When Miranda Lambert hits the road on her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour next month, she will once again include her MuttNation Fill the Red Wagon campaign at every tour stop. The initiative, presented by Tractor Supply Company, collects dog food, treats, supplies, and cash donations for a pre-selected local animal shelter in each city.
“Music and mutts, mix it up!” Lambert said in a statement. “We started Fill the Little Red Wagon almost five years ago and thanks to the volunteers and shelters, Tractor Supply, Live Nation, and most of all THE FANS, it’s become a huge success. Everyone is so generous, it’s just amazing. And knowing we’re helping the mutts makes every night even more special for me. My fans are the best.”
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Lambert is as proud of the work she and her mother, Beverly, have done with MuttNation over the last decade, as she is with her own superstar music career.
“We have our hand in everything,” Lambert told PopCulture.com. “The Fill the Red Wagon is at the shows in the markets that I play in. People bring supplies for shelters, donations of any kind, dog food, blankets, toys. And it’s really cool because it benefits the local shelter in that town and I get to meet the shelter people. People are always like, ‘How can I help if I can’t donate?’ Basically it’s getting involved in your local shelters in your own community.
“Volunteering your time is priceless, really,” she continued. “Giving the dogs human contact time really increases their chances of adoption.”
Lambert has big plans for MuttNation, far beyond the Fill the Red Wagon initiative.
“We’ve done so much, but I also feel like we’re just getting started,” Lambert acknowledged. “I feel like there’s so much more ahead of us. We’ve been able to help with natural disasters, and help shelters renovate. We kind of have our hand in everything, and that’s why I wanted to start it, because we wanted to control where the money that we raised would go.”
The Texas native is getting ready to not only hit the road, but release her highly-anticipated Wildcard record as well, but she vows to keep focusing on animal rescue, regardless of how busy her career gets.
“I’m basically pretty simple,” Lambert said. “It comes down to music and mutts. That’s kind of my life. So when I can combine the two, I’m a happy woman.”
Lambert’s Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour will kick off on Sept. 13 in Connecticut. Find a list of all of her upcoming shows, and pre-order Wildcard, at MirandaLambert.com.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond
