“It’s something I’ve never told anyone, I don’t think.”
Miranda Lambert said those words to Bryan West of the Tennessean, Nashville’s daily paper, in an interview published Oct. 1, the day before her new album “Crisco” came out. The subject was her own birth certificate.
This is a big month for the Texas singer. She turns 43 on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Next Wednesday, Nov. 18, she takes the stage at the 60th CMA Awards in Nashville, where she has seven nominations, including Female Vocalist of the Year. Then on Thanksgiving Day she headlines the Dallas Cowboys’ halftime show at AT&T Stadium. She has said she can’t wait to be back home in Texas for it.
Miranda was born in Longview and raised in the small town of Lindale, both in East Texas. Her parents are Rick and Bev Lambert. Around 2000, when she decided she wanted to write her own songs, she asked her dad to teach her guitar.
The two of them started writing together. One of their songs, “Greyhound Bound for Nowhere,” made it onto “Kerosene,” her first album on a major label, in 2005. “My dad was my very first co-writer I ever had,” she told a Nashville crowd in 2017, Taste of Country reported.
Her mom shows up in the Tennessean story too. Miranda still leans on one of Bev’s sayings when she thinks about her career: “operate in your gifting.”
Rick’s working life is the key to the name story. He was once a police officer, and later he and Bev ran a private investigation business in small-town Texas. Miranda grew up around that work.
Here is what she told the Tennessean. The name first written on her birth certificate wasn’t Miranda at all.
“My name was Jessica on my birth certificate,” she said. “It’s literally crossed out on my birth certificate and he changed it to Miranda, at the last minute.”
So where did Rick get the name Miranda? Anyone who has watched a TV cop show knows the Miranda warning, the famous lines that begin “You have the right to remain silent.” Miranda and her mom both think that is the answer.
“I literally think that I’m named after Miranda rights,” she said. “So does my mom.”
Her dad has never confirmed it. According to the Tennessean, he still won’t tell her whether the warning gave him the idea.
Rick has joined her on stage, too. In September 2017, Miranda surprised a Nashville crowd by bringing Rick out to sing the song they wrote together. He played acoustic guitar and sang harmony while she took the lead.
Miranda sings “Greyhound Bound for Nowhere” with her dad, Rick
This clip, filmed from the crowd, was posted by the country music channel One Country.
Miranda will be back on a big stage next week. Before the CMAs, see the title song from her new album, which she performed at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas on May 17. She has said the album name came from a simple bit of math: “Country and disco equals Crisco.”
Miranda performs “Crisco” at the ACM Awards in May
The 60th CMA Awards air live on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC, with Lainey Wilson as host. If Miranda’s name gets read out that night, it will be the one her dad picked at the last minute.