Miranda Lambert Shares Childhood Memories That Inspired ‘Gunpowder & Lead’
on Mar 28, 2016 • Updated Aug 27, 2019
Miranda Lambert has shown that she is capable of singing any type of song, whether it be reflective tunes like “The House That Built Me,” or songs with a bit more attitude like “Little Red Wagon.”
Earlier in her career, Lambert was known more for her powerful “revenge” songs such as “Kerosene” and her Top 10 hit, “Gunpowder & Lead.” The latter, which was co-written by Lambert, is perhaps the angriest sounding of all of her tunes and has a strong message to match.
anybody else get the urge to burn someone’s house down when they listen to gunpowder and lead by Miranda Lambert or is that just me
— Sydney Smith (@sydsmith_22) April 1, 2019
“Gunpowder & Lead,” which The Guardian‘s Alex Macpherson calls “a concise country masterpiece,” tells a story through the eyes of a domestic abuse victim. Similar in theme to songs like “Independence Day” by Martina McBride, the narrator in the song gets her revenge after suffering countless amounts of abuse.
In an interview with Macpherson, Lambert shared some of her heartbreaking childhood experiences that inspired her to write “Gunpowder & Lead.” Although Lambert is not a victim of abuse, nor is anyone in her family, she was still a first-hand witness to the suffering of domestic violence victims.
As private investigators, Lambert’s parents not only talked about cases and situations that involved abuse, but they’d even take some of the victims into their own home:
“My parents have been married for 35 years; I was safe and sheltered, but I’m glad I could see and hear more reality than that. People said, ‘Your family is a good, solid family,’ but we brought all the pain in.”
Needless to say, Lambert’s childhood experiences affected her deeply, which eventually led to her expressing her feelings through song.
https://twitter.com/William_Allen_4/status/1013132965482782725
“I had Mom making cookies after school, and I also had moms whose partners were beating the crap out of them,” she said. “Gunpowder & Lead was in my household for a long time.”
Today, Lambert continues to speak out against domestic violence, both through her music and in interviews like the one with Macpherson. “I don’t want young women to think that’s OK,” she said. “That’s one thing I can speak on.”
You can watch her perform her powerful single, “Gunpowder & Lead,” below. We applaud Lambert for bringing attention to such an important issue!