Everything but the Bathroom Sink

Miranda Lambert is one of country music’s top female artists, but she has a gutsy-ness and grittiness that many women in country lack. She’s got sass and strength as well as suffering and insecurities, and isn’t afraid to reveal any of it in her lyrics. Lambert, who is performing at Sweet Home’s Oregon Jamboree, just released her fifth album, Platinum. She also just turned 30, and along with that milestone came self-scrutiny and pangs of aging.

On Platinum, she sings the song “Bathroom Sink,” a tune about looking at your body in the mirror and reaching for acceptance of what you see. She’s OK with the real work of eating well and exercising to stay in shape, but there’s nothing wrong with turning to a box of hair dye. On the album’s title track, she cracks, “What doesn’t kill you only makes you blonder.” The song “Gravity Is a Bitch” is a rumination on saggy butts and boobs.

Throughout the whole album, she comes across as a wisecracking older friend with life lived and experience to give. Back on “Bathroom Sink” she talks about a mama that taught her how to pray and how to drink and how to clean the bathroom sink. She also says, “I thank Him for his patience and I take my medication.” These snapshot moments of real life come boldly through, despite her superstar status. It’s clear that even though Miranda Lambert is 30 and happily married, she’s not done rebelling or telling us all how it really is.

Miranda Lambert plays the Oregon Jamboree main stage, preceded by Blackjack Billy, Joe Diffie and Justin Moore, at 9 pm Friday, Aug.1. For ticket information, visit oregonjamboree.com.