Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Mike Wrucke (guitar, banjo, background vocals); Randy Scruggs (guitar, mandolin); Jay Joyce, Waddy Wachtel, Richard Rodney Bennett (guitar); Hank Singer (fiddle); Chuck Leavell (keyboards); Chad Cromwell (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Natalie Hemby, Buddy Miller (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Mike Wrucke.

Liner Note Author: Judy Forde Blair.

Recording information: East Iris Studio, Nashville, TN; Omni Sound Studios, Nashville, TN; Wrucke's House Studio, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Jack Guy.

Unknown Contributor Role: Jim Hoke.

With her first hit single "Kerosene," Miranda Lambert introduced a wild-eyed country gal persona that suddenly made supposed bad girl Gretchen Wilson seem about as staid and conservative as Reba McEntire. Lambert's follow-up album, 2007's CRAZY EX GIRLFRIEND, maintains that image: In the title track and first single, Lambert herself is the title character, addressing her former flame's new girlfriend in slightly unhinged terms. The equally crazed opening track "Gunpowder and Lead" is even more threatening. Elsewhere, however, Lambert shows a softer side, performing covers of Emmylou Harris's "Easy From Now On" and Gillian Welch's "Dry Town" with sensitivity and emotional depth. Lambert is a more capable singer than her image suggests, and CRAZY EX GIRLFRIEND opens up her musical persona nicely. minimize