Miranda Lambert is reflecting on a fan encounter that left her in tears.
During an appearance on the “And the Writer Is…” podcast, Lambert discussed the powerful impact “Gunpowder & Lead,” her 2007 song about a woman confronting an abusive partner after he is released from jail, has had on her fans.
“It’s such a huge staple for me in my catalog, just the subject matter, and how I got to that and who I got to write it with, and the stories I’ve heard from women over the years who have come up to me and said, ‘That song saved my life,’” Lambert said of the hit, which was released on her album “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and was co-written with Heather Little.”At some meet-and-greets, I’ve heard some crazy things.”
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She recalled one woman who approached her in Indianapolis and said she didn’t want a photo.
“She’s like, ‘I just want to tell you that I finally had enough, and that song gave me the courage, and I did shoot him — and I got off,’” Lambert said.
“I was like, ‘OK,’” she continued. “She was dead serious. She was hardcore. And then we cried together.”
Lambert said the woman’s story left her overwhelmed.
“When someone tells you something like that about something you wrote that didn’t actually happen to you, it’s very intense,” she said. “She was like third in line at the meet-and-greet, and I had like 85 people, and I was like, ‘I’m going to need a minute.’ I needed to take a breath, hug her and recover from what that is.”
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The moment changed Lambert’s perspective on the song.
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“I realized at that moment this isn’t just me onstage playing a character or me playing a character in the studio,” she said. “This is a serious song we wrote about a serious matter, and it’s touching people and affecting their lives.”
Lambert previously explained how she drew on her unconventional upbringing when writing the song.
In a 2014 interview with SPIN Magazine, Lambert said her parents sometimes took in abused women and their children while she was growing up.
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“When I was younger, my parents took in abused women and children, and their kids, to live with us from time to time, and I saw firsthand what abuse can do to a family, multiple times,” she said.
“That song is from a real place — it’s not just a girl writing about something where she has no idea what the subject is about,” Lambert continued. “I wrote it with a girl who experienced abuse herself.”
“I do think I’m trying to create awareness, and not in a preachy way,” she added. “You can have millions of ticket sales and awards and records sold and whatever, but when somebody tells you a record saved their life… that’s why I do this.”
