Miranda Lambert officially kicked off her Wildcard Tour on Thursday night, hitting the stage in Tupelo, Mississippi with openers LANCO and Cody Johnson. Her most recent trek was 2019’s Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars Tour, which had an all-female lineup, but Lambert told PopCulture.com that she always gives everyone a fair shot.
“I love doing the all-female stuff, but I don’t discriminate,” Lambert explained. “I love male artists too and especially ones from Texas. So Cody Johnson’s just doing amazing. I think he’s very true to country music and his roots and our roots and so I’m excited to get to know him and hear his music every night. And then LANCO, I just think they’ve got this cool vibe, this new energy, and their show’s great. And so, especially having that younger creativity around you on tour, I think it’s important.”
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Lambert recently shared that she’ll also be using the tour to celebrate first responders, posting an Instagram video with NYPD officer husband, Brendan McLoughlin explaining that radio listeners can nominate first responders to participating radio stations. The winners will receive two tickets to show near them and will get the chance to meet the star.
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“These brave men and women are keeping our lives safe every day,” she said in the clip. “I’m a cop’s kid, now I’m married to a cop, fireman in my family, so I really appreciate everything everybody does.”
The Wildcard Tour is currently scheduled to run through July 9 in Quebec, Canada. Randy Rogers Band and Parker McCollum will also join Lambert for select dates. The tour is in support of Lambert’s seventh studio album, Wildcard, which was released on Nov. 1.
“My one-word titles have been special records, a little more special than the others for some reason or another,” Lambert mused about her album’s name in an interview with Billboard. “So I wanted a one-word title, but I wanted it to be right.”
The name Wildcard comes from the song “Bluebird,” which includes the line, “If the house just keeps on winning / I got a wildcard up my sleeve.”
The interview also noted that the album’s cover is Lambert’s first where she’s visibly smiling.
“That smile may just be the wildcard I pulled out of my sleeve this time because of where I’ve gotten in my life,” the Texas native mused. “The title just fit.”
Photo Credit: Getty / NBC
