Miranda Lambert Releases Country-Disco Album Crisco

Miranda Lambert has released Crisco, an album that blends traditional country storytelling with 1970s and 1980s disco influences, through MCA on 2 October. Billboard The record keeps the narrative detail of country and adds strings, piano and a dance rhythm.

The project started small. Lambert initially planned a shorter EP, a mini-album of only a few songs, but built a full album with producer Jesse Frasure around two reference points: the countrypolitan era, the lush orchestral country style of the 1960s and 1970s, and Studio 54, the New York nightclub associated with disco.

Frasure set the tone with a playlist titled “Miranda-politan” filled with 1960s, 1970s and 1980s classics. It included Glen Campbell’s “Southern Nights,” Ronnie Milsap’s “Smoky Mountain Rain” and the Bee Gees’ “Too Much Heaven,” old favourites that mix smooth pop production with country and soul roots.

That blend is clearest on the title track “Crisco” and “Two Things Can Be True,” which use close harmonies, piano and layered strings linked to the 1960s-1970s countrypolitan sound. Lambert told Billboard she had never recorded with strings before making this album.

The centre of the record is “A Song To Sing,” a duet recorded with Chris Stapleton. Lambert told Billboard the collaboration sparked her interest in songs that join glitzy disco with classic country, and she wanted the track to capture the sultry, fun vibe and glitter style of Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s duets.

The video was filmed at the Brentwood Skating Center in Brentwood, Tenn., a roller rink in Tennessee. Stapleton wore a necklace that belonged to Rogers, while Lambert wore hoop earrings that belonged to Parton. Lambert first met Parton when they sang Parton’s “Dumb Blonde” together for the soundtrack to the 2018 film Dumplin’.

Lambert first shared the title song “Crisco” in June. Facebook The wider tracklist published on her official store also names “Cuttin’ Onions,” “Right Where We Left It,” “Till The Going’s Gone,” “To Everything” and “Whiskey Business.”

Crisco closes with “Sunset Marquis,” a tribute to the West Hollywood hotel of the same name. The song also plays at the end of If These Walls Could Rock, the documentary about the hotel.

Country singers testing disco waters is not new. Parton’s first move into dance music came in 1978 with Heartbreaker, a disco-influenced country album. For listeners, this means Crisco sits in a longer exchange between Nashville and the dancefloor, with borrowed jewellery, borrowed strings and a rink under bright lights.