Miranda Lambert – Wranglers

The Kerosene Can Came Out Of Storage For One More Burn

Miranda Lambert released “Wranglers” on May 3, 2024, marking a blazing return to the fire-and-fury country she built her reputation on. The track debuted at number 37 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and hit number 31 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while climbing to number 35 on Mediabase. More impressively, the single notched the biggest streaming debut of Lambert’s entire twenty-plus year career, proving that nineteen years after lighting that first match, fans still wanted to see things burn.

The song arrived as Lambert’s first release under her new partnership with Republic Records and Big Loud Texas, following her departure from Sony Music Nashville the previous year. She debuted “Wranglers” live at Stagecoach Festival on April 27, 2024, with Reba McEntire appearing as a surprise guest for the finale. The performance included duets on several revenge songs, setting the tone for what Lambert described as getting back to her rowdiest instincts. The track would become the lead single from her tenth studio album Postcards From Texas, released September 13, 2024.

Audra Mae co-wrote “Wranglers” alongside Ryan Carpenter and Evan McKeever, based on a real conversation between Mae and Lambert about their experiences in toxic relationships. Mae had previously written Lambert’s hit “Little Red Wagon,” and this marked their second collaboration. The idea crystallized around the image of setting fire to an ex’s belongings, specifically his Wrangler jeans, which Mae and Lambert agreed took frustratingly long to burn. Lambert loved how the writers captured that moment when grief turns to fury, when tears dry up and revenge planning begins. She compared it directly to “Gunpowder & Lead” from her 2007 album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, saying it could have lived on the same record.

Lambert recorded “Wranglers” at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas, co-producing with Jon Randall, her frequent collaborator who’d worked with her on multiple albums. The session featured Jedd Hughes and Ethan Ballinger on electric guitar, Rachel Loy on bass, and Conrad Choucroun on drums. Mae provided chilling background vocals throughout the track. The production built tension with a foreboding drum roll and acoustic guitar, then added a sinister whistle that gave the song a Clint Eastwood Western feel before Lambert’s Texas twang cut through with defiant clarity. The combination of country sensibility and rock-infused instrumentation became Lambert’s signature sound, and “Wranglers” delivered exactly that fusion.

The song joined Lambert’s catalog of fire-and-brimstone revenge tales centered on female empowerment. Her breakout hit “Kerosene” in 2005 established her as a woman not to be crossed. “Gunpowder & Lead” cemented that reputation in 2007. “White Liar” continued the theme in 2009. By 2024, Lambert hadn’t released a song this aggressively revenge-minded since her 2014 duet with Carrie Underwood, “Somethin’ Bad.” She’d spent the intervening years exploring softer material, focusing on her marriage and her MuttNation Foundation work. “Wranglers” signaled Lambert consciously returning to her roots, looking backward to move forward in a way she’d never done before.

The music video dropped June 13, 2024, directed by Trey Fanjoy, who’d helmed nearly all of Lambert’s videos including CMA Music Video of the Year winners “The House That Built Me” and “Bluebird.” Fanjoy also directed the original “Kerosene” video in 2005. The new video deliberately echoed that breakthrough hit, with Lambert using a replica of the original kerosene can and the exact same book of matches from nineteen years earlier. The storyline showed Lambert and friends consoling a heartbroken woman, then holding a ceremonial bonfire of her ex’s belongings outside Austin. The video co-starred Lambert’s childhood friend Laci, who’d also appeared in “White Liar,” alongside actress Elle Lamont from Lambert’s “If I Was a Cowboy” video.

“Wranglers” proved Lambert could still set the charts on fire after two decades in the business. At forty years old, she wasn’t softening or compromising. She was pulling that kerosene can back out of storage, striking that same match, and reminding everyone why they called her the queen of country revenge. The Wrangler jeans might take forever to burn, but Lambert’s career showed no signs of cooling down.

“Wranglers” – Single by Miranda Lambert from the album Postcards from Texas
Released: May 3, 2024
Studio: Arlyn, Austin, Texas
Label: Republic Big Loud
Songwriters: Ryan Carpenter, Audra Mae and Evan McKeever
Producers: Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall.

Lyrics:
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
When the knock down drag out’s over
And lord knows she took one too many

Well her blue jean eyes
Are too tired to cry
And he won’t know till she’s gone already

If he ever loved her
He never let it show
If she didn’t need him
She’d a left him long ago
She set it all on fire
And if there’s one thing that she learned
Wranglers take forever to burn

How long how much can a broken heart take
Who could blame her when it all goes up in flames
Not a one of us could’ve done better

Not with that wandering eye
Wannabe marlboro man
Came as no surprise when she finally took a stand

If he ever loved her
He never let it show
If she didn’t need him
She’d a left him long ago
She set it all on fire
And if there’s one thing that she learned
Wranglers take forever to burn

If he ever loved her
He never let it show
If she didn’t need him
She’d a left him long ago
She set it all on fire
And if there’s one thing that she learned
Wranglers take forever, damn they take forever to burn

Music video by Miranda Lambert performing Wranglers. © 2024 Vanner Records, LLC, under an exclusive license to UMG Recordings, Inc.