Kerosene – Miranda Lambert

I don’t follow Miranda’s career like I used to, but I grew up on her first 4 or so albums, and I still really enjoy going back and listening to those songs. I have to credit my dad for introducing me to Miranda, and we were actually able to see her live together some years ago and she put on a great show. It was shortly after her divorce from Blake Shelton, and she got pretty emotional during a song they wrote together (or he wrote for her to perform, something like that) and while a somber moment, it was maybe my first time seeing a performer show so much emotion on stage.

I could be wrong, but I think “Kerosene” is the first song of Miranda’s that I heard, probably still in elementary school, and I remember thinking “This song ROCKS“. The opening riff is way cool, and the attitude and aggression that the song gives off are totally badass. Miranda writes most of her own tunes, somewhat of a rarity in today’s current state of country “music” that is played on the radio. I have to make that distinction because I am a HUGE country music fan, and frankly, most of the stuff that is played on country radio stations today could attract more flies than actual horse shit. Real country music didn’t die, it just doesn’t get played on the radio anymore. I’ll feature plenty more of these artists as time goes on. Okay, back to Miranda. One of the good ones on the radio. So, she co-wrote this tune with one of the all-time great songwriters in country, Steve Earle, and it makes a ton of sense. Sometimes you can just tell when another artist adds their touch to things, whether it be through a certain production technique, playing style, etc. To me, this could’ve easily been his own song, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it started out that way originally and they reworked it together for her. I can almost hear Earle himself singing “Forget your high society, I’m soakin’ in kerosene” in his aggressive tone. (Think “Copperhead Road”)

I really enjoy finding covers of songs that I like, especially if they are done in a different or unique style. While Travis Denning does a pretty straightforward version, I can appreciate him for two things: playing a T Bird and covering this song as a male artist without changing the perspective of the lyrics. I linked the performance below.

Sidenote – If you know me outside of this blog, you know that I love dogs, and Miranda actually founded and helps run a dog charity with her mom, called Mutt Nation. They do some absolutely amazing work for dogs, and I added a link below.

Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB7ONnfIjaI

Link to live performance (From the early days) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL7VBsz262g

Link to Travis Denning cover – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw984dUlfcE

Link to Mutt Nation – https://muttnation.com/