Miranda Lambert: ‘Sick’ And ‘Exhausted’ Of The ‘Ladies On The Radio’ Debate

Miranda Lambert tells Pollstar this week that when it comes to all the conversation about women not getting as much radio airplay as men, she is tired of all the talk.

She told Pollstar, "I don’t understand what that phrase ("women don’t want to listen to women") means, or where it came from. It makes no sense. Only we can understand each other, understand the issues and stuff that happens to women, because it is different. I’m actually exhausted from all the conversation. I’m sick of it, and I figured, ‘Why don’t we just go do something?’ Put the music on the road, give it to the people – and hopefully, they hear what they need in these songs."

As she continues, “If the side effect is we can’t be ignored anymore, great. If it doesn’t work, that’s OK, too. We’re still gonna be out there, making great music, rocking the fans and having fun.”

The conversation came up because Lambert's latest tour (like Carrie Underwood's) features all female support acts, including Maren Morris. Miranda said, “We didn’t set out to have an all-female tour. But when we looked at this line-up, here’s a bunch of badass girls rolling down the road, playing music, drinking beer, having fun and enjoying the fans. Every single one of them knows who she is; they’re all out making the music that comes from that.”

As for her tour mates, Lambert admits she's like their pit bull, “So I’m very protective of the music, and I’m very protective of the newer girls! If these are my little soldiers, then I’m going to fight to give them a place that makes sense, to let the people coming know I love their music – and they need to hear these women.”

“I’m inspired by all these girls, especially the young girls; they keep my fire going. You see it in their eyes, and it just gets me going,” she says of the rotating, all-girl lineup for the third incarnation of her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour. “Everybody has their own swagger and their own style, so this is going to be a night of some really badass music.”

And it's not only women she hopes to see in her audiences. Miranda shares, “I look for the dads or the husbands, who came with their girls. Because there are a lot of men out there who love the message, or they just want someone they love to have a really good time. You’ll see ’em in meet and greet, the wife walking a little bit tilted ahead, and he’s behind, just letting her have her night."

Lambert's "Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour" kicks off in September and features Elle King, Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde and Pistol Annies.

-Nancy Brooks