Miranda Lambert Explains the Idea Behind New Album 'The Marfa Tapes'

Miranda Lambert and collaborators Jack Ingram and Jon Randall officially released their new album, The Marfa Tapes, on May 7, allowing fans to hear the new group of songs in their most stripped-down form. The album was recorded over five days in Marfa, Texas in November, and the three songwriters recently visited Today's Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country to discuss the idea behind the project.

"It was three co-writers and friends that had three different trips full of songs," Lambert said, explaining that the trio wanted to be sure people were able to hear what they had been working on. "And it was like, 'What's going to happen to these if we don't just put them down on something?' A lot of times, you don't get to hear songs in the state that they were created in, especially with last year… We all thought people would be ready for it."

Ingram added, "The point was when we listened back to all the work tapes, they were so magical within themselves. They're songs that are better presented with just an acoustic guitar and vocals and cows and wind and coyotes."

The Marfa Tapes was recorded with an acoustic guitar and two microphones in the small town of Marfa. "I'll never forget pulling into Marfa that first night at 4 a.m.," Lambert previously said in a statement. "The stars were like nothing I'd ever seen before, just this endless blanket hanging so low you could reach up and touch them. I immediately understood why this place was so special."

On Saturday, May 8, the group will premiere The Marfa Tapes Film, a documentary Lambert described as "a really raw and intimate journey through the making of our record." The film will include performances of songs from the album, interviews with Lambert, Ingram and Randall, and other footage from the project's recording process. It will premiere Saturday, May 8 at 7 p.m. ET on Lambert's Facebook page and will be available to be view for 24 hours. See the album's full track list below and listen to The Marfa Tapes here.

1. In His Arms
2. I Don't Like It
3. The Wind's Just Gonna Blow
4. Am I Right Or Amarillo
5. Waxahachie
6. Homegrown Tomatoes
7. Breaking A Heart
8. Ghost
9. Geraldene
10. We'll Always Have The Blues
11. Tin Man
12. Two-Step Down To Texas
13. Anchor
14. Tequila Does
15. Amazing Grace (West Texas)