Miranda Lambert is adding her own twist to a classic ’70s tune. On her latest album, Crisco, the country star opted to cover “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song,” a track Jim Croce posthumously released in 1973.
The rock/folk tune was perfectly suited for Lambert’s powerful vocals. It was also apt for the album, as the track featured a string section, a new musical choice Lambert employed throughout Crisco.
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“I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song” was additionally released in the time period that inspired Crisco.
Speaking to Billboard Country, Lambert revealed why she decided to cover the song.
“I love to find a cover that I feel connected to and. As I told my co-writers, I got on a Croce kick,” she said. “I was listening to a ton of Jim Croce out in the desert in Arizona and I just felt like really connected to some of his music like I hadn’t ever before.”
“I rediscovered it in a way, so I felt like that was a little gap we hadn’t filled musically on Crisco,” Lambert added. “It felt like the perfect cover.”
What to Know About Miranda Lambert’s Crisco
The Croce cover isn’t the only headline-making song on Crisco. On the LP, Lambert teamed up with Ella Langley for a new track titled “Snakeskin Boots.”
““We wrote ‘Snakeskin Boots’ with Ella in mind. She and I are kindred spirits, and when we were working on her album, I realized how many retro influences we share,” Lambert said in a recent statement. “To me, this song is kind of Thelma and Louise if they didn’t drive off the cliff. It’s two bada** women getting away with something, and she’s the perfect partner for that.”
“We wanted this one to feel like Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Bang Bang’ with all the retro Western swagger of the late ‘60s,” she added. “There was something about those cinematic moments from that era that always inspired us, and we loved the idea of building a song that could just as easily soundtrack a Quentin Tarantino film as it could fill a dance floor at Studio 54.”
Crisco also features a duet between Lambert and Chris Stapleton, “A Song to Sing.”
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ACM
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