The highly-anticipated collaboration project between Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, titled ‘The Marfa Tapes’, was released Friday. Given how strong the promotional single ‘In His Arms’ is, it was hard to not get excited about the potential of this album. For the most part, the fifteen-track collection lived up to the hype.
Miranda and Jon shined brightest when they tapped into their emotions. ‘Breaking A Heart’ is a song that makes the listener think about what they might do if ever put into a similar situation. With Randall on lead, he sings about a doomed relationship, but he’s unsure about whether it would be easier for him to end things or let the other person do it. Breakups are a part of life and everyone will probably be faced with a similar predicament at some point. ‘Ghost’ is another breakup song, except this time Miranda sings about how she has already moved on, but he’s still holding onto hope that they might reconcile. This song had a particularly great line of imagery where she now thinks of the headboard on the bed they shared as the tombstone of their relationship. There was some fun on this record, as ‘Geraldine’ and ‘Homegrown Tomatoes’ gave us some levity from other heavier songs. There have been quite a few “other woman” country songs, but ‘Geraldine’ basically says that she is not good enough to be able to steal Miranda’s man. Once live shows begin to ramp up, I can easily see this one being a crowd favorite. Then there’s ‘Homegrown Tomatoes’, which even the singers admit is a ridiculous song, but it’s very fun.
Unfortunately, Jack Ingram is the weakest vocalist in this trio, and even good songs suffer because of it. ‘I Don’t Like It’ is very simply themed and bad vocals with subpar lyrics are not a combination for success. ‘We’ll Always Have The Blues’ is another Ingram-led vocal that is good lyrically, but should have been in the hands of a stronger singer. The most perplexing part of ‘The Marfa Tapes’ though was the inclusion of ‘Tin Man’ and ‘Tequila Does’. Both songs have been on previous Miranda Lambert albums and both of these recordings act as solo Lambert songs rather than collaborations. ‘Tin Man’ is obviously not a bad song, but it’s been shoved down our throats so much at this point, it’s hard to not get a little sick of it. ‘Tequila Does’ however, is a far less known song, and for good reason. She basically sings about how no man will ever make her happy the way that alcohol will. That’s just depressing and not much else needs to be said about it.
The concept of this album was fantastic, but the execution left something to be desired. If you are going to listen to this album in full and in order, make sure there are no ads on your streaming service. The transition from one song to the next enhances the listening experience. To listen to ‘The Marfa Tapes’ click here.
