Miranda Lambert Through the Years: From ‘Nashville Star’ to Country Icon

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Miranda Lambert has been on the world’s radar since 2003 for her country music and high-profile relationships — see photos of her through the years

Miranda Lambert has been unstoppable since she hit the music scene in 2003 as a contestant on Nashville Star. Since then, the country superstar has released seven solo albums, four albums with her group, Pistol Annies, and won countless awards for her undeniably catchy tunes.

“I haven’t changed from Lindale at all,” she told Refinery29 in October 2019, referencing the Texas town where she was raised. “The only thing that has changed is that now I live in Nashville, I spend time in New York, and I have had a really amazing journey artistically so my career is on this path. Other than that, I’m still this same booze and jeans girl that I was before I left.”

Lambert released her first album, Kerosene, in 2005. Six years later, she teamed up with fellow country singer-songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley to form Pistol Annies. The trio’s debut, Hell on Heels, hit stores soon after Lambert’s wedding to Blake Shelton.

As her star continued to rise, the hitmaker’s personal life also became a hot topic.

“I was a country singer in Nashville, and it was very comfy,” she told NPR in November 2019. “You had the right attention for the right reasons. And then the Hollywood thing came into the picture and it just threw me for a loop.”

Lambert’s marriage to Shelton ended in 2015, and she had two more high-profile relationships — with Anderson East then Evan Felker — before marrying police officer Brendan McLoughlin in 2019.

“I met the love of my life. And we got hitched!” she gushed on Instagram at the time. “My heart is full. Thank you Brendan Mcloughlin for loving me for…. me. #theone.”

In 2021, the “Tin Man” singer released not one but two albums: The Marfa Tapes, a collaboration with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, and Hell of a Holiday, a Christmas album with the Pistol Annies. That same year, she also took home her second Grammy for Best Country Album for 2020’s Wildcard.

During her acceptance speech, she thanked her fellow nominees, all of whom were female artists or women-fronted groups: Brandy Clark, Ashley McBryde, Ingrid Andress and Little Big Town. “I feel like holding this right now, I’m holding it for all of us — especially us girls,” she said in March 2021. “I’m very thankful for this.”

Scroll down for a look back at Lambert through the years:

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Nicholas Hautman