''Palomino'' is the ninth studio album by American
country music singer
Miranda Lambert, released through Vanner Records and
RCA Records Nashville on April 29, 2022. Lambert produced the album alongside Luke Dick and
Jon Randall and co-wrote 14 of the 15 tracks. It was preceded by the single "
If I Was a Cowboy
"If I Was a Cowboy" is a song by the American country music singer Miranda Lambert. It was released on October 15, 2021, as the lead single from her ninth solo studio album ''Palomino''. The song was written by Lambert and Jesse Frasure, and prod ...
".
The album was nominated for the
Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year.
Background and writing
Lambert began writing the songs on her farm in
Tennessee in 2020 with Luke Dick and
Natalie Hemby. In 2021, Lambert collaborated with
Jack Ingram and
Jon Randall on the album ''
The Marfa Tapes'', on which "In His Arms", "Waxahachie" and "Geraldene" first appeared in a "stripped" acoustic form. The tracks were re-recorded for ''Palomino''.
Lambert collaborated with
the B-52's for "Music City Queen" and covered
Mick Jagger's 1993 song "Wandering Spirit" for the album.
Promotion
"Strange" and "Actin' Up" were released ahead of the album as promotional singles. Lambert performed "Geraldine" at the
56th Annual Country Music Association Awards
The 56th Annual Country Music Association Awards was held on November 9, 2022 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Luke Bryan hosted the ceremony for the second time, with Peyton Manning as his co-host. The ceremony was broadcast liv ...
.
[https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/2022-cma-awards-performers-1235160636/]
Critical reception
On review aggregator
Metacritic, ''Palomino'' received a score of 83 out of 100 based on seven reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
In an early review, Jon Freeman of ''
Rolling Stone'' gave ''Palomino'' four out of five stars, calling the album a "welcome departure" for Lambert.
Will Hermes of ''
Pitchfork'' gave the album a 7.6/10, stating that "Lambert’s breadth is on full display"
Year-end lists
Commercial performance
''Palomino'' debuted at number four on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 36,000
album-equivalent units (including 24,000 album sales), making it the highest debut of 2022 for a country artist and the most units earned in the first week for a country album in 2022. It is Lambert's seventh top-10 album.
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians
*
Cary Barlowe – electric guitar
*
Sarah Buxton – background vocals
*Luke Dick – acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar,
ganjo, harmonica, keyboards, percussion, programming,
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...
, background vocals, handclaps
*
Fred Eltringham – drums, percussion, handclaps
*
Ian Fitchuk
Ian Fitchuk (born February 13, 1982) is a songwriter, music producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist.
Early life
Fitchuk was born and raised in Chicago by parents who are both accomplished classical musicians and educators. He cites Paul ...
–
B-3 organ, bass guitar,
Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...
, keyboards, percussion, piano
*
Kenny Greenberg – steel guitar
*
Natalie Hemby – background vocals
*
Miranda Lambert – lead vocals, background vocals
*Jason Lehning – bass guitar, keyboards
*Alfreda McCrary – background vocals
*Beverly McCrary – background vocals
*Regina McCrary – background vocals
*Rob McNelley – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, handclaps
*
Al Perkins –
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
*
Kate Pierson – background vocals on "Music City Queen"
*
Jon Randall – acoustic guitar,
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, background vocals, handclaps
*Mikey Reaves – bass guitar, electric guitar, programming
*
Fred Schneider
Frederick William Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, and musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member.
Schneider is well known for his ''sprechge ...
– background vocals on "Music City Queen"
*Jimmy Wallace – keyboards
*
Cindy Wilson – background vocals on "Music City Queen"
*Craig Young – bass guitar, handclaps
Technical
*Luke Dick – producer (all tracks)
*
Miranda Lambert – producer (all tracks)
*
Jon Randall – producer (all tracks)
*Mikey Reaves – producer (track 11)
*Jason Lehning - Mixing Engineer (all tracks)
Other
*Alena Moran - Production Coordinator (all tracks)
Charts
References
{{Miranda Lambert
2022 albums
Albums produced by Jon Randall
Miranda Lambert albums
RCA Records albums