent show."

And I said, "Oh, you are, now?"

And--this child
who doesn't talk.

And she goes, "I'm gonna be
in the talent show.

"I'm gonna see if Daddy
will play his guitar,

and I'm gonna sing
'Daddy's Hands.'"

- When you were
in third grade?

- Yeah. I practiced
for, like, two months.

[guitar playing]

- ♪ I remember Daddy's hands ♪

♪ Folded silently in prayer ♪

- And of course nobody knew
she could sing at all.

- ♪ Daddy's hands were soft
and kind when I was crying ♪

♪ Daddy's hands were hard
as steel ♪

♪ When I'd done wrong

I really didn't know I could
sing like that, you know?

I think I shocked me and
my parents at the same time.

And everyone that knows us.
It's like, "Who's that?"

'Cause usually I'm just, like,
in the corner, hanging out.

♪ There was always love ♪

♪ In Daddy's hands

- I played guitar for her.

And at the end of the song,
she walked over to me.

- ♪ Hard as steel
when I'd done wrong ♪

♪ Daddy's hands ♪

- Every teacher in the place
broke down.

♪ ♪

- ♪ In Daddy's hands ♪

- Teachers are crying
and the kids are cheering

and she fell in love
with the applause.

[applause]

[guitar playing]

♪ ♪

- And then this guy
comes up to me and says,

"Man, your daughter
is really good."

"Well, I appreciate that."

I said,
"Your daughter was good, too."

He said, "No."
He said, "You don't understand.

"Your daughter has something
that my daughter doesn't have.

[soft dramatic music]

She's got a drive for music.

♪

It just shined.
It shined.

♪ ♪

- After that performance
with your dad,

did you want to be, like,
a performing musician?

- I didn't know at that point.
I mean, I was ten.

I was kind of, like, awkward
and shy and chunky,

and I had really bad bangs.

A lot of the moms
and the teachers were, like,

coming up to my mom, being
like, "She's really good."

And I think my mom was like,
"Well, what do you do with it?

We live in Lindale, Texas."

♪ ♪

I mean, our town was 2,500
people when I graduated.

"So I guess she's just gonna
go to school tomorrow,

and we're just gonna
keep doing that."

♪ ♪

- Growing up
in Springfield, Virginia

wasn't exactly like
Lindale, Texas,

but it did kind of feel like
a small town.

I mean, I knew everybody.

So that's my elementary school
right over there.

North Springfield Elementary.

And it's funny, 'cause this
walk seemed like a big walk.

♪ ♪

At the time.

Okay, we got to go back inside

before my old friends
know that I'm home.

[laughs]

The world seemed so huge.

But I spent all of my time

in this one little
neighborhood.

This is it.

I never planned
on leaving here.

I didn't think I would.

So I just imagined if be here
for the rest of my life.

I'd done masonry,

I had worked
at Shakey's Pizza,

I worked
at the furniture warehouse,

and played music
at the same time.

And I thought, "Okay, well
that's just what I'm gonna do.

"As long as I can play music,

I don't mind working
at the furniture warehouse."

Marlo's Furniture Warehouse,

Virginia's largest
furniture showroom.

This is maybe the job
that I held the longest.

They had this crazy

industrial, like,
garbage chute

that was the size of a room.

And so furniture that was bad
or old or messed up,

I got to throw it
in this thing.

And, like, that scene
from "Star Wars,"

where they get stuck,
and the walls come in

and crushes everything--

I used to get
really f*cking high

and get all the old,
fluorescent light bulbs

and throw them
in that thing,

and just stand there
and watch them pop.

- Give me that messy
Texas hair.

- Mom, everything doesn't have
to have Texas

in the sentence--everything.

- Yes, it does.
That's where we live.

Have you met us?

- She's like, "Oh, my lashes.

Better put more on
because I'm from Texas."

"Oh, [indistinct],
I'm from Texas.

Oh, I'm thirsty.
I'm from Texas."

[laughter]
- [laughing] I'm from Texas.

- God.

- Hey,
we are haughty and proud,

and we're not seeking
treatment.

That's how we Texans act.
- [laughs]

- I'm gonna challenge you to--
- It's not gonna work.

- $20 and a bottle of Tito's

that you don't say "Texas"
in the next 30 minutes.

- Okay.
Hang on.

What if we just did
another deal?

$1 to you every time
I say "Texas."

That's fair.
- A dollar?

Uh-uh.
At least five.

[laughter]

- Miranda's mother, Bev--

I met her when she was
real young.

I was a pretty wild guy.

A musician and
an undercover cop at the time.

- At 15--and I was on my way
to SMU cheer camp

and I was visiting my mom.

I took a good look,
'cause he was a narc.

He had long hair,
had a pink jacket on.

I was like, "Don Johnson
done entered into my life.

This is the best day ever."

- So he was a cop.
- Mm-hmm.

- But was also a musician?
- Yes. He played the guitar.

I was done. He wrote--he sang
some songs he'd written.

I was over.
It was just done for me.

- She was and still is
a knockout.

And she swept my off my feet.

♪ ♪

- So we were married
four years.

I was managing a country club,
so I was hanging out

with the rich and famous,
neither of which I was.

And I got weird and stupid.
He's like, "I'm out.

I don't--I don't want
to be with you."

And I'm like,
"I can't believe it."

I'm like,
"I'm the love of your life."

And Rick divorced me.

♪

It was my fault,
but I didn't see it coming.

And it was devastating.

And I moved in with Mom,
you know,

and completely lost my mind.

The good news is I got saved.

You know,
got involved in church.

My brother is
a wonderful Christian.

Spent a lot of time with him

getting myself
straightened out.

Our divorce was to be final
on Valentine's Day.

So he came to Dallas.

I said,
"You can stay with me."

So about four months later,
he got a phone call.

"You're not gonna
believe this."

♪ ♪

So he had a change of heart.

- ♪ Ain't no moment
like I'm holding onto you ♪

- She's a good mate.
She's really hard-headed.

And she's demanding.
And she knows that.

She tells me all the time,

"Thank you for putting up
with me for 40 years."

And I told her,
"I'm glad you realize that."

- So that's how Miranda saved
my marriage.

We would have never probably
seen each other again.

- ♪ Ain't no moment like

♪ When I'm holding ♪

♪ Onto you

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- [whistles]
Ladies and gentlemen,

we're gonna have
the most spectacular

Cajun feast ever tonight,

so if y'all don't mind,
I'd like to pray for the food.

Heavenly Father, we thank you
for this gathering of friends

and family and special people
that we've come to know.

Lord Jesus,
I ask you to bless this food,

to the nourishment of our body.

In Jesus' name, Amen.
all: Amen.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Get your shoes on ♪

♪ Get your suitcase

♪ Your stereo and all
of your CDs ♪

- Oh boy.
- Look at that.

- It's chicken fried steak-ish.

- How's your transition
when you go on the road?

- I don't know.

- I've been going to bed at
9:30. That's showtime.

- I mean, the f*cked up thing
is I've been touring now

for 32 years.

So I started touring
when I was 18 years old.

So I'm just used to it.

So I feel like
I've been jetlagged...

- Your entire life.
- For 30 years--yeah.

- I feel like that, too.
[laughter]

♪ ♪

- It was like a fantasy
for me.

It wasn't real.

I couldn't join Scream
and tour the world

with this band
that I had loved for years.

I was 17 at the time.
I was still in school.

And then it became a reality
that I could actually do this.

♪

- So what are we headed to
now?

- We're gonna check out
the Scream house.

okay, so here to the right.

- Oh, my God.
Here we are.

- This is the house

where all the guys
in the band Scream lived

when I first joined the band.

So we used to rehearse
in the basement here.

[energetic percussive music]

I learned a lot
about playing music

in that basement.

My best memory of that house
is

the first time I ever went
on tour,

packing the van when I was 18.

And so me and the singer,
Pete,

standing in that driveway

with, like, my duffel bag
and my sleeping bag.

I was totally prepared
to, like, to not come back.

- Did your mom always have
to give you

a ride to rehearsal here?
- No. Not to this one.

At this point,
I was driving myself.

But it would make
a really cute story.

My mom would pack me a lunch,
in a paper bag,

and she'd drop me off here,
at the Scream house.

That didn't happen.

Freeze frame!

Now, in school,
what were you--

what did you aspire to do?

I mean, did you want to become
a private investigator?

- I had no concept of being
a private investigator.

[soft dramatic music]

But I've always been a little
sleuthy and a little wily.

So something came along,
and I took the bait.

- One of my supervisors
in the police department

started a private
investigative business.

I said, "I don't have time
to help you, but call my wife."

And he said,
"I don't know about a woman

in this business--
in the PI business."

She worked with him
for a week

and he said, "She's got more
cojones than most men do."

And so she worked for him
a year and a half,

and he gave the business
to us.

We took it from there
and expanded it,

and we worked that
for 21 years.

- Being a private
investigator's kid

is a little bit different
of a normal life, you know?

Half the time, Mom would
pick us up and be like,

"We're going to Dallas.
We're got to sit on a house."

Me and my brother Luke would
just take our coloring books.

We would just color
and, like, do our homework

and hang out
and eat chicken nuggets.

And Mom's, like,
looking through her binoculars.

[laughs]

- Okay, let's do it, buddy.
- Okay.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- There we go.
Yep.

- All right?

- Pull.

- ♪ County Road 233

- [chuckling]
Dead bird.

♪

- I mean, there's a home court
advantage happening here.

[laughter]

I don't know
if that's entirely fair.

- This is country versus rock
and roll, bubba.

- Oh, man.
[laughter]

- ♪ I'm goin' home,
gonna load my shotgun ♪

♪ Wait by the door
and light a cigarette ♪

♪ I'm gonna show him what
little girls are made of ♪

[laughter]
- That was mine, that was mine.

- ♪ I'm goin' home,
gonna load my shotgun ♪

♪ Wait by the door
and light a cigarette ♪

♪ I'm gonna show him what
little girls are made of ♪

♪ Gunpowder and lead

- Okay, smartass.
I see what you were doing.

- I saved you two shells
on that one.

- You were setting me up.
[laughter]

Can't have much more fun
than this, can you?

- Nah, this it.

I'm moving in,
just so you know.

- Come on.

♪

Good shot.

- ♪ Hold on just a minute

♪ That's my heart
you're stealing ♪

♪ That's okay, my baby ♪

♪ I don't want it back ♪

When I told them I wanted
to do this,

it was like, "What if we--I've
never really done Nashville.

What if we just go there?"

I was just wanting to see
what it was about.

[upbeat music]

Gathered up $3,000.

- We paid a thousand,
my mom paid a thousand,

my brother paid a thousand.

I'm like, this is her college.

If you were gonna contribute
to her college,

this is what you would do."

And they were like,
"Absolutely, 100%."

- ♪ I never thought I ever-- ♪

My dad had met this guy
who knew this guy.

He had some demos
that he had sent,

and they were these
little, poppy, girl songs.

I cut these, like,
seven songs.

- She sang these pop songs,

and she sang some
of her dad's song

on this little album.

And it was a cute,
little, good album.

- And I hated it.

I pictured my Martina McBride
and Faith Hill session

and it was like
some kind of

horrible Britney Spears
nightmare.

Like I was trying to be
someone cool like Britney,

but not near as good.
[laughs]

I was like, "This is awful."

- We're rolling out
of Nashville,

and it's the only time
we were all left hurting.

We spent two weeks
in Nashville,

staying at hotels, eating out.

You know, this is bad.
This is a bad thing.

She's in the back seat crying.
And I'm like, "Ah, man."

- I was like,
"Dad, I hate to say this,

"and I don't want
to be wasteful,

but I hate that music."

And he was like, "Well,

that was a $3,000 lesson
we learned, then."

- She said,
"I just hated that.

Nothing I said on that album
was anything I wanted to say."

And he said, "Baby, if you want
to say what you want to say,

you're gonna have to say it."

[soft dramatic music]

- He was like,
"You want to play this?"

And he, like,
hands me a guitar.

And I was like, "Yeah.

Will you teach me
some chords?"

And he taught me some chords.

- If I can take
any credit at all,

I taught her
how to play the guitar.

I taught her five chords.

♪ ♪

- And I was like,

"I don't even have anything
to say yet.

There's something in me
that is not that. What is it?"

So I was looking so hard
for it.

♪ ♪

That's kind of how I started
to find my own sound.

♪

- I didn't see the child
for two weeks.

She sat upstairs,
and she wrote her heart out.

♪

- It's, like, the first time

something came naturally
to me.

I had to work
so hard at school,

so hard at cheerleading,

wasn't a good dancer,
a terrible athlete.

And as soon as
I was on the stage

with my dad playing guitar,

I was like,
"Oh. I think I found it."

♪

So my senior year,
I sat down with my parents,

and I was like,
"What am I gonna get out

"of this--the rest
of this senior year?

I don't want to be here."

And I said,
"If you'll let me pursue this,

"whatever you had saved
for my college,

I would rather
put it into music."

- Somebody said to us,
"Well, you know,

"there's one in a million
chance

she's gonna make it
in the music industry."

And I said, "There's one?
Okay. Let's go for it."

- My was mom was like,
"If you're gonna do this,

"then we'll do it,
but we all have to put 110%.

"You have to make this work,

"because we don't have
extra money

in case you decide
you want to go to college."

- And there's no plan B.

- I didn't take the SATs,

and I didn't want
to go to college.

For what?
I don't have any other skills.

♪ ♪

[birds cawing]

[chickens clucking]

- How did that come to be, the
two of you working together?

- Well, nobody else wanted
the job, for one thing.

Nobody wanted to manage
a 16- or 17-year-old girl

trying to make it
on the Texas music scene

because there were
hardly any girls.

I mean, none.

Nobody's gonna take a chance
on this 17-year-old kid.

- How'd you know what to do?

-I didn't have a clue
on what to do.

But I was a private
investigator, don't forget.

You know, if you're a PI,

you've had to figure out
harder sh*t than that.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- She would go as Bev.

She didn't ever say
her last name,

'cause we didn't want it
to look like,

"Oh, mommy's booking her shows.
How cute."

♪ ♪

- My pitch was, "Hey, look,

"you can get another ball
capper any day of the week.

"This is a chick.

"Some girls might come
to see this chick.

"You might get some fans
you weren't gonna have,

"so you ought to put a chick
in front of you

instead of anther
ball capper."

And they all bought.

- I remember the first time
she got me a gig.

She was like,

"Hey, I got you booked at this
car dealership opening.

"And you're gonna play
for three hours,

"and probably some rich people
will be there,

and maybe you can
find an investor."

"Mom, I don't have a band.
And I know three chords."

And she's like, "Well,
you better get a band then."

I'm like, "Oh my God."

- ♪ I'm Texas as hell ♪

♪ Mean 'n' ornery

My mom drove me around, like,
full-on, Loretta Lynn-style,

with a cooler
of baloney sandwiches.

We drove all around Texas.

- ♪ You know doggone well
everybody can tell ♪

♪ I'm Texas as hell ♪

[thunder claps]

Texas is huge.

She would drive me to every
radio station in the state

where some people
wouldn't even open the door.

Sometimes they would put me
on the air for a minute.

Sometimes they let me sing.

- I made her this book chart

where you call
the radio stations.

You called these--
this one last Monday.

You call him this Monday.
You ask how his baby's doing.

- I would call, every week,
the Texas chart reporters

and I would write notes
about what they said.

- "Here's your notes.
This is your part of the job.

I'm k*lling myself
getting you into clubs."

- ♪ Don't mess with me, boy ♪

♪ For heaven's sake ♪

♪ Didn't anybody tell you ♪

♪ Messin' with Texas was
a big mistake ♪

- Dropped everything.

We almost went broke because I
just laid the PI business down.

I bought her a trailer
full of sound equipment.

- It's like, at any club
playing for free,

Dad would, like,
slip the bar owner $200.

Like, "Just let her
sing three songs."

I had my little, homemade CDs
we had made in Dallas

after I started writing
and we'd pass them out.

My mom took
the album cover photo.

Like, home-spun,
out-of-the-trunk kind of sh*t.

♪ ♪

- How do you separate being
a mother and being a manager?

- That's where the serious
problems came in, honestly.

[soft dramatic music]

Those years, to me,

was probably the roughest time
in our relationship.

Me taking on a role
that I had no idea how to do,

and you taking on a job
that you had no idea--you know,

we're just sort of navigating
this ocean together

that we had no idea
where we're going,

or how we're gonna get there.

- Yeah.
- Just, "Let's get in the boat

and row," you know?
That's how it felt.

- A mom-ager can be amazing,

'cause who has your back
more than her?

But also you want
to strangle each other.

- Yeah, I mean, like,

how do you separate the two
roles in that relationship?

- There wasn't.

And we lived together
here in this house.

So it was like--it was rough.

'Cause it's also
a rough time anyway,

for any teenager and her mom.

She would say things to me
that would piss me off,

but it was
'cause she was right.

She was wanting me
to try harder.

Sometimes you just
need your mom.

When we talk about work less,
and she's just my mom,

and I'm just Miranda,
her daughter,

then it feels like
our relationship's really good.

'Cause sometimes
you're just like,

"No, I didn't call you
about any work stuff.

I called you to tell you
that I'm having cramps."

- Yeah.
- Like, you know what I mean?

- Right.
Yeah.

- I learned so much.

It was just hard.
- Yeah.

- But it fueled the fire
so much because it was hard.

♪ ♪

So I was like, "Surely, to God,

it doesn't have to be
like this forever," you know?

"One day,
people are gonna care."

[soft dramatic music]

- A friend of mine calls me
one day and she said,

"There's this new show,

and I think Miranda
should enter."

- I didn't want
to do contests,

because I felt like
any contest that I ever done

was rigged.

And so I didn't want
to try out.

I just didn't think
it was for me, you know?

I was like,
"I'd rather play bars.

I know something's
gonna happen."

[energetic country music]

Then this "Nashville Star"
thing came along.

My mom heard you can do
an original song.

And I was like, "Okay."

Hello, "Nashville Star."
My name is Miranda Lambert

and I'm gonna use the whole
ten minutes of this video.

I have two original songs,

and I couldn't decide
which one.

♪ The radio up loud

♪ I'm playing Willie
and Old Hank ♪

♪

♪ Well, I don't really have
a certain destination ♪

- So the thing was
in Fort Worth.

We get there and it's packed.

[soft dramatic music]

Apparently, everybody in Texas
had heard this advertisement.

- Waited in the line
for like five hours

outside the shitty honkytonk.

- It was cold, it was early.

She gets up
and sings the wrong song.

- I didn't try.
I mean, I didn't care.

- She didn't even place
in the top 30.

I don't know how far down
the 5,000 kids she was,

but I know she wasn't
in the top 30.

I was pissed off, bad.

- We got in the car,

and I remember
she didn't even start the car.

She just turned to me
and she looked at me,

and she goes,
"After three years,

"since you've said
you wanted to do this,

you just walked in there
and didn't try at all."

I mean, she was right.
I knew I didn't.

I was just half-assing it.

- Oh, I'm gonna tell you
one thing.

Half-assing me?
No.

I don't do half-a*s.
And I said, "I tell you what.

"If you're gonna
half-a*s me?

"'Cause I've never done it
to you--

"I don't want to manage you.
I can't do it.

"Because that's not
how we operate in this family

and you know it."

♪ ♪

"This could have been a chance.

This could have
been your chance."

- She was like, "You owe it
to me to try harder than that.

"Or you can play bars
for the rest of your career,

and we'll all be in debt."

- "I tell you what.

"There's another audition
in Houston in two weeks.

"I don't care
if you don't win.

"I don't care
if you don't make the show.

But you ain't going out
half-assing."

- And then I started thinking.
Like, I realized,

"This could be, actually,
a way out.

"It's kind of a weird way out,
'cause it's a reality show.

"But maybe I need
to give it a whirl,

"because I could be seen
by the right person

at the right time,
and, like, get a step up."

♪

- She walked in Houston,
she picked up that guitar.

she had on the perfect outfit,
she looked like $10 million.

She walked in the room,
and I'm not kidding,

other contestants
just parted the way.

They knew something was up.

- All right. Here we go.
- Hit it.

- This is a song that I wrote
that's actually on my CD.

- Now,
there's 20 contestants left

and everybody's been drinking
since 4:00, and it's midnight.

She was the last one
at the finale to sing.

- And it's called
"Leave Me Lying Here."

It's about lying to yourself.

- She gets up there,
starts her ballad up.

I'm not sure this is
the audience for that song

at this very moment in time.

Uh, this could be it
right here.

- ♪ I love you

♪ ♪

♪ More than you'll ever know ♪

- During her song,
you could've heard a pin drop.

So I knew when I heard her
start the song.

I'm like, "Nailed it."

- ♪ I'm the one who made
the mistake ♪

[cheering]

- Pretty stiff competition,
huh?

[cheers and applause]

In this envelope,

I have the name
of the one person

who has secured a position
on our show, "Nashville Star."

You guys ready to hear this?

[cheers and applause]

The winner of the Houston,
Texas regional competition--

Miranda Lambert.

[cheers and applause]

Congratulations, Miranda.

- That was a life lesson
for her on not half-assing.

It made the deal.
You know?

- Every single person here
was absolutely amazing,

and I feel very honored
to have actually won.

So thank y'all very much.

And thank y'all.
[cheers and applause]

♪ And leave me lyin' here ♪

[cheers and applause]

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Fifi.
- Yes, Fifi likes--

- The Pink p*stol,
there's everything.

T-shirts and soda, fountain,

and it's a winery,
and novelties.

There's a little more
Miranda Lambert stuff

than I had in mind,

'cause I felt weird
about that,

'cause it's my store,
and I didn't want to be like,

"Here's all my plaques
and my face shirts

and my CDs and my albums,"
you know what I mean?

I just wanted something
to do

and to meet people in town.

♪ Just another Sunday ♪

- Wow.
- It's cool, right?

- It's very cool.

- Your daughters would love it.

- I mean, I've already looked
at 17 things

that I have to bring home
to my little girls.

- Like, Miranda Lambert merch?

'Cause, you know, face shirts
are my favorite.

- I'm getting one, by the way.

I'm gonna put on
one of those shirts.

- You're gonna wear
a little face shirt?

- Blast some skeet over
the length of your backyard.

♪

Uh...okay.

- I begged.

♪

- Hold on. There's some good
sh*t down here, too.

Wait a second.
Beep-beep.

- ♪ 'Cause it'll all
come out ♪

♪ All come out in the wash ♪

♪

♪ It'll all come out-- ♪

- Oh, I really shouldn't.

- But you want to, right?
- Of course.

- Do you like reds?
- I do like red.

Okay, so you get--the grapes
are coming from where?

- We will buy from Oregon,
Washington.

South Texas us huge for us,

and we try to get
as much as we can.

'Cause I'm gonna say "Texas"
one more time.

- That's twice, actually.
- I have $10 in my pocket.

- You got 10 bucks right now.

It was a complete novelty.

I mean, it was just for fun and
to give to friends, Christmas.

- How much do you guys produce?
Like, how much you make?

- I think we did--I forgot.
I do know the answer.

April, do you know the answer?

- She doesn't do the business.
She does the socializing.

- It has subtle notes of denim
and shotgun shells.

[laughter]

I'll be your poster guy.
[laughter]

♪ ♪

- Your story was so dependent
on her age.

She was so young.
- Yeah.

- And you were helping her,
managing her.

- Well hello pot,
here's the kettle over here.

- Well.
- Speaking of so young.

- But, I mean,
I wasn't driving the bus

and booking the shows
and all of that.

- Yeah.
- But you were.

And so you were
in indispensable.

And she was gradually
making a name.

And then suddenly.

[soft dramatic music]

- She went
to "Nashville Star."

I was thinking, "I'm sending
her to the damn wolves."

So yeah,

I think her age played
a big part in my investment--

- Mm-hmm.
- You know, if managing her.

I mean,
she may not have been able

to get to "Nashville Star,"
but she did it.

Speaking of young kids,
look at Dave.

- Well, yeah.
- He was a--

- He was. But see, he was
with a band that was older,

and the leader of that group
is still a really good friend.

- Good.

- I mean, a lot of people
thought I was out of my mind,

but--'cause they were--

- Well, you get a sense about,

"This is good.
These people are good."

- Yeah.

- You know,
you get a mother's intuition.

- Yeah.
Even with a rowdy punk band.

- Yeah.

[energetic punk rock music]

♪ ♪

- When he announced

I knew they wouldn't be
staying in a good hotel.

I knew they would
barely have enough money

to have the next meal.

But the leader of Scream,
Pete Stahl,

I'd known him for a while,
and I really trusted him.

- The last thing in the world
you want

is your mother to be worried
about you,

but we've been in some
pretty shitty situations.

I don't want her to know
about the riot

that I was in the middle of
in Amsterdam

when right-wing footballers
tried to burn down a squat.

♪

I don't want her to know

I got chased out of a gig
by skinheads,

and I had to fight back
with my drum hardware.

♪ ♪

- They had no money,
they weren't eating well.

They were living in squalor
would be the word for it.

And it made me so sad,

because I didn't know at
the time how bad things were.

♪

- I felt like I could
take care of myself.

And if I felt like it
was ever too much,

I would just go back
to Virginia.

Like, I thought,
"Okay, that's my escape plan."

[soft dramatic music]

- I remember my mom stood
at the gate in Dallas.

And, like, I was bawling.

It was the first time I'd ever
been on an airplane by myself.

And I took, like,
millions of bags,

like, college dorm sh*t.

You know, zebra--
little, zebra twin bed stuff.

Like--I was like, "This is it.
I'm moving to Nashville."

[laughing]
You know what I mean?

♪

- She sang an original
on the fifth show.

She sang a song her
and her dad wrote.

- ♪ Rain on the window
makes me lonely ♪

- We wrote a song
in this very room one day,

"Greyhound Bound for Nowhere,"
and it was the song she sang

when she was on
"Nashville Star."

- ♪ On a Greyhound bound

♪ For nowhere

- We wrote in an hour
and ten minutes.

And Miranda and I looked
at each other and, "Good work."

- ♪ Another day gone by

♪ With broken dreams ♪

I was the youngest contestant
by, like, ten years,

but it was the best experience.

♪ On a Greyhound bound

♪ For nowhere ♪

I got to sing originals
on the TV show.

I got third place on the show.

But it did
what I needed it to do.

♪ And the way
that you stood staring ♪

♪ As you watched me
roll away ♪

- You know, I was out on the
road with her for two years.

And I saw her start growing,
you know.

But watching her perform
on "Nashville Star,"

I thought, "This is the moment
that she recognizes

where and who she is."

- ♪ We're all on a Greyhound
bound ♪

♪ For nowhere

[cheers and applause]

- And we were told after
that show by the producers,

"She's got offers coming in."

[soft dramatic music]

- When you signed the deal,
did you really have to, like,

stick up for yourself
and put your foot down

and say, like,
"This is how I'm gonna do it"?

Or where they cool?

- I went into the label meeting
for the first time,

the day I signed,

and everyone was sitting
around the conference table.

A lot of men.

♪ ♪

- Where you scared?
- Yeah. I was terrified.

Terrified.

♪ ♪

I just felt like
I knew what was gonna happen.

I'm blonde, I'm young,

I'm moldable, in their mind.

You know, I felt like
I was gonna get there,

and they were gonna hand me
shitty songs

and dress me in a way
that I didn't want to dress.

And I just had this gut
feeling to, like,

set the record
straight right away.

I said, "Look, I know
I'm 20 years old.

I know that I shouldn't be
saying what I'm about to say."

But I was like, "I'm gonna wear
jeans and t-shirts,

"I'm gonna write my own songs,

"And I'm gonna have this image
that I feel good about.

"Or I'm not--I don't
want to be here,

'cause it's a waste
of both of our time."

And I remember, it was, like,
silence for a second.

And I was like, "That's it.
I'm gonna go home.

Back to Mom's kitchen,
calling radio stations."

And John Grady,
the brand new label head,

sat up, and he goes,
"Go make your record.

Call us when you're done."

[energetic rock music]

♪ ♪

- How'd that record go?
- 12 million copies.

It was called "Kerosene."
I wrote the song by myself.

So we're golden.
[laughs]

♪ I'm waitin' on the sun
to set ♪

♪ 'Cause yesterday
ain't over yet ♪

I've changed.
I mean, I made a record.

Then you leave, right?

You make a record
and then you're gone.

You see no one you know
for, like, three years.

♪

My dad was on the road with
me for the first four years.

I was glad to have him there,
'cause I felt very protected.

And then once I found my feet
and trusted the band

and the tour manager
and everybody else,

like, "I'm good.
I got this."

♪ ♪

- ♪ [singing indistinctly] ♪

♪

- So now, as a mother,
watching your daughter

get thrown into, like,
the big time,

and the spotlight,
what were your concerns?

- You know, I've got to be
honest with you.

Two private investigators
raised this child.

I've never worried about her.
She can handle her own.

She's not mean,
but she can be.

She's not spiteful,
but she can be.

She can take care of herself
very well.

- How do you think she deals
with the fame?

- I don't think she would think
she was famous, first of all.

I don't think she would agree
with you about that word.

I think she believes
she is successful.

She's so grounded.

I mean, her life growing up
is roots, and god,

and church and family
and taking people in.

And so I think just those feet
planted firmly on the ground

are what keeps her steady.

♪

- How do you feel when

your parents
come to see you perform live?

- I feel--when they come
see me live, I love it.

Like, I mean--
but, on the guest list,

Bev Lambert, plus 71.
[laughter]

- ♪ Give me some of that
holy water ♪

So my biggest fear is, like,

"How many do I have to see,
and what time frame?

Like, how are we gonna
make this work?"

- It's part of the deal.
- Yeah.

- And it's people who--
these people have been there,

so it's--this is my great honor
to bring them to the big time.

[cheers and applause]

[upbeat music]

♪

- ♪ [vocalizing] ♪

♪

♪ [vocalizing] ♪

- How do you think your fame
has affected your family?

- There's been some, like,

ups and downs with family
over the journey to get here.

There's been ups and downs
in my personal life

in the journey to get here.

♪ I don't like where I'm at

♪ 34 was bad ♪

♪ So I just turn to 35 ♪

But I think my parents
and my brother--

I think that they're kind
of unaffected,

because I'm still me.

I remember the first day I came
home from "Nashville Star,"

and I was kind of, like,
feeling good about myself.

She was like, "Hadn't changed
the cat litter." I'm like--

♪ If the house just keeps on
winning ♪

And back to reality.
[laughs]

♪ Got a wild card
up my sleeve ♪

♪ And if love keeps
giving me lemons ♪

♪ I'll just mix them
in my drink ♪

♪ And if the whole,
wide world stops singing ♪

♪ And all the stars go dark

♪ I'll keep a light on
in my soul ♪

♪ Keep a bluebird in my heart ♪

- When you're working
on music,

do you ever play it
for your mom?

- I probably hear it
from it's rawest form

nearly every time.

One of my trademarks is
if I hear a great song...

- She cries.
- I cry.

I can't--and I don't care
if it's the happiest song--

- It'll be, like,
an upbeat rock song,

and she's like--[imitates sobs]
I mean, like, "Mom."

- I can't help it.
- It's not emotional.

- But here's why.
- It's not.

- It's because I know
it's great music.

I just love great music,

and I'm so proud that
it's coming from my family,

you know?

[cheers and applause]

[soft dramatic music]

♪

I would have been happy

with her
having a Texas circuit career.

♪ ♪

I mean, that would have been
a dream for me.

I mean, I couldn't
have dreamed this big.

I didn't have the insight
to say,

"She could be this," you know?

But, I mean,
how do you even hope for this?

♪

- Whenever someone asks me,
like,

"What's your advice
to young artists?"

I'm like, "A support team."

'Cause support
is what keeps you going

when they just
don't think you can.

♪ ♪

Relationships and my family,

real music
that you believe in.

That's what lasts

and none of the other stuff
matters at the end of the day.

♪

[cheers and applause]

[soft upbeat music]

♪

- ♪ Quarter in a payphone

♪ Drying laundry on the line ♪