I kinda feel like Miranda Lambert could’ve handled this on her own…
I mean, I think we all remember salad-gate, selfie-gate, and plenty of other times the country star has taken up for herself and been very unabashed about it, which is part of what I love so much about her, even though it’s proven to be quite polarizing at times.
She’s not shy about standing up for what she believes in, though I have to imagine that’s a quality that has evolved over time as she’s gotten older.
Miranda actually started out playing honky tonks in her home state of Texas as a teenager, so her parents went with her to all of those early gigs because obviously, she couldn’t have gotten into most of the bars without them being there to supervise.
And in an amazing story she told in to Texas Monthly over a decade ago now, it sounds like she was glad to have her did Rick by her side.
As a little background, Rick Lambert is a big part of why she even got into music.
He would take Miranda to “picking parties” on the front porches of neighbors and huntin’ buddies houses, and eventually, helped her get a little backing band so she could travel and start singing in those little Texas venues.
She cut her teeth doing that, so to speak, and it included plenty of hole-in-the-wall places that were full of mischief and God knows what else… also known as the best kinds of bars.
Of course, like I said, since she was only 16 at the time, she had to have her parents with her at all the venues, and honestly, there were probably a lot of them she shouldn’t have even been in being underage.
But, that’s the kind of stuff you can get away with at little dives like that and I digress…
One time, a guy at one of these little joints (pun very much intended) asked her if she wanted to smoke with him right before she was supposed to take the stage, and Miranda summoned her dad right away to come defend her during what turned out to be a pretty wild encounter.
Instead of saying yes like most teenagers her age would have, Miranda called for Rick and he put the guy in a chokehold on command. I love protective dads, and I also assume Rick didn’t know exactly what was going on and thought the guy was trying to touch her or hit on her or something.
Rick said she immediately started yelling for him and telling him to flat out kill the guy, which I find particularly hilarious…
Drama queen’s just get each other, okay:
“Miranda started yelling, ‘Kill him, Daddy! Kill him!’
She was trying to get ready to sing, and she was pissed that someone was trying to mess her up.”
Bev (her mom) chimed in to say it went a little bit differently, and Miranda actually just wanted her dad to kick the guy’s ass, not murder him:
“No, that isn’t exactly what she said.
She only yelled, ‘Kick his ass, Daddy! Kick his ass!””
Either way, the guy was probably scared straight and super confused at the same time (and rightfully so, I guess).
Though dads and daughters will always have disagreements about certain things (like the time Miranda’s dad wouldn’t talk to her while they were on tour with George Strait years ago because she’d gotten her first tattoo), there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for their little girls no matter how old they get.
Aside from all that, though, there’s two very important lessons I got out of that story:
One, don’t offer Miranda a joint before a show (I’m guessing that’s probably changed these days), and two, if she calls her dad to kick your ass for doing so…
Run.
(Yes, I’ll take any excuse to post this video…)
