It might just be the greatest Miranda Lambert story of all-time.
Today, the country star released her new disco-inspired album Crisco, which she co-produced with Jesse Frasure and features 12 tracks as Miranda explores “heartbreak and hope, highways and honky-tonks, rhinestones and reflection, creating a record that feels both timeless and refreshingly alive.” Of course, the highly-anticipated duet with Ella Langley “Snakeskin Boots” is on there, too.
Of course, with the new album coming out today, Miranda has been making her rounds with the press, and during a conversation on the New York Times podcast Popcast show, she finally told the story of what really happened with Nickelback’s frontman Chad Kroeger, and whether or not the two had gotten into an altercation during Miranda’s 27th birthday party back in 2010 at Winners Bar & Grill in Nashville.
Rumors have gone around about it for years, and in the 2014 country special edition of Rolling Stone, Miranda’s then-husband Blake Shelton admitted that they weren’t just rumors… it was true that Miranda had either punched Kroeger in the face, or threw a shot in his face, that night:
“The last two scuffles I’ve seen her get into were in the same bar in Nashville. People always try to pop off or call her bluff at bars. One of them—I don’t want to say the guy’s name—but he’s the lead singer of a very popular rock band. His initials are C.K.
He tried to get her to drink some moonshine, and she said no. He was drunk, and I can’t remember what he said to her, but she grabbed that jar out of his hand and threw it on him. So then me and him ended up getting into it.”
Clearly, Shelton didn’t want to drop the name, but with that explanation, he could have just easily spelled it out all the way.
He added that Miranda is like a guard dog when it comes to protecting her friends:
“At the same bar a few months ago, somebody called her booking agent an a**hole. You call out anybody in Miranda’s circle, and she’s like a guard dog.
She’ll knock sh*t over – and she did. Trying to get across a bunch of people, cussing and swinging. I’m holding her back.”
And while Blake obviously didn’t go into a ton of detail with Rolling Stone, and I’ve never heard Miranda publicly speak about it before (until this week), US Weekly reported at the time that it started when Kroeger reportedly told her she “didn’t have to be a b**** about it” when she declined the shot.
Them’s fightin’ words, and Miranda let him have it, and the rest is some wild country music history. Apparently Blake also stepped in to try and stop whatever was going down, and some reported that Blake was looking to throw down as well. However, a rep for Blake at the time said otherwise:
“No fists were thrown. Blake is a peacekeeper and doesn’t start fights.”
Either way, I’m sure Kroeger didn’t hang around the party long after that.
It all happened a good 15 years ago, and while I don’t think it’s something either one of them every thinks about now, though I can’t lie… I would do a lot to be a fly on the wall for that whole incident.
And we now know that Miranda didn’t punch him… she threw moonshine “in his face,” and she took full responsibility for doing so:
“Okay… I thought we arched, we peaked. No I’m eating the candy because I’m nervous. I threw moonshine in his face. I did do that.”
The hosts asked about Chad’s hair at the time, as he’s gone through many different styles over the years, and Miranda said he had “a lot” at the time, and she admitted that none of them were in their “best state” after a night of partying, but still, the story is true:
“I wrecked it. It was a lot, and it was just a late night, and no one was in their best state. But it’s true.”
The hosts tried to help her out and asked if it was a “playful” thing, and Miranda said it wasn’t anything like that, and she thinks they’re fine now, but she really doesn’t care either way:
“No. But I think… I mean, I don’t know if we’re fine now, but I don’t care.”
Classic… this is why I love Miranda Lambert.
She also told them about how she had Avril Lavigne, who was married to Chad from 2013 to 2015, come play her CMA Fest set a couple years ago, and that sounds like it was the cherry on top for her in terms of the whole situation…
“Well, it’s ridiculous . It’s magical. We’re good. But also, I just did a duet with, I had Avril come and do my CMA fest set, we’re good.”
One thing about Miranda, she’s always going to get the last word and I’m here for it.
After all these years, I’m just glad to get the story from Miranda herself, and honestly, it’s just as good as I would have hoped. I don’t think we’ll ever get a Miranda and Nickelback duet, but a song about her throwing moonshine in Chad’s face could actually go pretty hard, just saying…
I don’t know why anyone would ever mess with Miranda, but she can clearly have a good laugh about it now and I have to assume it’s all water moonshine under the bridge now for Chad too.
The full interview is available below:
“Snakeskin Boots”
