Miranda Lambert got heavy on "The Weight Of These Wings," the 2016 double album all about heartache and rebuilding her life, written after the breakup of her marriage to "The Voice" star Blake Shelton. On "Wildcard" - which follows the satisfying diversion of last year's superb "Interstate Gospel" by Pistol Annies, Lambert's supergroup with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley - she lightens up.
Or at least, the Texas-raised country singer doesn't dwell on unhappy endings. (That might have something to do with her marriage to New York City policeman Brendan McLoughlin, which she announced on Twitter in February, scooping the tabloids.)
"Wildcard" is a uniformly strong, 14-song collection, with Lambert co-writing every track. She takes care to have her fun. "White Trash" makes light of her inability to get above her raising. "Pretty Bitchin'" takes a good long look in the mirror and can't see any reason to complain. And on "Way Too Pretty For Prison," a duet with Maren Morris, the vocal partners decide it would be unseemly to risk murdering a cheating man - better to hire a contract killer.
But while "Wildcard" doesn't flaunt its seriousness, Lambert isn't coasting as a songwriter. She imbues drinking songs such as "Tequila Does," "Dark Bars," and the blues-gospel "Holy Water" with substance. And even when singing about "Settling Down," she refuses to settle, avoiding comforting country clichés about the sanctity of home and instead exploring the tension between the instinct to put down roots and the urge to get away.